Turkey 101 PDF

dealm9 · Oct 3, 2011

appreciate it okie. love your turkey:clap2:

Midnight Smoke · Oct 3, 2011

Okay I think I got it. Smoke my 1st Turkey on Thanksgiving day. :twisted: Thanks for sharing.

SmokinOkie · Oct 4, 2011

Thanks Guys, love this time of year, love teach about turkey.

Lots of options for Turkey so this is at least one of the places to start.

Appreciate any feedback or more info you want/need to know.

Russ

dae06 · Oct 28, 2011

SmokinOkie said:
I posted this over in the Spatchcocking thread, but someone suggest I post it for all to see.

I first did this Turkey 101 back in 1999 or so and it's been fairly popular.

This year, I taught at the local Vo-Tech a Turkey 101 class and so I've updated it and you can now download the whole thing in a PDF.

I'll be updating this with some photos from this year's cook soon.

As always if it's confusing, you see corrections and of course, have questions, please post them here. It's a long document and it wouldn't surprise me if I said one thing in one place and something different in another.

Keep me honest.

Enjoy

Russ

Turkey 101 PDF

Excellent. This is what I will try this Thanksgiving.

daninnewjersey · Oct 28, 2011

dae06 said:
Excellent. This is what I will try this Thanksgiving.

I'm far from an expert but I'd suggest a trial run before Thanksgiving (possibly the greatest holiday on this or any other planet), just to get it down pat....

Plus, it's a good excuse to make some more barbecue....:becky:

burningwood69 · Oct 28, 2011

Been planning on doing one on my use for the holidays! This will come in handy

Bubber · Oct 28, 2011

Question about the brine. Once I take the bird out of the brine and before rubbing the bird, I am unsure what to do. Do I throughly rinse the bird down after taking it out of the brine? This has always been unclear to me.

burningwood69 · Oct 28, 2011

Been planning on doing one on my use for the holidays! This will come in handy

SmokinOkie · Oct 28, 2011

Bubber said:
Question about the brine. Once I take the bird out of the brine and before rubbing the bird, I am unsure what to do. Do I throughly rinse the bird down after taking it out of the brine? This has always been unclear to me.

There are various theories.

Some believe you have to rinse it because of excess salt on the skin. I've not found this to be true.

Others believe you have to air dry it for a pellicle to form (like seafood) to keep it moist. Again, for me, I 've not found this the case.

I would suggest taking it out, keep it cold until you put it in the smoker and just smoke away...

Any further questions, just ask. Brining is a popular topic but it can raise a lot of questions.

NS Mike D · Oct 28, 2011

did the turkey over the weekend
ran the wsm about 300+

the breast was dry compared to my oven roasted turkey. I run my wsm with sand, while when I cook i the oven, I use a roasting pan that has liquid which might slow down the evaporation from the meat.

Also, I didn't have cheese cloth, but the skin looked just fine.

next trial, I'll ty the cheese cloth and place the bird in a roasting pan with some liquid in the smoker.

Plus I ordered an IQUE which well let me dial in a temp.

Otherwise, a nice smoke flavor. The kids had some more last night with hommade mac and cheese

I am not sure I would take a gamble on smoked turkey for t-day, since guest can be fickle with smoke flavor.

Ron_L · Oct 28, 2011

Bubber said:
Question about the brine. Once I take the bird out of the brine and before rubbing the bird, I am unsure what to do. Do I throughly rinse the bird down after taking it out of the brine? This has always been unclear to me.

I rinse the bird inside and out. i figure it can't hurt :-D i also let it equalize in the fridge to give the brine a chance to circulate throughout the meat and let the skin dry. I've found that I get better skin if I let it dry.

SmokinOkie · Oct 28, 2011

NS Mike D said:
did the turkey over the weekend
ran the wsm about 300+

the breast was dry compared to my oven roasted turkey.

I would offer that it's the finishing temp, not brining that caused this.

What temp was the breast when you pulled it?

It should be 160 and brining gives you additional moisture so that pulling it around 165 still gives moist. I've never had someone who brined a turkey say the breast was dry unless it was pulled at a high temp.

Challenge is that dark meat needs higher temps.

One proven method is to put a bag of ice on the breast meat for a few hours BEFORE cooking. It lowers the temp of the breast.

Another method, my current preference, is to Spatchcock the turkey

How to Spatchcock a Turkey - 101

NS Mike D · Nov 7, 2011

bump for those planning their turkey cooks.

douglaslizard · Nov 7, 2011

printing as i type,i saved the older version but i changed computers since and it was lost.thanks for the remix

J_Don · Nov 7, 2011

Downloaded and thanks for the post. :becky:

dadsr4 · Nov 18, 2012

Bump.

BobBrisket · Nov 21, 2012

This is my go to for Turkey Info!!! One stop shopping for pretty much everything you need to know!
Bob

Turkey 101 PDF

dealm9

is one Smokin' Farker

Midnight Smoke

somebody shut me the fark up.

SmokinOkie

is one Smokin' Farker

dae06

Knows what a fatty is.

daninnewjersey

Babbling Farker

burningwood69

Knows what a fatty is.

Bubber

Knows what a fatty is.

burningwood69

Knows what a fatty is.

SmokinOkie

is one Smokin' Farker

NS Mike D

Full Fledged Farker

Ron_L

Administrator

SmokinOkie

is one Smokin' Farker

NS Mike D

Full Fledged Farker

douglaslizard

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J_Don

is Blowin Smoke!

dadsr4

somebody shut me the fark up.

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