Good day eh
Yeppers, Thanksgivingis come up fast and furious here in the great white north
I have an itch to smoke a whole turkey that I am dying to scratch
But i dont see any recipes for whole birds in the recipe section, breasts and legs yes but whole birds no
I guess Icould halve the thing and smoke it that way...........
Is this do able? I am thinking brine, inject with yummies and smoke away
Ideal size is going to be in the 8 to 10 pound range, a fresh bird no less
Any ideas or guidance here would be appreciated
Never done a whole one, as we only like the white breast meat, but you could stand one up like HR's 'beer can chicken' - only on a bigger can. That would help keep it moist.
I've even seen stands at the store for securing a turkey like that. (and you put the entire thing over a big can full of beer & spices)
Here is a pictorial:
http://www.cookingforengineers.com/recipe/144/Smoked-Beer-Can-Turkey
(and a fun website, anyway)
I have smoked a turkey and some will say I cheated my way through it. Brine, inject and into the smoker at 250 for 2-3 hours and then move it into the house oven to finish roasting at 350 until the IT is 160-165. I like to move it to the oven for the higher cooking temp and crisping up the skin. I'm not a purist when it comes to finishing in the smoker. When the smoke has stopped rolling the Bradley is nothing more than a 500 watt oven.
KyNola
KyNola has the right idea. Brine, inject, smoke, then finish in the oven at a higher heat to crisp up the skin. Works like magic.
Just don't get a bird bigger than 15 pounds and your good to go.
Click the picture to enlarge.
(http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d148/olepop/th_100_0681.jpg) (http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d148/olepop/100_0681.jpg)
(http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d148/olepop/th_100_0685.jpg) (http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d148/olepop/100_0685.jpg)
Better than finishing in the oven - use The Big Easy. As Justin Wilson might say, "I ga-ron-tee a delightful dish. You gonna love it!"
Smoker/Big Easy is one of the ways I am doing a thanksgiving turkey. smoker/oven sounds nice too. Decisions! CRG
I use Alton Browns honey brine, then smoke in the Bradley until the desired IT is reached.
FLBR - Sounds like a winner.
My only problem with smoked turkey is the skin texture; I miss the crispness. That's why I recommend finishing in TBE.
We don't eat the skin, and I have not the TBE... yet..
I was thinking 'bout smoking a turkey this year, BUT....
That damn fried Turkey is just SOOOOOO good. Then again....beer butt turkey sounds good too.
Wonder if I could smoke the turkey for a couple of hours, THEN fry it? Smoked Fried Turkey. Anyone done this? I may have to experiment with just a breast roast and see what happens.
JWG, are you talking about "oil" frying? Just wondering about beer buttin a turkey and moisture issues with the oil fry? I did one oil fry and it came out great, just tooooo much work and loss of oil and danger for me. CRG
Hi Oakville Smoker!
Food Basics has utility turkeys on sale this week for .97c/lb.....
Regards, Smokeville in Oakville....
Thanks all
I am going to go with the brine, inject, smoke, finish in the oven strategy and hope for the best.
Smokeville, thanks for the tip on the turkey sale. I am actually going to scoot down to St Jacobs
and get a free range bird. I always say ..... go big or go home ...... the turkey just wont be that big !
IIRC - Turkeys I've done only take 4-5 hours.
I do them in the Bradley the entire time.
The meat is fairly lean, there isn't the connective tissue breakdown/tenderness thing going on.
It's just a cook with smoke.
Quote from: classicrockgriller on October 01, 2009, 06:40:14 PM
JWG, are you talking about "oil" frying? Just wondering about beer buttin a turkey and moisture issues with the oil fry? I did one oil fry and it came out great, just tooooo much work and loss of oil and danger for me. CRG
Good Lord no. I'm thinking about frying (in oil), but not beer butting it. Just a quick smoke, THEN frying it.
Myself, I find fried turkey a lot less work than other foods. Inject it, Season outside and in let it sit overnight (in the fridge of course). Get the oil going, and let the turkey sit. I don't try and bring it to room temp, but I do want it more or less dry before I drop into the oil.
