Christmas Turkey with Pics

[Rainmaker]

I had been a little disappointed with my Thanksgiving turkey this year which was done in the Big Easy SRG.  It was moist enough but had a toughness in the first 1/4 inch of white meat.  So, I decided to do a combination Bradley/SRG turkey for Christmas.  I hadn't done anything special with the Thanksgiving turkey so pulled out all the tricks for this one.  I started with a 13 lb fresh organic turkey.  I brined it for 13 hours using a 16 cups of apple cider and 16 cups of water and 1 and 1/2 cups of kosher salt and a 1/4 cup of whole allspice.  After the brine, I dried it and injected it with about a cup of a 50/50 mixture of strained Italian salad dressing and white wine.   I left it in the fridge overnight then took it out about an hour and a half before smoker time.  I spread some salt free butter under the skin and rubbed the skin with EVO and sprinkled with Clubhouse Montreal Chicken Seasoning.  I  then smoked with apple for 3 hours at 220 (as hot a the OBS would get).  IT was about 140 after 3 hours so into the SRG on high with the lid up for another hour or maybe two (kind of lost track with preparing everything else).  Pulled turkey when breast thermometer read 170.  Tented and rested for about 30 minutes.  Although the colour looked great, I was nervous about how it would taste.  I snitched a little when I started carving.  OMG.  Success!  Both white and dark meat were really moist - the most moist turkey I have ever tasted and I certainly have cooked a few of them.  There was no hint of pink near the thigh bones.  Quite a pronounced smoke flavour - my daughter-in-law said it reminded her of turkey bacon (not that that was a bad thing).  Our son, who is a food critic, (I would call him a food snob) said it was my best turkey.  Our daughter-in-law who never eats white meat had three helpings of white meat after her first serving of the dark meat!  Only complaint I got was from the wife who said the skin wasn't as crisp as a deep fried turkey.  That was correct.  I'm not sure if you can duplicate that crispness.  I'm wondering if it softened up a bit when I tented it.  It seemed to be crisper when I first took it out of the SRG.  I already take pills twice a day for high cholesterol anyhow, so don't eat the skin.  I am now wondering what action contributed most to the moistness, the brining, the injecting or putting butter under the skin?  Anyhow, I know how I will be cooking the next turkey.  Pictures follow.

Turkey just out of the SRG



Ready for Carving



Served with mashed potatoes and yams, breaded green beans fried in duck fat, dressing balls with mushrooms, gravy and cranberries

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[TedEbear]

Looks like it turned out well.  I also received a Big Easy for Christmas.  I had the chance to try it out yesterday on a 13 lb turkey for the big family get-together.  I brined it for 13 hours and put a dry rub on it and let it sit overnight.  I put it in the OBS for 2 hours and tried a cherry flavor cold smoke.  No one seemed to be able to taste the smoke in the meat, although I've smoked a turkey with the same cherry flavor pucks and it had plenty of smoke flavor.  Perhaps this time was because I was trying a cold smoke and not cooking it at 230*F at the same time.

Anyway, I transferred it to the Big Easy and in a little less than 2 1/2 hours it was all done at 165*F internal temp.  Nice and tender, moist and tasty.  I really like how easy it is to clean the Big Easy and how inexpensive it is to fry a turkey versus the peanut oil I used to buy and the results turn out the same.

[braveheart]

Both turkeys look fantastic. Not sure if you can get crispy skin out the smoker as the heat is not there to allow it to crisp, but you sure cant beat the flavor/taste.

[mikecorn.1]

Nice looking birds.


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[OldHickory]

Both of those birds look good.  You will  lose some of the crispyness on the skin if you tent or FTC.