Smoked Turkey Prep Timing

[frognot]

Gonna smoke a 14 lber Thanksgiving morning which is seven days away.

Dry brining with Naturiffic Harvest Brine.

When should I start thawing?

 

[Curt.P]

Mike from Oakridge emailed a handy chart yesterday. To defrost a 14# bird, 3.5 days in the fridge, 7 hours in water. Says 12 hour rest in refrigerator after injecting, not sure how long for a dry brine.

 

[Kabuki Jo]

Move to the fridge on the 19th, start brining on the 22nd.

 

[tom b]

I took mine out of the freezer Tuesday night, will apply harvest brine Saturday afternoon and wrap for 48-60 hrs then air dry in frig till cooking time

 

[SirPorkaLot]

Mike from Oakridge emailed a handy chart yesterday. To defrost a 14# bird, 3.5 days in the fridge, 7 hours in water. Says 12 hour rest in refrigerator after injecting, not sure how long for a dry brine.

People are still injecting turkey? I thought that fad passed back in the 80s.

 

[SirPorkaLot]

3 days of thawing. 2 days of dry brining (14lbs X 3 hours per pound = 42 hours)

You can accelerate the process by washing the ice glaze off a frozen Turkey, then dry brine as normal with an extra 2 days added (4 total days instead of 5)
The salt in the dry brine will accelerate the thaw.

 

[Fooball]

People are still injecting turkey? I thought that fad passed back in the 80s.

Is that a waste of time in your opinion John?

 

[SirPorkaLot]

Is that a waste of time in your opinion John?

Injecting really does nothing to help the juiciness, but it does add flavor.

So if buttered Cajun flavor inside your turkey, is your goal, it should work great.

 

[Curt.P]

People are still injecting turkey?

No idea. It was on the chart so I mentioned it.

 

[Fooball]

Injecting really does nothing to help the juiciness, but it does add flavor.

So if buttered Cajun flavor inside your turkey, is your goal, it should work great.

Well we try adding other flavors to other cuts of meat with dry spices, but you can't really get dry spices into the middle of a large turkey breast or leg.

So I guess injecting ain't such a bad idea to add a little pizzaz to your gobbler.

Maybe mix some poultry rubs or spices with a little water and inject it. Like making your own Tony Chachere's Butter.

 

[Stingerhook]

Mine will come out tomorrow, but then again my fridge in the garage is kept cold.

 

[frognot]

Thanks for all the feedback. Pretty sure I knew the answer but John (SirPorkaLot) is my dry brine expert and it's good to be sure. Thanks to my man Tom (miss ya, brother!) for the reminder about air drying the skin.

Plus thought some of y'all might need reminding.

My old beer fridge died last year so have limited space but my daughter gave me a little office fridge she wasn't using which will hold a turkey.