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

[Untraceable]

I picked up a natural fresh turkey breast (wings/thighs/drums removed). Took the skin off, I have it in some Kosmos Chicken soak as we speak. Later today I will Moo Glue on bacon in place of the skin and sarah wrap overnight. I picked up some Ghee and will warm and inject the breast (probably put a little garlic/white pepper/ginger in it)

Ill have pictures.


This is one of those hippy nothing added, never froze turkeys. I did one last year thinking that they would be great with minimal work, I was wrong. I think a guy has to do more to these birds. Theres a reason why these farms inject the hell out of them ect.

[Untraceable]

Did it. success













Light'em up!. Kosmos Chicken soak, Moo Glue the bacon on overnight, Kosmos chicken injection, injected Ghee, little money rub.

I was worried it might be too much bacon but that was not the case. Id probably do a saltier/savory rub next time. I felt like the sweet was a little out of place. Maybe more like Smoking Guns Hot next time. cooked on a rack and half sheetpan so I ran the drippings through the separator, used the fat to make the roux, added in the non fat drippings from the separator and chicken stock out of a box to make the gravy.

Ghee was nice, but there was this hint of ghee flavor that might have been out of place. will probably just make my own clarified butter next time with garlic infused

[Wampus]

OUTSTANDING!!!

[Wampus]

Originally Posted by SmokinCW

I have been tasked with cooking 9 turkeys for a feeding the homeless lunch next weekend. I have 3 traeger pellet grills that I'll be using. My question is should I cook the birds through the night at something like 225 degrees, or should I cook them for around 4 hours at 300-350 degrees like most recipes call for? I have not read or heard about results from a long low temp cook for turkey.

I'm not saying that you CAN'T get descent results with a low n slow cook on turkeys, but my big thing is, there's absolutely no reason for it. Turkeys and chicken don't have all that connective tissue that needs the longer cooks to break down to get tender and juicy. Poultry will achieve awesomeness in a relatively short time with a higher temp cook. PLUS, as has been mentioned about the skin, IT benefits with a higher temp cook as well, so given the time requirements and the benefits of a higher temp cook, the big question is....WHY WOULDN'T you do a higher temp cook?

Crank it up and let em ride!


And good on you for cooking for the homeless! That's awesome!

[HOG FAN]

Do you truss when you use the cannon? Makes sense to do so since the bird is elevated and would probably fall to pieces.

[Wampus]

Originally Posted by HOG FAN

Do you truss when you use the cannon? Makes sense to do so since the bird is elevated and would probably fall to pieces.

I guess you sort of could, but typically when I truss I completely cover up the cavity hole with the legs. Since the turkey cannon goes into that hole, it would make it tough to do.
You probably could put the turkey on the cannon and then tie up the legs around it and then the wings some how, but since I use the technique in this video to truss, it's pretty impossible to do while on the cannon.

How to Truss a Turkey-Food Network - YouTube

Here's some photos of what it looks like on the cannon when I do it....
As you can see I tied up the wings, but not the legs.

Of course, I'm not saying that I always do it the RIGHT way either.

[Boston Smoker]

Wampus - Thanks for all the info. Huge help! This Thanksgiving will be my first smoked turkey. Picked up the Turkey Cannon last week. The trussing with the cannon was also a question I had, so thanks for the answer and pics. I was wondering what your go-to liquid is for the cannon (do you mix some rub with the liquid)? I'm planning to brine and do an herb butter rub under the skin. Was considering injecting with melted butter as well. Is that overkill? Finally, curious what rub you used on the skin in the pics above. Was considering some Yard Bird. Thanks!

[AlwaysSmokey]

Originally Posted by Untraceable

Did it. success

That is totally farking delecious looking. Well done sir !!!

[hogs122]

I did a little Thanksgiving practice today. Made up a paste of salted butter, rosemary, thyme, parsley, and Oakridge Game Bird and Chicken Rub. I basted it every 30 minutes and cooked at 300 degrees in the UDS. Turned out great, but I forgot to take prep pictures. I guess I'm ready for Thanksgiving now.

[KalQ19]

Great post - thank you! Look forward to getting the turkey on the smoker.

[THoey1963]

So, HEB has a deal now where you buy a spiral sliced ham, get a free turkey. So, I bought my Thanksgiving ham (wife has to have it) and got a practice run cheap smoker turkey. I'll buy a better turkey for the actual day, but I really wanted to try this before I invite friends and family over.

No matter how it turns out, I'll get some turkey sandwich meat to vacuum seal / freeze and some bones / parts for gravy stock...

[birgey]

I'm wondering if anyone has ever done a bacon weave, or just laid a few strips of bacon over the turkey breasts? I'm thinking it would help with the moisture in the breast? Plus give it that hint of bacon, and of course EVERYONE loves bacon,right? Thoughts?

Planning on pouring a little bit of beer inside the cavity with some celery, rosemary,thyme,cilantro,oregano, and maybe a cut up apple.

[Untraceable]

Originally Posted by birgey

I'm wondering if anyone has ever done a bacon weave, or just laid a few strips of bacon over the turkey breasts? I'm thinking it would help with the moisture in the breast? Plus give it that hint of bacon, and of course EVERYONE loves bacon,right? Thoughts?

See a few post up. I removed the skin and replaced it with bacon. Pretty good. I was worried it may be "too much" bacon/salt but that was not the case. I think Ill try gluing on a full bacon weave next time for better presentation.

[Wampus]

Originally Posted by Boston Smoker

Wampus - Thanks for all the info. Huge help! This Thanksgiving will be my first smoked turkey. Picked up the Turkey Cannon last week. The trussing with the cannon was also a question I had, so thanks for the answer and pics. I was wondering what your go-to liquid is for the cannon (do you mix some rub with the liquid)? I'm planning to brine and do an herb butter rub under the skin. Was considering injecting with melted butter as well. Is that overkill? Finally, curious what rub you used on the skin in the pics above. Was considering some Yard Bird. Thanks!

I used Simply Marvelous Pecan rub for that particular turkey in the photos above. Yard Bird will work great though.

I don't think brining and injecting butter is overkill at all. I do the same thing.
I ALWAYS brine. In the past few years, I've also injected melted butter into the bird. I ALSO use herb butter under and over the skin too. The results are fantastic.


If there's one thing that I'd say MAY be too much is to do the herb butter AND a BBQ rub. Personally, I'd go with one or the other.

Those photos above were from THIS COOK THREAD that I put up (which apparently doesn't have the photos attached to it any more for some reason). While the results were fantastic, all I did was rub the bird with SM Pecan and put some apple juice with that same rub in the Cannon. I've also used a little beer mixed with AJ as well I think. Whatever seasoning I'm using on the bird, I'll just add some of that into the liquid that's in the cannon. Apple juice works well. I also rubbed the inside of the cavity well with the SM rub before loading on the cannon.


HERE is a turkey thread I put up about last year's Thanksgiving Turkey for our family that was outstanding. This has become my "go to" technique...just brine, butter injection, herb butter and cook it. If the turkey's too big to use the Cannon (usually anything larger than about 12 lbs won't work well on the Cannon), I'll just stuff the cavity with aromatics, truss it, rub it and smoke it.


Good luck!

[highergr0und]

Just put my practice turkey on my PBC!!! Used Amazing Ribs simon and garfunkel rub recipe, no injection since it already had a butter injection from the factory. Kind of annoying, but got a good deal on it from Kroger at $0.79 a lb. If it's good I'm going back tonight to get my Thanksgiving bird for about $12!!!