I have always been afraid to use brine on the Thanksgiving turkey, but after all the good coments on the Forum, I decided to chance it. First the brine: I used1 cup kosher salt to 1gal water, multiple sprigs of fresh thyme and rosemary, brought all to a boil for thirty minutes, then on ice to chill overnight. Next I strained the brine into a 2.5 gal Hefty food bag with my 10.5# fresh hen turkey, squeezed all the air out and closed the seal, then into the cooler and covered with ice for 24 hrs.
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Now it is out of the brine, well rinsed and patted dry. Next the seasoning.
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A good rubdown with OO, sprinkeling of garlic and onion powder, and crushed black pepper, and the rest of the fresh sprigs of thyme and rosemary into the cavity. Now into the BDS4 preheated to cab temp of 240 on the PID, smoke with Hickory.
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My wife has the table all set, I hope I don"t screw up the turkey.
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Well so far so good. Had a stall at 150* and temp drop to 145*. About an hour for recovery then on to a IT of 160*
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After6.5 hr. it was done, smoked total time. This was my best turkey ever. Moist and tender, and the smoke was perfect. There was lots of juice in the pan for my Wife to make the gravey. I had at least two " the best turkey I ever tasted." Well, thats what this is all about.
That is a great looking bird.
Ever since I brined one, I don't think I have done one without brining.
Heck Yeah, awesome looking turkey!
Great job!
Great looking bird!!
Great looking turkey and love your dining room.
That looks wonderful! I can't wait to hear the review. I bet the meat is tender and flavorful!
Mrs
That's a great looking bird OldHickory!
Beatiful bird...and floor. Nice job
Sweeet
That's one good looking bird! Congrats!
All that black pepper makes me want to come try some. Great looking bird there OldHickory.
Thanks for all your kind comments. My family and I had a wonderful Thanksgiving feast. The posted experiences of members of this forum are always most helpful.
OldHickory
I'm thinking of doing a Christmas turkey in the Bradley to go along with the normal 10-12 lb standing rib roast because of the number of people that are going to be here this year. My question is, how well did the smoke penetrated the bird with it cooking in the pan to catch juice and is there anything you would do next time that you think would make it better?
That bird is so pretty I've bookmarked this for future reference. Thanks!
Awesome looking bird!
One thing I've started doing is inverting a Bradley rack over one of those half sheet pans to hold the turkey/chicken/whatever- it lets the smoke circulate around the meat a little more, and then the pan still catches the yummy drippings. Best of both worlds!
Squirt, I'm confused! I understand the inverted rack. Is the "half sheet pan" the same pan OldHickory's bird is in and if so I'm guessing the pan is low on the shelf below the bird? Or even better I learn better visually and have a couple of weeks...got any PIC's?
This is what I'm talking about.
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Yes, those pans OH is using are 'half sheet' pans.
Yes that is a half sheet pan. I have smoked our Thanksgiving turkey for the past thirty years. The past two years have been in the Bradley, and they have been the best. I have found that the half sheet pan has made no difference in the smoke absorption, the pre-brine was a big plus in moisture content on the outer 1 inch of the turkey. The pan is a plus in the collection of the wonderful juices. This was the best turkey I have done.
That is a GORGEOUS bird!
Very nicely done.
That looks fantastic!! Nice job!
Thanks! I got it now and believe I'll be doing something very much like that in two weeks! ;D
OldHickory, one more question. How long did you roll smoke? ;D
Quote from: TestRocket on December 21, 2010, 06:53:19 AM
OldHickory, one more question. How long did you roll smoke? ;D
I had smoke the total cook time ( 6.5hr ). I thought the smoke taste and penetration was perfect and will do it the same the next time.
Thank you! Because it is really looking like I'll be trying it! ;D
I too think I will be trying this recipe.
I have read in multiple posts that smoking poultry in the Bradley tastes great but the skin never crisps up. Yet it appears the skin is crispy in the pictures posted. Is my observation correct? Can you please comment either way.
