Never tried it before.  What kind of turkey to get?  How about brine?  What wood to use?  What are some good technics?

FWIW, I'll be doing this on a Vision egg.  Thanks in advance!

tag

IMO, conventionally smoked turkey sux.

Why? The skin is acrid and leathery, rather than crisp and crackling. IMO, the skin is everything on a turkey.


That said, you can grill a great turkey while getting some smoke in it. That's what I do, but to do it right, you have to take the bones out of the turkey, unless you have mad skills and instinct.

This is a simple recipe.. I use cranapple juice instead of water.

http://www.smoking-meat.com/november-14-2013-smoked-turkey-breast-for-thanksgiving

Either way break it down into breast, thighs, and legs.

I've been doing my turkey on my Webber grill for over 25 yrs. I use the indirect method and add some wood chips to the charcol for a little extra smoke.
You can go to the Webber web sight for directions.

Get a 12 - 14 lb turkey of good quality. Honeysuckle and Butterball brands are good to go. Often times the off brand turkeys will have a lot of fat, but some are good to go. Smaller turkeys are a waste of time (you want leftovers right?) and larger turkeys will cook unevenly. Plus one can always smoke 2 proper sized turkeys at the same time.

I brine for 12 hours in the fridge, smoke on a water smoker at 250° for about 1/2 hour per pound. Use 2 parts Apple wood and 1 part Cherry wood.

I will have to post my brine recipe when I get home. I did not create it. I got it out of a book, just had to experiment to find the 2 to 1 ratio of the above mentioned woods for the smoke.

Often times I am told, by guests, that it is the best turkey they have ever eaten. You will have to decide for yourself.

Maple Brine from The Smoked-Foods Cookbook by Lue & Ed Park
3 cups water
1 Cup dry vermouth
1/2 cup REAL maple syrup
1/2 cup pickling salt
1 bay leaf, crumbled
2 tbsp, finely minced onion
2 garlic cloves, pressed
1 tsp. celery seed, crushed
1 tbsp. fresh ground black pepper

I use the 2 1/2 gallon ziplock bags doubled up to brine the turkey in. Enjoy.

I can attest to that last statement. Not only was it amazing after letting it rest from the smoker, but it was AWESOME the following days sliced for sandwiches.

When we smoking JoeMerc???

How you cook it depends on weather you prefer to eat crispy skin, or if you throw the skin away.  If you want a crispy skin you need to shoot for a 325 smoking temperature. You can smoke it at a lower temp but it will make for a non crispy skin. If you throw it away it's not a big deal.

Apple wood is a good for poultry. It's probably my favorite.

A good all purpose brine is 1 gallon of water, 1 cup of sugar, and 1 cup of salt. You can add other spices to suit your tastes. It works better if you can bring it to a boil to help bring out the flavors of the extra spices you add. Just make sure to make the brine a day or two ahead of time. That way it can have plenty of time to be chilled. You don't want to put raw poultry in to a warm pot of liquid.

Myself, I'm done w/ smoking turkey. I've done it many times and while it was good I found that we like smoked chicken better. 2 years ago I smoked turkey and 4 chickens using the same apple brine I usually use. Smoked at the same time on same smoker. I carved the birds and them set-up on different platters. By the end of the meal the 4 chickens were gone. The Turkey was hardly touched. The following year I just smoked chicken, I think I smoked like 8, anyway the only ones who complained were the kids (5&7). They said they wanted Turkey we just said they were small turkeys.

How does the skin turn out using the 'low and slow' method? Crispy?  Does the brine flavor penetrate well into the meat? Ever try any injection?  Thanks for your reply and recipie!

I smoked a turkey last year. One thing to keep in mind is it will ALWAYS take longer than you expect to hit the target temp.

Also, smoking for as long as it takes to get the turkey cooked will lead to an acrid, overly smoked taste. So put it on the smoker for ~5 hours, and then finish it in the oven. When you put it in the oven, wrap the wings in foil so they don't overcook.

you change to cranapple in what part of the recipe?

Thanks

If you are going to brine, get one that's not enhanced.  that's basically brining done from the factory.  If you buy the standard butterball fare, no need to brine, and doing so can make it overly salty.  

Mesquite is usually what i go with for turkey.  Go easy though, as poultry sucks in a lot of the smoke, so it's easy to over do it.  

As far as technique, i prefer to separate the thighs, and butterfly the breast (remove the spine, break the breast bone and flatten the breast).  

Inject with a poultry friendly injection that you like, or use something like creole butter.  I prefer herby style seasonings to bbq style rubs on thanksgiving.  

Cooking birds i smoke at 275-300.  Higher temps help crisp the skin better.  I'll cook the breast to an IT of 155-160 and allow for carryover, thighs i go to 160-165.  Use a temp probe, don't go by time.  

I like to throw a pan of chicken broth under the bird to catch the drippings.  after cooking, i'll filter the solids out of that stock with a wire mesh strainer.  Make a 1/1 roux (1 tbsp butter / 1 tbsp flour) and slowly mix in that delicious smoked stock for some smokey gravy.  

Edit 1: I prefer a couple of smaller birds to 1 larger one as they cook more uniformly.  

Not a skin eater myself. Not going to be crispy like deep fried. Think of the skin as a filter to prevent the harshness of the smoke from ruining the meat underneath it. I throw the skin away.

The brine penetrates the meat very well. Try it for yourself, you will see.

If your asking have I ever injected using the brine recipe I posted, no I haven't. Have I ever injected with product designed for injection? Yes. I have even deep fried turkeys.

I prefer the brine/smoke routine.

Your welcome for the reply and recipe.

