TALKIN' TURKEY!! (The official/unofficial turkey thread)

[Twisted064]

All these great turkey ideas and information !!! Thanks to all, I'm a newbie here wanted to say hello and thanks for the turkey info. I'm gonna try the turkey this weekend in my recently built uds we shall see...lol

[TSGlover]

Originally Posted by superlazy

Spatchcock cook time vs whole?
Wife and kids don't want to go out of town so I have been ordered to cook for 8-10 people. It just dawned on me I never timed any of the spatchcock turkeys I made in the past.
Wife wants to eat between 4-5pm so I'm thinking 23lb bird cooked at 325-350 2-2/12 hrs maybe? Also I'll have a pan of gravy on the lower rack of the WSM so I was thinking about firing her up around noon getting bird on 2pm.
Any thoughts?

You might want to give yourself more time. I did a chicken in 1 1/2 hours at 300. Seems like that big of a turkey would take longer than 2 1/2 hours. Maybe some one who has done that big of a bird can provide a better answer

[SmokinOkie]

Originally Posted by moe1967

Wampus,

Would you inject an "enhanced" turkey with store bought creole butter? Reason I ask is because we don't use hardly any salt on my food and I'm concerned that the store bought creole butter, which almost certainly is loaded with sodium, plus the enhance bird would end up with an overly salty meal.

Or, would you make you own butter injection, minus the salt?

Thanks in advance

Here are my thoughts about "injecting" vs Brining. Obviously, since I wrote the book on brining about 15 years ago (OMG, really that long?) I like the brine. Link to Brining and Turkey 101 are in my signature.

My issue with injections is one of science. Well actually viscosity. think injections tend to just sit in the one spot. Depending on the injection and length of time, all you will do is flavor the spot of the injection. With a LOT of practice you can spread it out somewhat, but you will have a bunch of track marks in the bird.

I'm a big fan of "go ahead an try it". We settled on brining vs injecting years ago in a side by side taste test. And SO many of the commercial injections are water and salt, that you can get some of the benefits of brining, but like brining, let them sit 12 to 24 hours (or more) for the injection to have time to spread

[EverettBBQ]

I have been smoking turkey for 35 some odd years.
I will smack down anyone with a 1 day brine and low and slow turkey. (225 not 300).
Heck, I could do a roasted turkey in the oven at 325!!!
Smoking is a slow and smoke flavored process.
If you want to put a turkey in a foil pan, cover it with foil and "smoke" it at 300 deg, he'll put it in the oven and save your wood!!
Love you all!

[TheBill]

I received both of my turkey cannons today...can't wait till next week...they look like they will work well.

Thanks again for the suggestion.

[Wampus]

Originally Posted by Goyo626

Im thinking of dry brining a turkey. My question is once it has been brined for a couple of days then rinsed and allowed to dry in the fridge, do I put a normal amount of rub on/under the skin? go light on the rub? Or reduce the salt in the rub recipe?

I've not dry brined before, but I've always wanted to try it.


Here's a thread with a link to an article about dry brining that brother leanza put up a few years ago. In this thread seasoning is discussed. They actually suggest just putting herbs or rub WITH the salt during the dry brine process:

http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/sh...ad.php?t=97467

[Wampus]

Originally Posted by SmokinOkie

Here are my thoughts about "injecting" vs Brining. Obviously, since I wrote the book on brining about 15 years ago (OMG, really that long?) I like the brine. Link to Brining and Turkey 101 are in my signature.

My issue with injections is one of science. Well actually viscosity. think injections tend to just sit in the one spot. Depending on the injection and length of time, all you will do is flavor the spot of the injection. With a LOT of practice you can spread it out somewhat, but you will have a bunch of track marks in the bird.

I'm a big fan of "go ahead an try it". We settled on brining vs injecting years ago in a side by side taste test. And SO many of the commercial injections are water and salt, that you can get some of the benefits of brining, but like brining, let them sit 12 to 24 hours (or more) for the injection to have time to spread

That's pretty much what I was saying above(below), but you worded it much better I think.

Originally Posted by Wampus

Oh there's different schools of thought on that. Some suggest that injecting INSTEAD of brining is the way to go. A lot of flavor can be added with an injection for sure. Personally, I think that since brining acts on a cellular level, you can get a more complete, evenly distributed flavor with a brine vs injection where you have different "pockets" of injection in and among the meat fibers. I think that once both are cooked, one would be hard pressed to really tell a difference though.