Thanks,
JJ
I did my first Brine turkey a few weeks ago and it was really good. One of my sons who is not a big turkey fan keeping coming back for more. So that told me all I needed to know.
Quote from: jiggerjams on December 21, 2010, 12:08:27 PM
I too think I will be trying this recipe.
I have read in multiple posts that smoking poultry in the Bradley tastes great but the skin never crisps up. Yet it appears the skin is crispy in the pictures posted. Is my observation correct? Can you please comment either way.
Thanks,
JJ
The skin was not real crispy, but the taste was great. The family grabbed the meat as fast as I could carve it and I couldn't get a good plating pic, and there were no leftovers. Be sure to rinse the bird well after brining, and I didn't use any salt in the seasoning afterword. The taste after cooking told me I did not need additional salt in the seasoning.
I picked up a 10.47 lb bird on the way home today. So it's decided I'll be brining my second turkey (first was for Thanksgiving) and this time it's going in the Bradley!
I'm thinking a 24 hour brine, overnight air dry in the fridge, PID set for 240 degs, (2-1) apple and pecan pucks, the bird will be seasoned of course and into the Bradley for what I'm hoping for is 6.5 hours. I may work in up to about an hour just to be safe and I'll have around a 10 lb standing rib roast in the oven shooting for the same eating time!
I can only hope my bird comes out looking as good as yours did OldHickory! ;D
Thanks OH. I appreciate it.
Hi OH I did nearly the same for christmas, brined a 3.6 kilogram turkey and a duck the best we have ever had.[every thing is in metric in australia] Brined for 12 hours,patted dry and in the fridge for 2 hours rubbed with nostimi seasoning and stuffed with a sliced apple and onion plus a cinomon stick and a cup of water which were boiled for 10 minutes. My BDS 6 rack was being used for smoking trout fresh out of my aquaponics system so i used the kamado every thing was great.
Smoking Jim.
Ok now Smoking Jim - you have really peaked my interest.
Nostimi seasoning - I have no idea what this is.
Cinnamon in a turkey - That is interesting - never done that, but have included cinnamon in some rubs.
Trout fresh out of you aquaponics system. That is kewl - always wanted to do that, but my yard ain't big enough - I've though about going with big above ground tanks.
I did a turkey back in the beginning of December for my daughter's birthday. Used Cranberry juice and Kosher salt for my brine. Brined it for 12 hrs. I was scared of over powering the taste of my turkey with the flavour of cranberries but it didn't happen. I did do a good 3 or 4 full rinses after though and then used a simple seasoning salt, pepper, onion powder and a small amount of poultry seasoning as a rub. My turkey was 13.6 lbs and it was done in just short of 7 hrs (about 30 mins/lb). Had 3 hrs of apple/pecan smoke (two to one ratio of apple to pecan) and the smoker was at 240* the whole time.
I had to FTC it for about 4 hrs (more than double that I had planned) but it still turned out great. I poured in about a half cup of heated chicken broth inside of it while it was FTCing and the bird ended up really juicy! Plus any of the left over juices I could save from in the foil after FTCing were then used in the gravy which turned out excellent too! Great reviews from my family and the outlaws.....errrrrrr I mean in-laws. Sorry it was a really busy couple of days and I didn't have a chance take any pics to share. I was really weird though seeing that bird as red as an apple after being brined.
If you want to have crispy skin, throw it uncovered in a hot (400*ish) preheated oven for 20-30 mins prior to carving. I did this as well as the Warden loves to have crispy skin and who am I to argue since I love it as well. Worked out great!
Also also learned that a 14 lb bird would be the about the biggest you can put on a rack. Anything bigger you would have to hang. To prevent sagging and bending of my rack I double racked it and used a frog mat as well to prevent sticking.
G Day Caneyscud fantastic forum and a great product the DBS 6. Nostimini is made by gaganis bros,the tastiest seasoning for meat,poultry and fish i dont know if it is available in your country, i reckon it is one of the best. you can google it and see, if i could get my head around photo bucket i would post some pictures, happy smokin.
Smoking Jim.