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

[BLANKS]

Originally Posted by Fat Woody

I'm doing the same thing - 22lb BB, brined, spatched and smoked around 325*; I have read elsewhere that spatchcocking will cut your cooking time in half, so if conventional method is 20 min/lb do we go 10 min/lb.? Plus I'd allow a little time for resting, at least thirty min.

Anyone else like oyster dressing for Thanksgiving? I'm thinking about making a pan in the smoker this year. Smoked oyster dressing sounds like it ought to be killer!

I'm doing a 22 lb bird on my UDS. After comments on the last page, I'm going to get up early and put the it on about 5 am. I'm figuring it should be done by 9:30 or 10:00. I decided not to spatch mine since I can lower the rack to where it fits under the lid (I did a turkey for Mother's Day in the spring and it worked great). Spatching chickens does seem to speed up the cook time, but I don't know that it cuts it in half. I'd keep an eye on the probes to be safe.

My family has always had oyster dressing for Thanksgiving. IMO, it's perfect as is. Smoking it may turn out, but if it doesn't you'll have to have a second batch. It ain't Thanksgiving without the oyster dressing!!

[Wampus]

Originally Posted by Jaman

a couple of spatchcocking related questions...

will spatchcocking a bird before brining impact/shorten brine time at all?

and for a 17# spatchcocked bird, cook temp = 300, I am guesstimating 2.5 hours. Does this sound about right?

I've always burned first then spatched for both chickens and turkeys.
I wouldn't think spatchcocking first would affect the brine time though, but I've not done it.

I'd guess closer to 4 hours at 300, but google cooking times to double check.
I know spatchcocking will help with more even cooking, but does it really shorten cook time that much?

[Tricky]

Just getting ready to put my bird on. I've got a UDS with a lower rack foil-wrapped brick for a heat shield, and my drip pan will be sitting on top of that below the turkey (which will be sitting on the upper rack).

I'm going to put some carrots and onions in the drip pan -- should I also add water, and if so how much? I definitely want gravy if possible -- I've heard some get great gravy in the smoker. What's your experience?

[silverfinger]

Originally Posted by Tricky

Just getting ready to put my bird on. I've got a UDS with a lower rack foil-wrapped brick for a heat shield, and my drip pan will be sitting on top of that below the turkey (which will be sitting on the upper rack).

I'm going to put some carrots and onions in the drip pan -- should I also add water, and if so how much? I definitely want gravy if possible -- I've heard some get great gravy in the smoker. What's your experience?

Use low sodium chicken broth instead of water.

[alane]

I've got a question on my turkey that I did on Thursday. Pictures are attached. It weighed 18 #'s and was obviously spatchcocked. I cooked it at 335 F (pit temperature under grate) for 3 hours 15 minutes. The breast was a little over 165 F when I pulled it, and the leg and thigh were a good 175 F.

The bird was good and moist, but there were two things that I would like to improve on. The first was the skin. It wasn't crisp at all and it still had some fat in it. The second and bigger concern was that the meet around leg and thigh were very difficult to get off. Even though they got up to 175 F, I'm thinking they could have used more time.

My question is if I need to "cook" my turkey longer, should I drop the temperature to 300 F and cook it to a little higher temperature, or should I just stick with the 325 F (I cooked 335 F) and just cook it a little longer? Drying the bird out is obviously the big concern with overcooking.

[cmcadams]

You can grill the skin for a bit to crisp it, spray it with a bit of vegetable oil. As to the meat, I don't expect the dark meat to come off all that easily like on a chicken. There are a lot more tendons and such on a turkey.

[alane]

Any advantage to going to a little lower temperature (300 F) and then boosting it at the end? Also, is there any way to keep the heat off the breasts (that just doesn't sound right) so the legs and thighs can get more?

[cmcadams]

I don't know that those temps would make a big difference. You can lay ice bags across the breast or lay it breast down on top of ice for a while, so the breast goes on at a lower temp than the thighs/legs.

[Jaman]

Originally Posted by Wampus

I've always burned first then spatched for both chickens and turkeys.
I wouldn't think spatchcocking first would affect the brine time though, but I've not done it.

