A good turkey recipe...

usff · December 15, 2003, 03:49:13 PM

Hi Everyone,

Last weekend I made a turkey for a neighbor. Since there seems to be alot of interest in how it's done, I decided to post this recipe. It worked really well:

Brine a 10-13 lb. "raw" Turkey in basic salt solution for 24hrs. (Don't use a self basting turkey)

Take it out... wash it down... then pat dry. Make sure you get the salt off.

Baste the turkey with good Extra V olive oil... toss some pepper or your favorite spice on the outside and place on a rack. (10-13 lb. turkey will take up the entire rack so test the rack size prior to getting everything ready.)

Meat temps will affect the Bradley so try to get the turkey as close to room temp as possible. My turkey went in at 54F (Breast temp.) . Preheat your Bradley to 200F. and use hickory for the smoke. I stuck in 8 chips for the project.

Fill the water bowl 3/4 of the way with your favorite red cooking wine. Toss in a tablespoon each of sage, thyme, rosemary (Optional) and give it a stir.

Now here's where it gets a bit customized. My Bradley doesn't like to get too hot so 220F is about it on high. The day I cooked it, it was a windy 23F outside. So, on the bottom rack I placed a large rectangular ceramic dish and the turkey directly above it on the next rack.

I did this for 2 reasons, the ceramic will keep the heat very stable even after opening the door and turkeys' have a ton of juice which could flood the bottom of the smoker. (BTW) a rack of ceramic grill rocks can also be used to help heat recovery with non juicy meats).

The turkey went in at 11 am and remained at 195-200F till 5:00 pm at which point the thigh read 165F. We brought the turkey inside and poured the retained juices into the pan and continued to cook it for another 35 minutes at 350 in the oven. Final temp was 175 in the thigh and juices were clear. Cut filets of breast about 1/4 inch thick and serve hot.

What this recipe produces is a tender, scentful, very juicy filet of turkey that has a hint of sweetness and a very agreeable smoke flavour. It was so good that the carcass looked like a flock of buzzards had picked it clean... Everyone liked it.

Observations:

1. My smoker chips burn far longer than what they are supposed to. 7 of the 8 chips burned for 6 hours and the last one is still on the burner uncharred. This typical for me, even in the summer.

2. The ceramic dish was nearly dry for the first 3.5 hours. In total I had maybe a cup of juice in it. Most of the juice was pooled inside the turkey. Remember this when you pull it out as it will be hot and really full.

3. The air vent in the top was kept closed and only opened occassionaly to allow some moisture out. Once every 2 hours for 10 minutes should do it.

Gravy? Unfortunately my neighbor isn't too swift when it comes to sauces and he didn't make it. The meat was so moist you can get away without making it. I suspect if he had, that it would have had a nice wine/smoke spice flavour (Basically the flavour of the water bowl ingrediants plus the turkey juice). If anyone makes this recipe, let me know what the gravy tastes like.

I may post some of my other recipes in the future since alot of the Bradley recipes seem very "Canadian-ish" and I'm a Irish, German, Italian New Yorker with a mason-dixon childhood.

Good luck and enjoy.

Richard Pearce · December 18, 2003, 11:03:53 AM

Thanks for the ceramic idea: I'm an inveterate door opener (Iknow, but I can't be cured!) and the ceramic bowl sounds rather clever.

kjel · June 25, 2004, 05:38:07 PM

Can someone help me out? I will be cooking a turkey this weekend in my brand new BS and am thinking about brining... My turkey is a butterball brand and I think they are self basting.
<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Brine a 10-13 lb. "raw" Turkey in basic salt solution for 24hrs. (Don't use a self basting turkey)<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
Why not brine a self basting turkey?

Fuzzybear · June 25, 2004, 08:45:20 PM

Kjel:

First, I'm not sure what "self basting" means...how does the turkey do that? It's dead!!! [xx(]

I've never brined mine - straight from Ralphies or Stater Bros., outta the bag and in the Bradley....I just used a dry rub.

I will say I regulary smoke pre-marinated chickens all the time and can't see why a turkey wouldn't work just as well.

