smoked turkey, by an amateur.

[doggonegood]

just wanted to share a first time story.
got a bradley smoker for my birthday, the day before thanksgiving.
so what do you try for your first smoke-job... a turkey of course. i made a concoction(about 10 oz) of melted butter, oilve oil, fresh garlic, salt, black pepper, basil and a lil cayenne pepper. injected it into a 16# thawed turkey(4 spots on breast, and legs and thighs). put it into my virgin smoker at 6:00 am, horizontally. i ran the cherry biskettes for 3-3.5 hours at @ 230*. then i left it in the smoker for an additional 4 hrs at same temp. followed by 1 hour in oven at @ 400*(just to make sure it was cooked complete).

This was a VERY bad idea!! there where about 15 people over for thanksgiving, all waiting for my turkey. i could only hope it turned out edable.

not only did it turnout edable, it was fantastic. moist, flavorfull, tender and deliscious where only a few of the compliments i got. the bad side of the whole experiment, now my family is lining me to cook for other functions. they already scheduled me to do a ham for christmas. im glad they liked my trial run, but do they really wanna put christmas dinner in the hands of a rookie smoker......i guess so.

so if anyone has a nice christmas ham recipe, could you re-post it in this topic for me.

signed,

could really use some ideas.
dog-gone...... tha was good

[Habanero Smoker]

Doggone;

Welcome to the forum. Glad to hear about your success. To be on the safe side, you should invest in a internal meat thermometer, or have an instant read thermometer available and go by the internal temperature. Smoking times are not always reliable.

I would be helpful to know what type of ham you want to smoke, so that we can provide you with the best information. Are you looking to cure a fresh ham, smoke a partially cooked ham or smoke a fully cooked ham? Also if you do a search for hams, you will find a lot of information.

[Wildcat]

Welcome to the forum and congradulations on your first smoke.  Wonderful feeling when everyone wants you to prepare the meals.  I am positive that many more wonderful outcomes are ahead.  Be sure to take Habs advice.  I use the Maverick myself.

[Stickbowcrafter]

Congrats on your first success. I ought to become a salesman for these books because I mention them so much but they are a fantastic resource. Get a copy of these, lots of great ham recipes in both books:

Charcuterie by Michael Ruhlman & Brian Polcyn and Great Sausage Recipes and Meat Curing by Rytek Kutas.

-Brian