Sunday Afternoon Turkey

[Trucky1008]

I wanted to do a practice turkey before Thanksgiving so I did me a #13.5 lb'er today. I soaked this guy in a brine for about 36 hours. I put a butter soaked cheesecloth over the bird for most of the cook, took it off with about 45 minutes to finish. Drizzled more butter once during the cook

This was my first smoked turkey and it turned out real good. The meat was very moist and tender and the skin got a nice crisp on it. The only change I would make is to reduce or eliminate the garlic in the brine as it was a bit strong. I'm definately ready for Thanksgiving.

 

[1_T_Scot]

Looks really good. I have never seen the butter soaked cheese cloth trick. Pretty cool.

 

[Meat Burner]

Don, looks like you are going to make some folk happy for Thanksgiving. Looks excellent. Make sure everyone does give thanks for how fortunate we are in this wonderful USA.

 

[Norcoredneck]

Lookin good!

 

[Midnight Smoke]

Nice looking bird!

 

[Rookie'48]

Now that's a turkey!

 

[Roo-B-Q'N]

Good looking turkey there Don, the single layer of butter soaked cheesecloth is awesome

 

[Trucky1008]

Good looking turkey there Don, the single layer of butter soaked cheesecloth is awesome

It really helped to keep the skin moist until I was ready to crisp it up. One other thing I did was to run the handle of a wooden spoon under the skin to separate it from the meat. Thanks

 

[barbefunkoramaque]

The ole hanky trick with cheesecloth. This belongs in Southern Living.

 

[Star-B-Que]

The turkey looks great. Thanks for sharing your secrets.

 

[Chipper]

That cheesecloth deal is a great idea. Looks like the way to go.
Thanks.

 

[Darryld]

Great looking turkey cheese cloth soaked is new to me great tip thanks.

 

[PaSmoker]

Better add more place settings at the turkey-day table.....if you smoke it, they will come.....Looks great!

 

[bigabyte]

That's a fine looking turkey.

 

[garyk1398]

Wow, Paula Dean would be jealous! Looks great!

 

[JimDandysNYDan]

I hope you don't want turkey sandwiches afterwards, because there will be no left overs....Nice Job.

 

[PaPaQ]

Real nice Turkey!!

 

[Scrooge Fan]

That looks terrific. How long did it cook? What temp.?

 

[Trucky1008]

That looks terrific. How long did it cook? What temp.?

Thanks for the comment. I started it out at about 170* for about an hour to allow for more smoke then cranked temp up to 330. It took 4 hr 15 minutes to reach 160* in breast.