"A mans got to know his limitations"
Glendora, CA - USA!

kjel · June 25, 2004, 10:00:00 PM

Fuzzybear,
This is what I got from another site:
<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Q. Is it OK to brine a self-basting turkey?
A. There's really no point. A "self-basting turkey" has been injected with water or broth, fat, and various flavorings. Soaking a turkey in a brine essentially accomplishes the same thing — adding moisture to the bird so that it doesn't dry out while it cooks. Brining leaves out the fat, of course, and is a gentler process, but the goal is largely the same, Now, how much moisture do you think that turkey of yours can hold? There is a limit, after all.

If you brine a self-basting turkey, some of the brine might flow into the turkey, and some of the "self-basting" liquids might flow out, but you'll be going to a lot of trouble and mess for no effective gain. (Next time, however, buy a fresh turkey and brine it yourself. You'll be pleased with the results.)<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Moisture is'nt my issue. I wanted to get more salt and flavor into the meat of the turkey. I guess I'll have to do the injection thingy..

snapper39 · June 25, 2004, 11:30:38 PM

Guys: I did a pre basted Turkey a few weekends ago. I brined it because I wanted to add flavor not moisture. The results were outstanding. I did the "Olds" T shirt deal until I got the internal temp up to 145 and finished it T shirtless until 165-170.
Here is the brine recipe I used, pulled it out of the local news paper.

Summer Brined Turkey

1 cup sea salt
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup vinegar
4 bay leaves
3 Tbs Worcestershire
2 Tbs yellow mustard seed
2 Tbs Whole Allspice
2 Tbs Peppercorns
2 Onions sliced
2-4 stalks of celery
4 gloves garlic smashed

Place recipe in container with turkey and cover with water overnight
take out pat dry and season with a dry rub if you wish.

Snap

I'd walk a thousand miles to smoke a "Camel"

kjel · June 26, 2004, 05:53:53 PM

Thanks snapper,
I'm going to brine Saturday night and cook it Sunday.

snapper39 · June 26, 2004, 06:25:42 PM

kjel
Great let us know how it turns out.
Watch it carefully the last hour so you get the right skin doneness for your liking. Thats why the "Olds" t shirt technique is ideal for this application. You can cook the bird without burning up the skin and then remove the tshirt and brown to your liking.

I use the turkey and some buckboard bacon for the worlds best clubhouse sandwich.
Snap

I'd walk a thousand miles to smoke a "Camel"

CalgarySmoker · October 13, 2004, 06:40:17 PM

I'm still not sure why it happened, but I got a big surprise over the weekend when smoking a 19 lb. turkey in the Bradley.

I used Snapper39's brine recipe, substituting maple syrup for the honey, and soaking the bird for 24 hours. I drained the bird overnight, and patted it dry, then put a couple of apples and some maple syrup into the cavity. I tied everything up and put it into a cold smoker at 6:45 AM.

I assumed it would take about 1 hour per pound to cook, so I expected that I would smoke the bird for about 6 hours, then move it to the oven for finishing. I used a ratio of 2 apple biscuits to one maple biscuit, and watched as the smoker internal temperature slowly rose to about 210 degrees maximum over about three hours, and never went above that temperature. The top vent was only open a small crack.

About 5 hours into the process, I opened the door to have a good look at the bird. I had placed a drip tray under the bird, and I noticed it was quite full of juices. I checked the temperature of the bird with a digital thermometer, and was shocked to discover the bird was fully cooked ! A 19 lb bird cooked to 170 degrees in five hours!

I covered the bird with foil and placed into a cold oven, then made delicious gravy with the juices. The bird was carved about 5 hours later, and was wonderfully moistand warm, with a fabulous smoke taste. Everyone at the table thoroughly enjoyed it!

The only explanation i can come up with for having the bird cook so quickly is that soaking the bird in the brine solution made it so moist that steam formed inside the bird and cooked it. How else could such a large bird cook so quickly??

Anyway, thanks Bradley for a great experience! Looking forward to some smoked trout real soon!

Oldman · January 20, 2005, 01:00:58 AM

snapper39 brine added

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