I find filling the frying pot with water and putting the naked turkey into the water helps with gauging where to fill the oil up to. As you alluded to....to much oil means boil over, which means fire.
I could be the frying would kill any smoke flavor.....I might try anyway, I dunno. Maybe fry first, THEN cold smoke it a bit ;D :D
It would be interesting to see what happens. I am going to stand my bird up in a turkey frying stand so that smoke can hit inside and the outside and
just drop in the BE. Might do a test run in about a week when the big birds start flocken in.
The "loss of oil" was in reference to having nothing to do with $30 worth of oil after frying the Turkey. CRG
DOH! Yeah, copy that. That's why always fry more than one when I'm doing it. Generally speaking, you should be able to get 3-4 turkeys out of one batch of oil. I have an automotive place down the road that will take the used oil.
Quote from: KyNola on October 01, 2009, 01:36:59 PM
I have smoked a turkey and some will say I cheated my way through it. Brine, inject and into the smoker at 250 for 2-3 hours and then move it into the house oven to finish roasting at 350 until the IT is 160-165. I like to move it to the oven for the higher cooking temp and crisping up the skin. I'm not a purist when it comes to finishing in the smoker. When the smoke has stopped rolling the Bradley is nothing more than a 500 watt oven.
KyNola
Ky I am planning a Thanksgiving dinner for some of my American friends here in Amman and would love to get your recipe on this one, the brine, the inject, wood trmps and time. I also would love CRG's input as I have seen what he has done on his new grill.
HR
Quote from: Ka Honu on October 01, 2009, 04:11:20 PM
As Justin Wilson might say, "I ga-ron-tee a delightful dish. You gonna love it!"
That reminds me. I use to drive people to and from the airport for SuperShuttle BWI here in Maryland. One day I picked up a group of seven people from Louisiana going to downtown DC from Baltimore's BWI Airport. While driving I got talking to the gentleman in the front seat about Cajun cooking and such. When I mentioned that I liked to watch Justin Wilson's show, he became upset and said "That boy ain't from Louisiana....he's from Port Arthur, Texas!!! When we arrived at their stop in DC, I was unloading their luggage from the back of the van when I noticed the back of the gentleman from the front seat's jacket. It was embroidered with the words Grand Wizard and had an emblem of a group who likes their sheets white!!!
Ray
rdevous
I thhink I have seen that group in a march in Kokomo Indiana back in 79.
HR
rdevous, I grew up in Port Neches, Tx 5 minutes from Pt Arthur city limits. I am not a klansman but am very familiar with their activies. Pt Arthur was really not that bad. The town of Vidor was the headquarters for the KKK. CRG
There are some rumors he was born in Mississippi but most agree he was born (and raised and lived most of his life) in Louisiana which shows that wearing sheets makes you stupid.
This is what Wikipedia had to say about Justin Wilson.
Justin E. Wilson (April 24, 1914 - September 5, 2001) was a southern American chef and humorist known for his brand of Cajun cuisine-inspired cooking and humor. He was a self-styled "raconteur" and a staunch political conservative.
Wilson was born in Roseland in Tangipahoa Parish, one of the "Florida Parishes" of Louisiana.[1] He began his career as a safety engineer while he traveled throughout Acadiana. His safety lectures that he made to refinery workers prompted him on the road to becoming a Cajun storyteller. He remembered it this way on the back cover of The Justin Wilson Cook Book:
"Way back when I first started as a safety engineer, I took myself pretty seriously, and I found I was putting my audiences to sleep. So having lived all my life among the Cajuns of Louisiana, and having a good memory for the patois and the type of humor Cajuns go for, I started interspersing my talks on safety with Cajun humor."
HR
Smoked Fried Turkey is the best of both worlds.
Just had to say it. :D
What is everyone's favorite flavor of smoke to use on a Turkey?
I have used Hickory, Apple and Cherry.
We liked the Hickory the best.
Won't that make the white meat into dark?