[Humble Soul]

On a 22.5" kettle, is having the coals on two sides with the bird in the middle the way most do it? Or is banking coals all on one side ok as well?

[BecknCO]

Originally Posted by Humble Soul

On a 22.5" kettle, is having the coals on two sides with the bird in the middle the way most do it? Or is banking coals all on one side ok as well?

I think that's how most of the pros do it here. Personally, I don't trust myself not to burn the thighs that way, so I will be doing Meathead's method http://amazingribs.com/recipes/chick...ed_turkey.html. I'm using 2 bricks to bank the coals off to one side on the 22.5" OTS.

[Wampus]

Originally Posted by Humble Soul

On a 22.5" kettle, is having the coals on two sides with the bird in the middle the way most do it? Or is banking coals all on one side ok as well?

I've done it both ways. If the turkey's not too big (wide), I prefer to have coals on each side of the turkey so I get more even heat on the bird. If the coals are a little too close for comfort, you can bank them on one side, but when I've done this I've had to make sure the watch the color and rotate the bird to keep even browning of the skin at the thighs. Again, depending on the size of your bird, it will only push over to one side so much before the lid will hit it. This is why I like leaving the bird in the center and make the coals fit around it.

One thing I've done to help guard against the heat is to use a couple of strategically placed bricks stacked up as close to the cooking grate as possible and then bank coals on the outside of that. This will prevent as much direct heat from the coals to the thighs. The bricks act as diffusers and are a great way to keep the coals pushed against the outside wall of the kettle and prevent the pile from "creeping" toward the center.

A drip pan is another way you can do this, but I find that if I can put a paver brick or something on the outside of the drip pan and then the coals go outside of the brick(s)/paver(s). A foil pan alone will help, but it doesn't deflect the heat as much I don't think.




The great thing about cooking on a kettle is that you don't need a LOT of lit coals to get the temp of the cooker up. I prefer using a "divided minion method" where I'll fill up the sides with unlit coals (and some smoke wood chunk) and then just put about 3-5 lit coals on each pile. Then regulate the cooker temps using the vents. It won't take a lot of coals to get the temps up to 300+ (if that's what you're going for) and this method will also prevent you from having to add lit coals to keep your temps up.

[UF_Aero]

I cook around 14-16 lb turkeys, and have always banked only on one side for the reasons Wampus stated above - a little to close for comfort if I have coals on both sides. I just rotate the bird about 1/2 way through to evenly brown both sides. I also go with a pan under the turkey on the opposite side of the coals. Rather than the minion method, I go with about 20 lit coals on the one side to keep the grate temp to around 350F.

[MS2SB]

I always divide the coals and place a little foil ball at each thigh, prevents over browning as well as keeps the bird stable.

[Humble Soul]

Honestly I'd rather not do it with the coals banked to one side, I'd prefer the bird to be in the middle with a pan underneath with stuff in it to catch the drippings to make gravy. But I'm not sure if a pan will fit there with 2 bricks on each side. I know, I sure picked a crappy day to decide on smoking a turkey, but I just got the 22.5" kettle couple weeks ago and haven't had time to do a test run, so I'm scrambling to find as much info as possible.

[MS2SB]

Originally Posted by Humble Soul

Honestly I'd rather not do it with the coals banked to one side, I'd prefer the bird to be in the middle with a pan underneath with stuff in it to catch the drippings to make gravy. But I'm not sure if a pan will fit there with 2 bricks on each side. I know, I sure picked a crappy day to decide on smoking a turkey, but I just got the 22.5" kettle couple weeks ago and haven't had time to do a test run, so I'm scrambling to find as much info as possible.

Don't sweat it. Go with the divided method, there are less variables to work with using this method. Also, go out and dry fit the setup you're going to use and take some measurements, then go get an aluminum pan that best fits the space you'll have. If its too big, squish it down a little, a little small, no big deal.

On the day, give yourself plenty of time, these big birds can stand a real long rest without getting cold so even if it's done an hour early there's no big deal.

Try not to overthink it too much. Put the thing on the grill, stick a thermometer in it and walk away. If it starts getting too dark around the thighs, throw some foil down, if the temp isn't coming up quick enough, toss a few extra coals on. And if you just can't get it to work, you can always pull it off the grill and drop it in the oven.

[Humble Soul]

Thanks MS2B! I'm actually thinking of setting it up pretty similar to how you have it posted in your pics on page 7 of this thread. I appreciate all the help.