# Whole Turkey on MES30



## tlcase (Nov 6, 2011)

Every year in late October/Early November one of the local grocery chains runs a deal where if you buy a Cure 81 ham you get a turkey for free. I've had this Honeysuckle White bird in my deep freeze since last year and decided I better get it used (especialy since I just took andvantage of the same deal this year and don't have room for two turkeys and a ham in the freezer).

After thawing in the fridge, I mixed up a couple gallons of  slaughterhouse brine with some extra creole seasoning.








The bird went in an oven bag with the brine for not quite 24 hours.







After removing from the brine and rinsing, I rubbed some EVOO and Tony Cachere's Creole seasoning under the skin on the breasts and all over the rest of the bird. I put it in a 250 degree MES with plain water in the pan and apple chips for smoke. Here it is after an hour and a half and she's at 106 degrees. More Q-View to come...............


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## joe nichols (Nov 6, 2011)

nice looking bird.. what temp are you going to go up to..


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## tlcase (Nov 6, 2011)

My folks and brother are coming over for supper so I'm going to play this one by ear. As of now I think it's going to be done way before they get here so I'm thinking I'll take it to 165 and foil/towels/cooler it until they get here.


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## SmokinAl (Nov 6, 2011)

We love Tony C's. I bet that bird is gonna taste awesome!


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## bluebombersfan (Nov 6, 2011)

Looks awesome!! Can't wait for the finsihed pics!!!


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## tlcase (Nov 6, 2011)

Got busy and didn't get as much Q-View as I'd hoped but this was a very successful smoke! At a little over three hours the turkey was at 160 degrees and smelled like heaven.







Like I expected, I hit 170 a good hour before my guests were to arrive so I pulled the bird, wrapped in foil and towels and put it in a cooler. The IT rose to 173 before slowly falling back to 164 where I actually carved it. None of us are skin eaters so I wasn't worried about crisp skin. The turkey had a very good smoke flavor and some nice spice on the breast meat where I had rubbed it with Tony C's. I could have used a bit more of that flavor so next time I'll add more to the brine and maybe inject it a bit as well. No plate view but we had green bean caserole and fresh baked dinner rolls along with a killer apple/pear crisp my wife whipped up with vanilla ice cream and carmel sauce on top. It was a fantastic meal and I'm really looking forward to some bacon turkey club sammies on texas toast for supper tomorrow night.







I learned that if I'm going to use my MES without an AMZPS I only need to add a pinch of chips at a time to get the right amount of smoke rolling. Anymore and I get some white smoke for a few minutes before it settles down. I'm still planning to order one soon but I've got to pay the bill from having my sewer line dug up and replaced first.


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## tjohnson (Nov 6, 2011)

That turkey looks perfect!!

I love smoked turkey, and usually inject one breast with garlic butter

Great Job!

Todd


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## bluebombersfan (Nov 6, 2011)

Wow that looks great!!


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## so ms smoker (Nov 6, 2011)

It looks awesome! Going to try it myself soon.What size bird did you use?

Mike


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## teeznuts (Nov 6, 2011)

Looks awesome! Turkey fever is in the air! Do you rememberhow much the turkey weighed?


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## tlcase (Nov 6, 2011)

It was right at 12 pounds. I usually don't care much for turkey. This completely changed my view of the grande yardbird. I'm not going to let the 12 pounder I bought this week sit in the freezer very long....that's for sure.


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## tlcase (Nov 7, 2011)

Tonight's leftovers deserve a little Q-View love too.....Smoked Turkey, Bacon, Cheddar Club on Texas Toast!







And I just ordered an AMNPS from Todd today and picked up 18lbs of Boston Butts in prep for having Veterans Day off Friday. What works best for pulled pork....pecan or apple....or mixed?


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## daddywoofdawg (Nov 7, 2011)

Apple for pork


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## alelover (Nov 9, 2011)

Pecan is great on pork too.


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## ptcruiserguy (Nov 9, 2011)

Wow, that turkey looks perfect.

Always love a good turkey, but at 12 lbs there wouldn't be any for leftovers... lol.

Happy Smokin'

Mike


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## mballi3011 (Nov 9, 2011)

Your turkey looks awesome but I have to say that the best is the Turkey Sandwich looks even better to me right now. I have smoked a turkey and then made a sammie and then put it back into the refrig.


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## billyj571 (Nov 10, 2011)

Looks awesome.


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## uhmgood (Nov 10, 2011)

looks great , what was the total cook time ?


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## tlcase (Nov 10, 2011)

uhmgood said:


> looks great , what was the total cook time ?




It took 4 hours start to finish to get to 170.


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## smokin - k (Nov 10, 2011)

Love it! Great job on that bird..! I agree with mballi I think leftovers are almost better then the actual meal! That apple/ pear crisp sounds amazing as well! Happy Smoking, Smokin - K

P.S. I made some cranberry pepper jelly in anticipation of a smoked turkey and some of my own Thanksgiving leftovers. Let me know if you want the recipe.. Super easy to make!


