Smoked Christmas Turkey, a digital diary...

[Saiko]

7:30am. Fired up the chimney of charcoal. I use an all wood fire, but start off with charcoal

8:00am. Starting with a big fire since it's below freezing.

100% Georgia cherry wood.

8:00. Pulling from the brine. I used 1 1/2 cup kosher salt and 1 1/2 cup brown sugar in 2 gallons of water.

Going to inject with 1/4 cup sweet wine, 1/4 cup butter and 1/4 cup honey.

8:30 am. Injecting the bird.

8:45 am. Prepped and ready to roll.

9:00 am. Locked and loaded. I have the bird backwards since I'm going to flip the bird" after 3 hours. Couple of fatties thrown in.

Preheating wood, "rock mod" in action.

12:00 noon. Halfway home and I "flipped the bird". Basting every hour now with a pump spray full of peanut oil.

1:00 pm. Once the charcoal bed is gone, I just crush up burned wood with a pair of tongs to form a new bed of embers. I throw 1-2 pieces of preheated wood on top of the embers.

1:00 pm. New wood bursts right into flames.

3:30 pm. All done! Looks good!

4:00pm. Time to eat! My neighbor put it best: "this turkey is to die for!" Very moist and sweet, and only a couple of people used gravy, most people just ate it plain. Best turkey I've done so far.

 

[BrooklynQ]

Nice job!

 

[hornbri]

thanks for the pics, looks great.

 

[tommykendall]

Nice job Saiko. Great looking cherry wood too.

 

[racer_81]

Anybody else notice that stovetop is waaaaaaaay too clean?

 

[BBQchef33]

Anybody else notice that stovetop is waaaaaaaay too clean?

damn, thats the first thing i noticed too!! Wayyyyy to clean.. gotta add a few gobs of grease and a spoonfull or 2 of rub.

 

[Samichlaus]

Great looking bird!

racer 81 & Phil are correct.

 

[Neil]

Nice job Saiko, looking real good there.

 

[Saiko]

Anybody else notice that stovetop is waaaaaaaay too clean?

Relatives for Christmas = Cleaning Lady = Clean Stovetop.

I'm cooking fried chicken and black-eyed peas for dinner tomorrow, so it will be back to normal

 

[BigBelly]

OMG - that bird looks great! Not to mention the look of that Cherry wood almost gave me wood (mental note I need more cherry wood)!

 

[Solidkick]

Very nice documentation! Excellent post!! TY for sharing!

 

[Bill-Chicago]

Awesome,

but how were the fatties?

PS, put fatties higher in smoke chamber, IMO

Thanks Saiko

 

[kcquer]

PS, put fatties higher in smoke chamber, IMO

You're way more patient than I am, those babies go right next to the baffle for me, git 'r done mod!!

Saiko, awesome looking bird Brother! The sliced breast looks waaayy juicy, great job great pics.

 

[Saiko]

Not to mention the look of that Cherry wood almost gave me wood (mental note I need more cherry wood)!

There's more where that came from

 

[Saiko]

Awesome,

but how were the fatties?

PS, put fatties higher in smoke chamber, IMO

Thanks Saiko

I loved the fatties, but I think the 3-2-1 method may have been a little too long for that size. When I pulled them at 3 hours, they were plump and juicy. After 2 more hours in foil, they shrunk a bit and dried out just a tad. I was also running my temps a little higher since I was doing a bird (250 or so), so that overcooked them a bit.

I would have put them higher, but I didn't want them dripping over the bird. I'm real anal about presentation, so I didn't want drops of sausage grease spotting my turkey rub, lol.

 

[Solidkick]

I would have put them higher, but I didn't want them dripping over the bird. I'm real anal about presentation, so I didn't want drops of sausage grease spotting my turkey rub, lol.

I would have been anal the other direction, I wouldn't have wanted turkey blood dripping on my fatties. Higher shelf, outside edges away from the turkey mod.