Thanksgiving Turkey....

ExpatCanadian · September 25, 2009, 04:15:57 AM

So my wife and I are planning to host Canadian thanksgiving for our Expat friends, and other honorary Canadians we've collected along the way... I've managed to source a whole turkey (can be hard to find here in the UK unless it's closer to Christmas or American thanksgiving) and this morning I started hinting to my wife that there were some good looking recipes for smoked turkey on the forum....

...well, it hasn't gone down so good... I'm BANNED from smoking the Thanksgiving turkey! Apparently some things are sacred, and to that I say "BAH!!!!"... well, let's be honest, I say "BAH!!!!" in my head, since I know what's good for me ;D but I did manage to get her to agree to maybe a smoked side dish of some sort.... or maybe even a smoked stuffing for the bird, which could be interesting....

So... any ideas??

FLBentRider · September 25, 2009, 04:25:02 AM

Here is how I conquered that beast:

My mother did not want a smoked turkey for Thanksgiving....

So we did two. (they were on the small side)

She did one, and I brined and smoked one.

Guess which one had no leftovers ?

Now I smoke one every Thanksgiving. The oven is for pies.

squirtthecat · September 25, 2009, 04:38:11 AM

Quote from: FLBentRider on September 25, 2009, 04:25:02 AM
The oven is for pies.

Quote of the day! Would make a nice Bradley t-shirt..

Hopefull Romantic · September 25, 2009, 04:45:05 AM

Quote from: squirtthecat on September 25, 2009, 04:38:11 AM
Quote from: FLBentRider on September 25, 2009, 04:25:02 AM
The oven is for pies.

Quote of the day! Would make a nice Bradley t-shirt..

Absolutely.

HR

ExpatCanadian · September 25, 2009, 05:04:32 AM

Hmmm.... interesting idea FLBR.... that could work!! However, it will be me & me cooking them, as I'm the chef of the family... and not sure I could get away with buying 2 birds (expensive as heck over here, £9/kg), but it's worth an honest try!

By the way... anyone tried out the new(ish) WolframAlpha search engine? It's WAY cool... only reason I mentioned it here is I started doing the conversion of £/kg to $/lb the long way.... and remembered about WolframAlpha. I plugged it in as a question and it spits it out in one step!!!!

Check it out:

How many USD per pound is 9 GBP per kg?

pensrock · September 25, 2009, 05:37:47 AM

FLBR,
The family gathers at my sister for Thanksgiving and we did the same thing one year, She cook a traditional turkey and I brought a small 12# brined/smoked turkey. There were no leftovers from mine. ;D

ExpatCanadian, maybe you can brine/smoke a turkey breast or a few turkey legs + have the traditional bird?

ExpatCanadian · September 25, 2009, 06:43:20 AM

Yeah, I was already thinking along those lines. A popular cut over here is a "Turkey Crown"... which is just the entire breast section, bone-in, skin-on. Nice roast of just white meat. Would be perfect to experiment with, and if there are leftovers (although it sounds like there wouldn't be!) it will make great sandwich meat for the next week or so!

squirtthecat · September 25, 2009, 06:48:03 AM

That's all I ever cook, just the turkey breast roast w/ skin on. (never seen it bone-in around here)
Will probably do 2 this weekend, and slice for lunchmeat.

OU812 · September 25, 2009, 07:25:02 AM

Quote from: FLBentRider on September 25, 2009, 04:25:02 AM
Here is how I conquered that beast:

My mother did not want a smoked turkey for Thanksgiving....

So we did two. (they were on the small side)

She did one, and I brined and smoked one.

Guess which one had no leftovers ?

Now I smoke one every Thanksgiving. The oven is for pies.

I did the exact same thing

Ka Honu · September 25, 2009, 08:12:00 AM

I'm already starting to make room in my freezer for the annual November turkey sale! It's the only time of the year that turkey is reasonably priced here so I stock up (I usually end up with about 6 or 8 and have to clear the freezer of all but 1 or 2 by corned beef sale time in March). Thanksgiving is reserved for "frying" in The Big Easy but I know a few of them birds will find their way into the Bradley over the winter.

OU812 · September 25, 2009, 08:23:05 AM

Ka Honu have you ever tried a smoked fried turkey?

The best of both worlds in my eyes

Got the BE on my wish list

classicrockgriller · September 25, 2009, 11:55:48 AM

OU812, I had my BE for just a little over a week and have fryed 11 chickens (haven't tryed anything else) 4 went thru the smoke cycle in the bradley then fryed. I haven't had one that didn't taste great.

Ka Honu · September 25, 2009, 12:22:47 PM

Quote from: OU812 on September 25, 2009, 08:23:05 AMKa Honu have you ever tried a smoked fried turkey?

I cold-smoked one earlier this year and then "fried" it in TBE. It came out pretty good but I didn't think it was as as tasty as fried-only or smoked-only. If I were to do it again, I'd probably have to find the proper balance between hot-smoking and frying (and will certainly entertain any suggestions or recommendations on this topic).

OU812 · September 25, 2009, 01:17:07 PM

When I do the smoked fried turkey I hot smoke 3 hr at 250 F with alder then into hot oil for aprox 3 min per lb and check the IT when the breast hits 150 F pull out and let rest about 20 min with no tent.

classicrockgriller · September 25, 2009, 01:24:02 PM

We have about 30 ppl that eat thnksgiving dinner together and I would really like to something in the bradley, traeger and the be.