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## realtorterry (Nov 10, 2011)

Nice color on that yardbird, looks nice & moist too


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## ecto1 (Nov 10, 2011)

Smoked Turkey is there any other way to eat it?


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## tlcase (Nov 10, 2011)

Smokin - K said:


> Love it! Great job on that bird..! I agree with mballi I think leftovers are almost better then the actual meal! That apple/ pear crisp sounds amazing as well! Happy Smoking, Smokin - K
> 
> P.S. I made some cranberry pepper jelly in anticipation of a smoked turkey and some of my own Thanksgiving leftovers. Let me know if you want the recipe.. Super easy to make!




That sounds awesome K, I'd like to have that recipe. The Apple/Pear Crisp was an Ina Garten recipe...here is the link from the food network website. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/apple-and-pear-crisp-recipe/index.html

We kicked it up a notch with the vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce.


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## rstr hunter (Nov 10, 2011)

Looks great.  When we do ours many times it goes straight from the smoker to the fridge and it all gets eaten cold.  Great for snacking.


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## smokin - k (Nov 11, 2011)

tlcase said:


> That sounds awesome K, I'd like to have that recipe. The Apple/Pear Crisp was an Ina Garten recipe...here is the link from the food network website. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/apple-and-pear-crisp-recipe/index.html
> 
> We kicked it up a notch with the vanilla ice cream and caramel sauce.


Thanks for sharing that crisp recipe Case! Here's a thread I started for the Cranberrie Pepper Jelly I mentioned (So as to not try and hi-jack your post) LOL! Give it a whirl.. http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/113012/cranberry-pepper-jelly#post_712724   Smokin - K


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## Bearcarver (Nov 11, 2011)

tlcase said:


> Tonight's leftovers deserve a little Q-View love too.....Smoked Turkey, Bacon, Cheddar Club on Texas Toast!


Now That Is One Awesome Looking Sammy !!!!!!!!!

I'll take one just like it, please!!!

Bear


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## ugaboz (Nov 12, 2011)

man looks great


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## SmokinAl (Nov 12, 2011)

That sammie looks awesome!!!


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## tommerr (Nov 12, 2011)

Did you save the grease that dripped into the pan? I read an article today about Thanksgiving mashed potatoes that used turkey grease. It sounded wonderful!


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## tlcase (Nov 13, 2011)

Didn't save it this time but it did smell wonderful and I'll definitely be making gravy with them next time.


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## seanf (Nov 13, 2011)

that looks really good.  Chachere's on turkey legs is the stuff, it complements the natural flavor really well.  I'll be grilling our Thanksgiving bird Saturday, pretty much the same thing, although I'll stuff it with vegetables, and slather the top side in thick-sliced bacon.  mmmmmm, bacon.


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## shhaker (Nov 17, 2011)

looks awesome!!


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## sonnyhad (Nov 18, 2011)

TJohnson said:


> That turkey looks perfect!!
> 
> I love smoked turkey, and usually inject one breast with garlic butter
> 
> ...




How come you only inject one breast with garlic butter, I was thinking of doing the whole thing. Does it over power the bird that way?


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## joe nichols (Nov 20, 2011)

thanks for the info..


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## hibobm (Nov 21, 2011)

What was your total time per pound.  I'm doing my first smoked turkey on Thursday.


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## tlcase (Nov 21, 2011)

HiBobM said:


> What was your total time per pound.  I'm doing my first smoked turkey on Thursday.




Took 4 hours start to finish for this 12lb'er


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## seanf (Nov 21, 2011)

tlcase said:


> Took 4 hours start to finish for this 12lb'er




mine was 22 lbs.  6 hours at about 250, then peeled the bacon off and did the last hour at 350.  wish I'd taken pictures


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## redclaymud (Nov 23, 2011)

Great looking bird.  I've got mine in brine now and made up a batch of low-salt rub since the bird will already have a goodly dosage of salt from the brine.  I had forgotten about that the first time I salt brined a bird and just used my normal rub.  My dinner guests were very polite but pointed in their comments.

Plan is to smoke in the electric smoker since birds are less forgiving than pork butts and I don't want to spend a good day of football monitoring thermometers.

Hope everyone is smoking turkey this Thanksgiving.  Looking forward to lots of pics and lots of stories.


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## bdawg (Jan 12, 2012)

What temp was the smoker?  I have a MES30 and want to do one of these this weekend.  Any rule of thumb for time/temp?


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## tlcase (Jan 12, 2012)

BDawg said:


> What temp was the smoker?  I have a MES30 and want to do one of these this weekend.  Any rule of thumb for time/temp?




I believe I ran my MES at 240 or 250......done in around 4 hours.


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## bdawg (Jan 14, 2012)

thanks


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## jeffjax (Dec 1, 2013)

I love finding good meat on sale I got this 10.4lb bird for $5.46 I let it soak overnight in a salt,brown sugar,Yoshida's  and my secret blend of spices. 4 hours in my MES30 @ 250'













DSC_71911.JPG



__ jeffjax
__ Dec 1, 2013






I had it set for 6 hrs but it was done in 4 hours.


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