Smoking a Turkey

D

ddog27

Guest
My Brother in Law is giving me his smoker. He does metal work and built himself a nice offset smoker. He wants to build himself a new one and to get himself motivated he is giving his old one to me. So now that I have a smoker that will hold a lot of meat my dream of doing some catering could become a reality. My wife and I were talking about this and we thought that smoking some turkeys for people around Thanksgiving might be one way to make some extra money. The only problem is, turkey is something I have yet to smoke. So I thought I would ask for any recipes, tips and tricks for smoking a turkey. Any input would be greatly appreciated. I have lots of time to practice!!
 
dog, turkey is a very easy cook. There are lots of marinades and injections available, you can try some of those but here's what works best for me.
Melt a stick of butter(real butter), allow to cool until just liquid enough to work in your injector. Inject through out the breast.
You can season it up, but turkey usually has to feed OL's and kids so I keep the bird relatively plain and let the smoke do the flavoring.
Turkey isn't tough and doesn't require the long cooking times we associate with tenerizing other Q cuts, higher cooking temp will work great, 275-300 works well for me.
As soon as the thigh reaches 180, pull the bird to prevent drying.
Simple and very tasty. Pecan adds a great color to poultry and apple great flavor so I usually use a blend of the two.
 
I like to inject turkey with butter and chardonay. Melt a stick of butter in the chardonay and inject liberally throughout the turkey. place a piece of cheesecloth big enough to cover the turkey in the remaining wine/butter mix and let it soak. Season the bird with your favorite rub blend then drape the soaked cheesecloth over the breast and legs. Smoke the turkey and mop with the remaining wine/butter concoction every hour til done.
 
Sounds yummy Neil. Another variation to speed up things is to quarter the turkey just las if it was a chicken and lay it flat on the grill. White meat cooks faster than dark meat, and this way you can control how much time each piece is cooked.
 
Thanks gentlemen.....I'll use these tricks when doing my own bird in the future.
 
Ditto on thanks for the turkey tips. Like the butter/chardonay suggestion. My OL really likes turkey so will try that one for her.
 
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