First Smoked Turkey next Saturday

[gkmurphy]

Hi all from Canada. Love reading all about the tastiness and trying the recipes. So far i have done ribs and pork loin, but Saturday will be my first turkey.  I have a plan, but I want to see if there are any tips the experts can offer before I get it going.

My turkey: 14.5 lb free range, grade A turkey. Package doesn't say seasoned or anything like that, so it will need brining.

1. Start to defrost the 14.5 lb turkey on Monday, so that it's fully defrosted by Friday. 
2. Brine the turkey (water, salt, brown sugar) for 8 hours on Friday then pat dry and sit uncovered in fridge overnight on Friday until Saturday morning.
3. Smoke in my original Bradley for ~3hours (I have pecan, maple and cherry; thoughts?) then finish it off in the oven until IT is good.
4. FTC for a little bit while the rest of the meal is finished. 

If you have any tips or suggestion on my plan, please let me know. I am really looking forward to this and I want to get it right.

Thanks for reading.

[ragweed]

I highly recommend pecan.  I usually do mine entirely in the Bradley @ 225*, but you should be fine finishing in you oven.

[gkmurphy]

Ok great, thanks for the tip.  Do you know how long a 14lb turkey would take to do solely in the bradley?  I was thinking of smoking for 4 hours, then leaving in the bradley for a few more hours before going to the oven.  Any thoughts on how long this will take overall?

[KyNola]

I have one suggestion for you to consider.  Poultry absorbs smoke more readily than pretty much any other protein.  I read where you are going to smoke your turkey for 4 hours.  Since this is your first turkey I might suggest you pull back on your smoking time.  You can always increase smoke on your next turkey if this one does not have enough smoke flavor for you but you can't take smoke out of a dish.

I would consider 2 hours and 40 minutes to 3 hours.

[tskeeter]

gk, in answer to your other post about finishing, or nearly finishing, a turkey in the smoker; some folks think the turkey picks up a little more smoke flavor by finishing the turkey in the smoker.  There are pros and cons to either approach.

Pros to finishing in the oven.

• The oven can provide more heat (more powerful heating element) and operate at a higher temperature, so the turkey finishes cooking sooner.
• Finishing the turkey at a higher temperature crisps the skin on the turkey.

Pros to finishing in the smoker.

• Might get more smoke flavor.

Cons to finishing in the oven.

• Might sacrifice some smoke flavor, but you could just smoke one puck longer if you really like your smoke.

Cons to finishing in the smoker.

• The skin of the turkey will be rubbery and unappealing to eat.