Smoked Turkey

[capnamerca]

Love this new forum ... pictures coming later, but here's what's up today.

On wednesday, I'm hosting 15 or so of my dad's family for christmas. I signed up to smoke a turkey, which I've never done before. So today is the test run - the smoker is heating right now. Hickory wood, salt + pepper + paprika + caribbean jerk rub, stick of butter in the gullet. Gonna have it in a tin foil pan the whoel time - can't waste the drippin's. During the cook, I'll lay a wet rag over the bird to retain moisture, and probably baste with a little bit of oil to crisp the skin (that's the goal, anyway). We'll see how it turns out, but i'm excited to try something new. Pictures coming eventually ...

Which, by the way, shoudl be a requirement to post on this forum - if you're cooking, we wanna see pictures.

 

[TexasFirefighter]

yeah...about those pictures...how about you post the pics from the NEXT turkey since I have the camera here at work with me? ooops.
And I gotta tell you...you got some hungry firefighters drooling over that description. come with smoked Turkey or don't come at all.

 

[#3Rules]

Sounds good. I'm smoking my first turkey right now. I'll start a thread with pics later.

 

[capnamerca]

First experiment complete, result - moderate success. The bird was undercooked - the "top layer" of meat was PERFECT - smoky, juicy, tender, crispy ... really, it was texas-state-fair-turkey-leg good. However, as I got down into the underpinnings of the breast meat, and underneath the wings, the meat was just slightly undercooked - maybe another hour, maybe two. I didn't want to risk getting anyone sick, so I let it be. This bird was 9-10 lbs, and cooked at ~300 for 6.5 hours. I think a similar-sized bird for 9 hours would be delectable.

We had a great meal, but I couldn't have served the number I'm serving on Wednesday. However, since this was a test run, I'd call it just right. Wednesday is gonna rock.

 

[Woland]

I did my best smoked turkey yesterday. For the first time, I wrapped the bird in cheese cloth soaked in oil: the skin turned out a great color and wonderfully edible. I used grape seed oil because that was what I had available.

 

[capnamerca]

Woland - I didn't have cheesecloth on hand, and the stores were closed - that's absolutely the method I'll be using tomorrow. However, I prefer a slightly crispier skin, so I'll wrap only for the 2nd half, and baste with the oil during the 1st half. Plus, the butter/oil/drippings mixture in the bottom of the pan when we're done is awesome.