Wanted to say Hi and maybe get a little advice

[davenh]

Hi Everyone

!

I'm Dave and live in S. NH. Just a novice at this stuff, but love great BBQ.

I just left Sam's Club with a new Masterbuilt Electric Smoker. I was looking for a smoker and couldn't resist..it was like it was calling out to me. I have it cleaned up and going with some hickory chips to test it out, so far so good, seems to hold the temp well and give good smoke.

I was searching around for some recipes and found this forum. I immediately registered and thanked the internet gods.

I'd like to test it out tomorrow by smoking my first Turkey. I was planing to just rinse it, rub it down with some olive oil, season it, toss it in a disposable pan, letting it go with some hickory chips at 235 and basting each hour. I'm sure I must be missing some steps, so this is were I was hoping for some advice

.

I was also wondering if I leave the smoke going all the way through and if I should cover it at any point with foil.

I wanted to say Hi and if someone could point my Turkey in the right direction I'd really appreciate some tips.

Thanks...Dave

 

[travcoman45]

Hi Dave and welcome! Don't smoke my turkey's yet (I'm a Deep Fried Turkey God according to the family), but, go to the search function here and punch in turkey and I'm willing to bet you will find more information then you can handle! Lots of good people and info here! You will more then likely find everything you need.

PS: you can also go to the poultry section in the forums and look around there a bit to!

 

[davenh]

Hi Travcoman45...you are right about the search, found some helpful threads. Thanks for the reply.

 

[richoso1]

Welcome to the SMF, you'll enjoy spending some time here. Plenty of great advise from friendly folks, what more could you want.

 

[davenh]

Thanks for the welcome guys and the tip about the brine

. The bird I bought was fresh and minimally processed, so I'm thinking it was needed.

I used a basic brine (water, salt and brown sugar), added some onion and garlic, italian spices, lemon and lime juice. Hopefully, ok to leave it soaking for the night. Looking forward to tomorrow

.

 

[bb53chevpro]

Welcome to the forum. I hope your smoke goes great. And don't forget about the qview of the results.

Andy.

 

[ron50]

You will be fine letting it brine overnight. Don't forget to wash it off well when you take it out tomorrow.

There is no real benefit to cooking a turkey or any poultry low and slow. I don't know how high you can get the temperature of that smoker up but a lot of people here smoke their birds at 300 -350 to get a crispy skin. You don;t want to have the internal temp of the bird sit in the danger zone of 40 -140 degrees too long or bacteria can multiply rapidly.

Hickory is also a pretty strong wood for poultry. Many people use a milder wood like apple or cherry but it's all personal preference.

Cook the bird till you get at least an internal temp of 165 degrees in the thickest part of the meat.

I never use foil when cooking poultry, it keeps the skin from getting crispy and reduces the exposure to the smoke.

Also remember that you want the smoke thin and bluish not white and billowy.


Good luck and let us know how it goes and oh yeah; welcome to the forum!

 

[zapper]

Basic brine and already adding a dash of this and a touch of that

Sounds like you are already off to a great start!


A couple of trueisms have been spoken above. Poultry does not really need the long low and slow of say a larger or tougher cut of meat, so jacking the heat up is OK and may even help keep the bird from drying out any. The other things are the amount of and the duration of the smoke and even the selection of the wood. First wood type, who cares? It is kind of a personal thing and maybe even a smoke with what you got type thing. I say that it is a personal choice and choose what you think you may like or just use what ever you can find. Amount of smoke? As always, thin and blue and sometimes so thin you can't even see it (It is there) How long? Well that is kind of the kick in the pants now ain't it? I say that if you are smoking, then the smoke should go from start to finish.......But you really kind of need to keep an eye on things. Thin and blue the whole time is one thing, but having a couple of billowing out breaks mixed in could change things as could the meats attitude about taking on the smoke. Just how strong do you like it and are you cooking for guest that may not like the strong smoke flavor (If you are then you are in with the wrong crowd!)(JK)

Alot of folks rub their birds with oil, I think that doing this slows down the smoke penetration, others say it doesn't. Some day just for kicks I am gonna have to oil half of a bird and see what happens!

I think that about the best thing you can do for a bird is the brine! From there it is all just a matter of getting it up to temp!



For my little amount of time spent here, I am gonna have to request some pics of the results!

 

[smokey jeep]

Well Dave I am pretty different from everybody else so far.

