BBQ Smokers

[s219]

If any of you have a fool-proof method for smoking a turkey, please post it. I have tried smoking turkeys 2 or 3 times with a modicum of success. They have been a bit too dry and the skin a bit too leathery. I will put my ribs and pulled pork up against anyone, but my turkeys need some attention. I have never used brining, mainly because my chemistry background says that it should have the opposite effect; i.e. drying it out instead of moisturizing it...but I've been wrong before.

I have done it maybe 7-8 times for Thanksgiving or Christmas, and all have been great except for one time. My wife gets a free holiday turkey from her employer. They had always been pre-brined birds, but that one year it was from a different supplier, and not brined. I didn't make the connection until after the bird was cooked and was a lot drier than normal. It was fine for soup the next day, but I was not happy with the main course at all.

Not sure I have tricks other than seeing the value of a brined bird (whether you do it or it's pre-brined), and then the previous suggestion to butterfly to cut down on cooking time and even out the heat exposure so that the dark meat can cook properly without overcooking the breast. I'd rub the bird inside and out with my favorite spice mix for poultry (paprika, salt, pepper, brown sugar, and cumin). I only ran smoke for about 30% of the cooking time, and used hickory exclusively. I would rotate the bird (really, just spin it around on the horizontal grate, swapping left and right) every hour, and baste the skin every 30 minutes with a mix of oil, vinegar, beer, and bbq sauce. When right, the birds always came out tasting like a marriage of turkey and ham, and were a lot more interesting than a baked turkey. The skin always looked dark brown and like it would be awful, but was fantastic.

This year, my brother in law got the bug to BBQ so I am happy to defer to him. We'll sample his results in a couple hours....

To be honest though, I much prefer smoked pork over turkey. To me, turkey is almost like beef brisket, in the sense that you have to do a lot of things right for it to come out acceptable. Pork, on the other hand, is always a home run no matter what I do. Seems hard to screw up, and with a minimum of prep and experience, you can turn out smoked pork that is fantastic.

 

[sseelhoff]

Ahh, the smell of smoke. Between that and the pie in the oven, it smells like a holiday. Nice sunny day with cool temps. Football on the television. Nirvana.

 

[JRobyn]

As I am in the middle of smoking my first turkey, I cannot give any advice, but after reading about fifty articles about how to do it I conclude that there probably isn't a single "best" way. Having said that, virtually all the recommendations I saw just said "do this then that" etc. The one site that really went into the science and technique of smoking/bbq was amazingribs.com. This is their smoked turkey recipe and explanation: Barbecue Turkey And Grilled Turkey: The Ultimate Smoked Turkey Recipe . Unfortunately I discovered that site after I had committed to brining etc but I was very impressed with the science of cooking behind amazingribs.com recommendations. If you like America's Test Kitchen (and their cookbook Best Recipes), you will like amazingribs. Evidence based BBQ.

Of note, they do no brine, they don't stuff, nothing in the cavity, no basting, they use dry salting and a simple rub with no secret ingredients and they use a higher temperature and shorter cooking than most smokers do. I intend to try it next time. This time I'm using a brined turkey and smoking at 225 for 30 minutes/lb. I expect the skin to be less than desirable (true of all low and slow smokes I am told) so might put it in the oven for half an hour at 400 in lieu of the last half hour of smoking.

Agree! (see post #37) I thought I had posted a pic back there, but musta forgot. Here's how my last one turned out using their methods exactly....



- Jay

 

[PhysAssist]

I would think that any mild pepper, a Pablano or even a Bell pepper would work, as long as you could fashion them to a manageable size. Anaheims, I believe are the same thing as the Hatch pepper and also known as a long green. Seems to me that I have occasionally seen some small, bagged, sweet and various colored peppers for sale in our stores here. Don't know why they wouldn't work. Never thought about you folks up North not having the same produce as we do here; but my daughter used to live in Walled Lake Michigan, and she complained that she couldn't find raw peanuts or okra. Good luck IT; let us know how yours turn out.

I favor Hungarian Wax peppers- lightly hot so I can slice them for sandwiches and not so big as to be unwieldy- if you cut them in half across the length, they would be good for two bite-sized pieces.

Thomas

 

[PhysAssist]

One of my favorite food show personalities and food science guys Alton Brown explains the science behind brining turkeys [and other meats] on this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKr1rByVVCI

That being said, I made a big mistake that proves that the video speaks the truth, when I was brining my first [and only so far] self-caught salmon fillet because I hadn't read the brining recipes and over-salted it [and I was trying to make sure it survived the wait in the frig, until I could kludge up something in which to smoke it.]

Despite multiple rinses and not adding anything further to it after rinsing, it smoked well and got a great smoke ring and smoky flavor, but was WAY too salty even for me, a confirmed salt-a-holic to eat, even when I tried to bring down the sodium content by adding sour cream and may ot make a smoked fish dip...

Thomas

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Do you use a water bowl while you're smoking? The one I use holds about a gallon of water (I generally put herbs and such in the water also) then I place the bowl very near the coals. I've not noticed any drying and I've not had any complaints from others

The only reason I asked is that while the title of this post is BBQ smokers, there are lots of us that also do cold smoking, for which I don's use a water bowl.

I have never used a water bowl on the Big Green Egg; it's not really set up for it, but I suppose it could be adapted...perhaps a baking pan with the wire support...I'm willing to try it.

 

[TBDonnelly]

Food for Thought. Cross spit rotisserie smoked(Jack Daniels Oak Barrel Chunks) turkey on 26" Weber kettle. :licking:

 

[Gunny]

TBDonnelly - that last picture is making my stomach growl!!! That had to have been some great eating!

 

[2LaneCruzer]

Here's a link to a recipe w/pictures for the Atomic Buffalo Turds on the Big Green Egg. This is pretty much the way I make them, except I put the other half of the Jalapeno on top and cook mine at about 250 degrees.

The Big Green Egg Users Forum

 

[IslandTractor]

Food for Thought. Cross spit rotisserie smoked(Jack Daniels Oak Barrel Chunks) turkey on 26" Weber kettle. :licking:

Temp? Time? Weight?