Thanksgiving help

[amatasjr]

Hello everyone. My wife and I are hosting thanksgiving this year at our house. I bought 2 fresh turkeys, an 18 lb and a 20 lb. Both come with a 8% solution of broth, salt, sodium phosphate and sugar. Sounds like I'm skipping brining?  The plan is to fry one, 3 minutes a pound with an extra 5 minutes sound right? Any suggestions on a rub or butter injection?  The second one I want to throw in the bradley. I bought a vertical roaster from spanek and plan on using this. What temp do I set the bradley at? How long does it smoke and total cooking time? Help hombres!


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[tskeeter]

When I fry turkeys, I use a simple injection of a couple of cloves of garlic sauteed in butter.  One stick of butter per turkey (I use 12 - 13 pound turkeys, since that's about the biggest my fryer pot can handle).  I usually just smash the garlic and throw it in the hot butter until I can really smell the garlic.  Only about 30 seconds or so.  Then let the butter cool until just warm.  Draw into injector and inject thigh and breast.  No noticeable garlic flavor, but nice and moist.

Since you've got larger turkeys that I use, you may want to use more butter and garlic than I do.

I've also seen people use other injections.  Looked to be butter and something like Tony Chachere's.  Suppose you could also use something like a low sodium chicken stock (you bird is already brined) as a carrier for some Tony Chachere's or another seasoning blend you like.

Time wise, about 3 - 3 1/2 minutes per pound should be about right.  If you check your internal temp and find it's low, a few more minutes wouldn't hurt.  If you're pretty close to your target temp., remember that your bird will continue to cook and the temps even out a bit (about 5  degrees or so) while it rests.

For smoking, I use about a 9 pound turkey breast, which takes about 5 hours to cook to about 165F.  (Note that I don't inject my smoked turkey.  Just use the smoke.)  I find that three hours of apple smoke is nice (poultry seems to absorb smoke more readily than some other meats).  Given the size of your birds, I'd guess you could be looking at about 10 hours to cook in your Bradley.  You might consider smoking the bird and then moving it to the oven at 325 to finish it.  Not only will your turkey probably get done faster, but finishing in the oven at the higher temp will crisp the skin (one of the complaints about cooking poultry completely in a Bradley is that the skin tends to be a bit rubbery, rather than crisp).  I used the smoke, then oven on the two turkey breasts I smoked for a recent neighborhood get together.  I was told that was the best smoked turkey that I'd done over the last 4 or 5 years.

[amatasjr]

Awesome! Thanks for the advice. When smoking the turkey, did you hot or cold smoke it before throwing it in the oven


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[TedEbear]

Awesome! Thanks for the advice. When smoking the turkey, did you hot or cold smoke it before throwing it in the oven

They say you only have 4 hours to get through the danger zone (40-140*F) on a turkey, so cold smoking it probably isn't a good idea.  Remember, cook by temp, not time.  Shoot for an IT of at least 160*F.

[Habanero Smoker]

I've used the Spanek vertical roasters for several years, they work great. You will get more smoke inside the cavity and the turkey will cook more evenly. If he sent you a bottle of his Seasoning Blend, and you like a savory turkey, you can't go wrong using his rub. When smoking a turkey vertical you want to double up on the racks, to prevent the rack from bending downward. If you decide to move from the smoker to they oven and continue to cook vertically, stand the turkey inside a cake or pie pan; or any type of pan to catch the drippings.

If you have the digital set if for 240°F; smoke/cook at the highest temperature you can get the smoker. I modified my Bradley, and I smoke/cook at 240°F. If I fully cook in the Bradley, I cook to an internal temperature of 162°F, measured in the deepest part of the thigh. If I finish in the kitchen oven at 350°F, I will take the turkey out when the internal temperature is 160°F.

[amatasjr]

Thanks habs.  162 in the thigh? Not the breast?

[Habanero Smoker]

Yes! The 162°F is measured in the thigh. The thighs need to be cooked to at least that point, or the thighs will seem to be too tough and have a slight metallic taste.

[goldwing66]

Hi Habenero, do you find using the vertical roaster reduces cooking time DRASTICALLY?  This has been my experience and I wondered if you had the same results?

[Habanero Smoker]

Hi Habenero, do you find using the vertical roaster reduces cooking time DRASTICALLY?  This has been my experience and I wondered if you had the same results?

I can't say for sure, since I don't keep a log, and my memory for details it not as good as it use to be. :) I can say, that smoking/cooking vertically does seem to make the turkey cook more evenly, and with the heat having a more direct access into the cavity, it would stand to reason that the overall cooking time will be less.

[goldwing66]

Thanks for the reply, I had a slightly surprising experience where the 9 hour cooking time was waaay more that the 18 lb. bird required.  I am going to hear about it for the rest of my life because my brother will NEVER let me forget it :o I will be monitoring things VERY CLOSELY THIS YEAR FOR SURE. :)

[Habanero Smoker]

I know how that goes. I have a brother like that. They make you learn from your mistakes very fast. :)