Preheating turkey before smoking

[Barkfan]

In years past, I was always concerned about the significant loss in smoker temp when inserting a near room temperature 20#+ turkey. The temp always dropped and stayed there for an uncomfortably long time. It left me wondering what kind of nasty bacteria might be flourishing inside my bird as the temp slowly came back to an acceptable range. So, I went online to see if anyone had tried preheating their game prior to putting it in the smoker. I'm sure there may be other posts, perhaps even on this forum, but my google search only found one where the author mentioned putting his turkey in the oven for 30 minutes at 350*. I tried it this year and it worked great! After removing the turkey from the oven, the smoker remained at our around 200*. I cut the turkey in half for better smoking penetration, smoked with 50% apple and 50% hickory. It came out great. Juicy and thoroughly cooked to 165* IT.

[beefmann]

never heard of that method,,, but if it  works,, continue to  use it

[Habanero Smoker]

This is good time for your post. I haven't seen the post you are referring to, but I'm doing something similar; with a whole turkey. I basically am crisping the skin first at 425°F, and then finishing in the smoker. I'll post how it turned out, and why I've decided to use that method. Oh! I cold smoked for 2 hours prior to crisping the skin.

[WoodlawnSmoker]

This is good time for your post. I haven't seen the post you are referring to, but I'm doing something similar; with a whole turkey. I basically am crisping the skin first at 425°F, and then finishing in the smoker. I'll post how it turned out, and why I've decided to use that method. Oh! I cold smoked for 2 hours prior to crisping the skin.

I can't wait to hear how this turned out, Canadian Thanksgiving is long gone but I'm already thinking about Christmas.

[Wildcat]

This is good time for your post. I haven't seen the post you are referring to, but I'm doing something similar; with a whole turkey. I basically am crisping the skin first at 425°F, and then finishing in the smoker. I'll post how it turned out, and why I've decided to use that method. Oh! I cold smoked for 2 hours prior to crisping the skin.

Sounds perfectly logical to me Habs. Interested in knowing the final result.

Since I bought the pellet pooper, I do birds exclusively in it. Easy, fast, and great every time.

[Habanero Smoker]

Sorry for high jacking the thread. I just got surprised when I saw your post.

It turned out alright, but I found no benefit in doing that way. It didn't kept the skin as crisp as I thought, nor did it cut down on the cook time. I' going to try Barkfan's method next time.

The below link got me thinking of crisping the skin first. Barkfan, Wildcat, Woodlawnsmoker; there may be some useful information in there you may want to adapt. I still think the concept is still worth tinkering with.
Slow Roast Turkey While You Sleep