Turkey - smoke that sucker!

[Rambler]

Thx ERD, we may give it a try this yr. I don't like the ash either. Our smoker with the separate firebox helps with this. Its also better to use mesquite charcoal chunks instead of the briquettes. You can still get some ash, but if you do, its not gritty like the ash from the briquettes...I think they must put some sand in them as a filler, or something.

R

 

[unclemick]

I tried to smoke a turkey once, it keep falling out of the cig paper.....

Yep - someone actually told that joke at dinner - 14 people including us and the neighbors - smoked turkey, ham, yams, the infamous green bean dish, mac/cheese, mashed potatos, dressing, and three others I didn't recognize - biscuits, cornbread - apple cobbler thingy, pumpkin pie, and choc/vanilla pudding/crumbly dessert of some kind.

Got a passing grade on the turkey - although I graded myself a tad to the dry side based on the white meat.

Treated ie had some fluids put in at the factory - 15.5 lbs. Ran fit check in the smoker before thawing.

8 hrs /up at 1 am - lump charcoal, apple/hickory chips soaked in water overnight for smoke, two quarts apple cider in water pan instead of beer or white wine - sale at the place I bought the turkey - 79/lb for the artificially plumped up vs $1.49/lb all natural.

The outside was brushed with Crisco and sprinkled with Hy Vee season salt - came out dark brown like a sealed skin.

No dressing - mostly open - one onion and one green apple cut in big chunks.

Kept the lid on - added charcoal/smoking chips/more cider through the sidedoor as needed(three times).

Used 30 min/lb - at 16 lbs - the red button had popped and a meat thermometer inserted in the thigh pronounced it done.

So now my neighbor wants to get back to smoking again - his old smoker wore out.

I took that as a yes vote.

heh heh heh - .

 

[clifp]

+1 on the brine. I think it makes the meat nice and moist so you don't have to be paranoid about over cooking.

I generally buy fresh turkeys from Costco. They are bit more expensive than frozen, and allegedly are better. Anybody know if that is true?

The turkey at my mom's house was organic at cost $3.59/lb, both she and I think that is crazy expensive, she said it tasted slightly different than regular turkey but not a big difference.

The big thing in Hawaii is Emu cooked turkey (The same method they use for cooking pigs for Luaus.) never tried one maybe next year.

 

[ERD50]

I generally buy fresh turkeys from Costco. They are bit more expensive than frozen, and allegedly are better. Anybody know if that is true?

I have heard Alton Brown and others comment, and it seems you need to read between the lines a bit on this. I got the impression from them that a fresh bird, if handled properly (and you can never know that unless you see it every step of the way) may be better, but frozen is very good and much less subject to damage in handling once frozen.

DW goes to the butcher to get fresh, because we picked up the tradition when her folks couldn't handle it any more, and they got fresh. And so it goes. I doubt I could tell a difference, but at least we don't have to worry about getting it defrosted, we pick it up on Wed and keep it in a cooler until brine time (and brine in that cooler in a bag).

We get so busy getting dinner on the table, I feel like I never really fully appreciate the turkey until relaxed leftovers. But it was moist, no question about that.

-ERD50

 

[dizzy]

I got our turkey at the local safeway. They had 3 different brands of frozen, all of which upon close inspection had some sort of salt added. I opted for the generic safeway fresh which claimed to be minimally processed, and had no added salt. Brined and smoked, came out great. I'm not sure if its always the case that frozen == salt added, but I would certainly look closely at the label. NB: Salt added frozen are actually not bad, you just don't want to brine them and add more salt. e.g. in a pinch a defrosted butterball is not a bad plan B if you don't have the time to brine your own.