I'd guess closer to 4 hours at 300, but google cooking times to double check.
I know spatchcocking will help with more even cooking, but does it really shorten cook time that much?

Thanks for the response (and this thread!)

bird came out great, prolly the best I have done to date (and yes, 4 hours was about right amount of time, although I started at 300, let it down to 225-250, then back up for last 45 or so to 350, with a fresh herb/butter mix under & on top of skin pre cook, skin came out nice n crisp)

[Wampus]

Our turkey turned out great this year!

[daninnewjersey]

I took my first shot at spatchcock turkey. Man...is that the way to go. My 18# bird took like 3 hours start to finish (preheated drum smoker). I also threw a hail mary and tried no brine. I didn't have the refrigerator space so I figured what the F let's try no brine. It worked out well...very well....

[earthling30]

Originally Posted by Scuffletown Smokers

In Chris lilleys book, he has a recipe for smoking a turkey where you foil from the beginning but cut a two inch hole in the top for "just the right amount of smoke". Anyone tried this method? Results?

I'm not sure if anyone responded to your question of not but I done something similar to this method for this years cook. I honestly didn't know he does this method because I don't have his book. I brined my turkey for 24 hours in a sugar/salt (reduced salt, butterball turkey) with pepper mix. Let set out of the brine another 12 hours before cooking it. Rubbed butter under the skin, rubbed olive oil and butter on the outer skin, placed tooth picks on through the skin to hold the skin in place, plus it held the foil off of the turkey. Placed the turkey in an aluminum turkey pan, made a tent with foil (also a 2in hole at the top) that covered the whole bird and all the way to the grate of my UDS. The idea was to direct the heat totally around the bird. Smoked hot and fast for about 3 hours 300-340 degrees, I honestly over cooked it just a little (180 degrees in some places, don’t have the wireless probe). The bird turned out great and juicy, I loved it more than a fried turkey. Picture of the final results in the link below, had very little juices in the pan, I'm guessing these staying with the bird.


http://www.bbq-brethren.com/forum/sh...d.php?t=176383

[dwfisk]

Originally Posted by alane

I've got a question on my turkey that I did on Thursday. Pictures are attached. It weighed 18 #'s and was obviously spatchcocked. I cooked it at 335 F (pit temperature under grate) for 3 hours 15 minutes. The breast was a little over 165 F when I pulled it, and the leg and thigh were a good 175 F.

The bird was good and moist, but there were two things that I would like to improve on. The first was the skin. It wasn't crisp at all and it still had some fat in it. The second and bigger concern was that the meet around leg and thigh were very difficult to get off. Even though they got up to 175 F, I'm thinking they could have used more time.

My question is if I need to "cook" my turkey longer, should I drop the temperature to 300 F and cook it to a little higher temperature, or should I just stick with the 325 F (I cooked 335 F) and just cook it a little longer? Drying the bird out is obviously the big concern with overcooking.

FWIW, I've started doing my spatch birds skin side down at 325*-350* and baste the cavity (up side) with herb-butter. The fat in the skin seems to render out completely and the skin is crispy, almost like fried without the breading.

Edit: that is one pretty bird, bet the taste was great!

[cmikey]

New to the board and would like to share my turkey smoking technique.

First, I don't brine. I probably would brine but I when I began smokin' I had not heard of brining. Since I have never had an issue with dryness I just think the extra effort isn't needed. I just give the bird a nice coat of rub using Legg's Old Plantation Sausage Seasoning for Pork:



Next I place the bird on the lower rack of my electric smoker with a dry rubbed pork butt on the rack above. Sort of an auto-basting arrangement:



I fill the water tray and chip tray and let it cook for 5-6 hrs at around 225. At this point, both the bird and the butt have all the smoke they need (which is convenient since all the chips are usually burned away) so I foil wrap and let them go until done (195 for the butt, loose joints for the turkey). If they finish before eatin' time, I cut the temperature back to 175 and let it hold until needed.

The result:



"Carving" the turkey is really just using two forks to lift the meat off of the bones:



Use the same two forks to pull the butt:

[earthling30]

Very nice.