#1 I rinse and pat dry my bird.
#2 I sprinkle spicy Mrs Dash inside then loosely add in 1 cup dried fruit.
#3 I spray my bird skin with a Garlic flavored Pam then lightly sprinkle on Kosher salt.
#4 I load my bird breast side down (I use 4 peeled Onions to hold it straight)
#5 I cook my bird @ 225 degrees. (bird weight is 12-14lbs or under)
#6 I pull the bird when it reaches 175 in the thigh.
#7 I let the bird rest breast side down for roughly 40 minutes covered.
#8 I slide the bird under a broiler breast side up to crisp the skin.
#9 I remove the fruit and Microwave until steaming then dice up and throw into the Cornbread stuffing.

Remove, plate, and carve the bird.

Note,,,IF I have a bird bigger than 12-14lbs then I butterfly the bird and lay skin side up in the smoker.

That's my 2cts worth.

 

[habaneroman]

Dave, welcome!!

I have done several Turkey's already since Thanksgiving here in COLD Omaha NE.... You are best to get a good 24hour brine in with a big bird! I use about 1 cup of salt, 1 cup of Brown Sugar, and whatever spices you want the bird to OSMOSIS... Poultry seasoning works well, garlic salt or fresh garlic.... I also use Montreal Steak Seasoning... depending on how big the bird, I just use the large 2.5 Gallon Ziploc Bags, and fill it up with a good 2-3 gallons of water.... if you don't have the bags, get a clean 5 gallon bucket, and toss her in! This works well too, but just make sure the bird is covered.

Basically the longer you brine, the more Osmosis the flesh will take on of your spices.

After you brine, just rinse and smoke.... tell you what, you will never not want to brine again, one you try it!!

Your smoke will only penetrate up to 140 degrees, so make sure to keep a nice thin blue smoke line running until your bird hits 140..... then keep your temp going til you hit at least 180!

I have never used Foil for anything, no need to really, if you keep your temp in that 220-240 degree range!

best of luck to you!

David

 

[kookie]

Welcome to the smf....Glad you are getting alot of help..........

 

[davenh]

Thanks everyone! Great friendly site and hope to do my share of contributing as I learn more.

Bird is ready to go in about 10 mins

. Wiped it down with some oil, dusted it with some italian spices and a little garlic salt. Tossed in some onion and apple slices, a little more crushed garlic in the cavity. I'll let you know how it goes.

Was surprised to find the MES doesn't like to turn on at low temps, it was 7 degrees this morning. Had to bring it in the house until it warmed up a little. Guessing its a feature telling me not to smoke in this weather, but I'm not listening

.

Thanks again...Dave

 

[richtee]

Welcome Dave! I wanted to add since I did not see it mentioned but maybe it was in the threads ya found- Keep thew temps UP on the turkey. It's safer foodwise, and it will crisp up the skin as well. Many here say 250° is a min. You wanna get that bird out of the danger zone of 40-140 within a couple hours. Also, smoke on the bottom if you have other things on the smoker, so you don't drip raw poultry juice on it.

Enjoy yer time here!

On edit: Doh..missed Ron50's post. He had ya covered... RT

 

[davenh]

Thanks for all the great help! Here is some Q-View of the finished turkey. It was fantastic in appearance and taste, proud to set it on the table

.

The MES does a great job. It did well to hold a 240 temp on such a cold windy day. When I started the bird it was 7 degrees out, made it's way up to 34 by the time I was done. Total cook time was a little over 7hrs for the 12.5 lb turkey.

I was a little worried about the Hickory being a little too strong so I did a 50/50 mix of Hickory and Alder, only wood I had on hand. I added a few pcs every 30 mins through out the smoking.

Now for some pics

.

 

[setitandforgetitsmoker]

very good looking bird!!!

 

[pitrow]

Looks delicious!

 

[blacklab]

If it tasted as good as it looks, Your gonna get FAT!!!

Congrats looks awsome

 

[flash]

Breast meat cooks faster than dark meat. So at some point move the beast away from the heat, be it breast up or down. Nobody likes a dried out breast.

You can do that or foil the breast to keep it from drying.

 

[davenh]

Really enjoying this smoker, got some salmon going for tonights (and tomorrow nights) dinner. Planning to test out that 3-2-1 rib method over the weekend.

Blacklab...waaaayyy too late

. Actually, we are trying to lose some pounds, as strange as it sounds with all the smoking plans. Turkey, Fish and Chicken are all on the menu within limits (the part I have a tough time with)

. The ribs are a once a month reward for not screwing up the rest of the time, and only a limited amount, the neighbors get the balance. Down 25lbs, 75 to go. Neighbors are really happy, after they wrestle me to the ground to get the other slab away

.

 

[nh3b's]

Hey Dave.....

Welcome to your new addiction...the SMF!!

This site is just flat out awesome and if you have a question, theres always a quick TRUTHFUL reply. A great group of people here.

Im over here on the other side of the bridge off exit 5. Im originally from Michigan tho so I concider myself a New Hampchigander. Gimmie a shout sometime.