This part:

• 1 gallon water

Or this part:










 
 
 
 
 

I break the bird down and reserve the carcass and offal for gravy . I dry brine  then wet rub and inject brine or butter as wet brining really doesn't do much as very little water from the brine enters the bird, at most 6%, and because it is not bound to the fibers, most of it drips out during cooking.

I can never find big enough rolling papers.

Don't do it, OP.



I've tried 'em all, and good old-fashioned brining and roasting makes the best turkey.

I emailed zig zag and they do make butcher paper rolls

Any turkey is fine.  I don't brine. Huge waste of time IMO



I typically cook mine over apple wood. It's a lighter smoke taste, not overwhelming.  I also typically cook mine hotter, around 300-325.  Turkey is lean and doesn't benefit from 'low and slow' like brisket or pork shoulder.  

Take whatever rub you're going to use (you are going to use rub, right?) and mix it with some cooking oil to form a paste.  You can peel the skin away from the breasts and stick your hand between the skin/breast with handfuls of the paste to season the breast.  You'd be surprised how pliable the skin is without tearing it.  Get way in there....rub your paste mix on the breast.  Since you can't really cover the skin with shaker bottles, this is the best way I've found to accomplish this.  Putting rub on the skin is useless because smoked turkey skin is gross and it doesn't actually season the meat you'll be eating.  You can substitute melted butter for oil if you'd like, just work quickly since the butter will try to solidify.  Once it's on the bird, it's fine if it does because it will slowly melt while it's cooking and baste the bird.

You can follow a similar technique for the legs if you'd like.

Once the bird is done, you can simply peel the skin off and throw it away.  Carve the bird as you normally would.  I cook turkeys like this regularly throughout the year as one of my favorite things to smoke is a turkey (I know, very unconventional.  I just like turkey).

I am cooking a turkey this year and going to follow the master's plan.

Alton Brown

But JoeMal assures us that brining is a waste of time.  Maybe he should take over for Alton Brown.





 

I agree, poultry can only take so much smoke.  I have smoked a bunch of them and other than the breast the rest of the bird ends up too smoky.  I'm frying one this year.

5 hours in the smoker and then in the oven seems to long.  "smoke" poultry at a higher temp and it shouldn't end up smokey. I do chickens at 325 to 350F and plan to do my turkey the same this year.  I probably will only let it smoke via some wood chunks for the first hour or so as well.

I smoked up a 6lb breast today just for the hell of it. I smoke year round but generally hand off the turkey duties to my dad each year. He is a turkey frying king, and we usually do at least 8 each Thanksgiving. I brined this breast and smoked with cherry smoke at 250 degrees. It was fine eating!

I kept my smoker at around 250º and only burned one first-sized lump of applewood at a time. Even as it was, it was close to having too much smoke in the outer inch or so of meat. Still, it was delicious.

My practice run turkey turned out far better than my Thanksgiving day turkey because when I made the practice turkey I was drunk while on Thanksgiving I was horrendously hung over

my plan is to beer can it and very light apple wood smoke at beginning, I got a small 8 pound bird (pain in the ass to find small ones)

will do basic butter/thyme/rosemary/sage and Basil under skin; aromatic bundle in bird inside beer can

and salt pepper outside

I boiled that bundle of spices in my brine mix tonight. Along with some garlic , onion, and black pepper. That way the brine can cool down for tomorrow night.

Wednesday
4:00pm turkey goes into cold water. Every 30 minutes the water gets changed
Midnightish into the brine

Thursday
4:30 out of the brine and raise to room temp
5:00 into the oil
5:30 out of the oil
6:00 table

Tomorrow I'm also baking an apple pie and a pumpkin pie

anyone ever heard of putting an apple in the cavity?  I never had until this morning when a buddy says it makes/keeps the bird moister.

I stuff mine with apples and onions when I smoke them.

here's how I smoke my turkeys. I've never had a complaint and even had compliments from folks that thought they didn't like smoked turkey.

first and foremost, use the right wood in the right amount. being poultry, turkey will have a "lighter" taste than beef or pork. mesquite and hickory smoke is too strong for poultry, imo. I prefer fruit woods(peach, apple, cherry..etc), but pecan and oak can be used as well. don't overdo the smoke(I use a charcoal for heat and wood for flavor in my smoker) you just want the smoke to flavor the meat, not cure it. (if you are using a stick burning smoker, go with the lightest flavored wood you can find).

inject the night before.
[ I make my own injection using 1lb of unsalted butter/2juice boxes of apple juice/good sprinkling of tony cachere's salt free seasoning. two days before injecting, add butter and apple juice to small sauce pan over low heat. while butter is melting, sprinkle in the seasoning. once the butter is 90%melted, start slowly whisking the mixture. whisk continuously until homogenous. once homogenous, slowly whisk over the low heat for a few minutes(this will allow the seasoning to release the flavor oils and those oils to permeate the injection solution. remove from heat and pour storage container. place container in refrigerator.  ]

after injecting, return turkey to refrigerator. save some of the injection fluid for basting while cooking.

when it's time to cook, remove turkey from fridge. place ice bags over breast meat to keep the temps down while you get the smoker ready.

I use a weber smokey mountain cooker. it's a vertical smoker.

I get the coals and smoke wood going while the bird sits on the counter.

once the smoker is up to temperature(325) and the dirty white smoke(white smoke is full of nasty tasting stuff. you're looking for what is called thin blue smoke.it is almost imperceptible) is gone, I put the bird on the grate. cooking at 325, it takes about  15-20min per pound for the turkey to be done.

I baste the turkey once an hour with the left over injection fluid.

prior to serving, section out the legs and thighs. breast out the rest of the carcass. cut breast sections into cutlets.

serve on a platter with whatever else you choose