First turkey

[JohnM70]

I had planned to spatchcock my turkey and had posted some questions SABER 4's thread. It was a 12lbs bird. My wife removed one of the turkeys from the freezer and put it in the refrigerator. On Saturday I decided it was time to dissemble the bird. I planned to separate white from dark meat.
When I started removing the bird from the package I thought it was a little light ???! Lo and behold my wife had removed the turkey breast instead of the whole bird (I can blame her because she does not read the forum). :-X Now I was not sure how long the 8 pounder would take as I had planned for about 8/10 hours for the whole turkey. At least I did not need to get up a O' God O'clock in the morning. I started a about 07:00 this morning. Well I forgot that it was not the whole turkey and went about setting the PID for 235F and 3 hours of smoke (pecan).
After my morning workout I noticed the IT was about 115F after only a few hours. Then the dawn came and I reduce the PID to 200. Right now it is sitting at 153F at 10:52. So we will see what happens. I plan to pull at 158/160F. i will check other areas of the bird to be sure.
Depending on how fast things go we will have hot sliced turkey or turkey sandwiches. I will post after it is pulled.
J


Prepped and ready to go!


After a few hours.

[ragweed]

LOL.  I did the exact same thing!  I was getting the bird ready when I noticed no legs or thighs!  I was really cussing the producer when I finally read the label.  Problem was I couldn't blame anyone but myself.  It turned out great, used pecan also, and now I buy bone-in turkey breasts on purpose!

[beefmann]

looking good so far

[Saber 4]

Looks like a happy little mistake and a good excuse to do a whole bird spatchcocked soon. Did you get all your questions answered on my thread, if not let me know what answers are missing and we'll take a shot at answering them for you.

[JohnM70]

Well all turned out OK! ;D I took the turkey out of the BDS at 11:45 when it hit 160F. I put it in the oven at 170F (lowest it would go) and it climbed to 165F, I was a little concerned so I opened the oven door and it dropped to 160F. At 12:30 I started the carving process and by 13:30 all were seated at the table. I think the term is called 'feeding frenzy'!  ;D
There were 7 at the table four adults, 2 between 9 and 10 and 1 senior high school football player (down lineman).

The picture below is the leftovers. A small container!



I wish I would have taken pictures during the carving... but I was busy! :)
That was not the entire meal: which included cranberries, corn on the cob, potato salad, very fresh tomatoes and, a very nice Frontenac Gris. 8)   
Since I did the carving/slicing I did not eat much turkey at dinner... mine was special, it was hot and freshly cut!
My biggest issue is trying to figure out how long to cook a whole turkey at such a low temp but I will prevail. Also, I cannot believe how moist and tender the turkey was. I am looking forward to my next adventure. If all works out I may try a 15+ pounder for Thanksgiving!

Saber 4 I did but the next time I will review and check before I start.

Many thanks for everyone's help.
J

[Saber 4]

It's always good to sit back and watch a feeding frenzy of your smoking, glad it worked out so well for you and you're right you will figure it out with time and you get to eat all your practice sessions. Take good notes on what does and doesn't work for you for reference.