What wood to smoke a turkey?

rolltide_21

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Dec 9, 2007
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well, you can just tell her to do like all respectable southern women do when it comes to recipes. leave out one crucial ingredient or small step. my grandmother and my wife's great aunt were notorious about doing that.
She does that regularly. For example, she’ll give you her biscuit recipe but not the process. She only taught it to me after we were married 10 years.


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dayhiker

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Dec 8, 2000
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I like to put the bird on the lower rack of my Weber and then criss cross a pound of thick cut bacon on the top rack. It drips down on the bird over the first couple of hours. It's wonderful.
 

Jessica4Bama

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Nov 7, 2009
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I’m in charge of the turkey this year, so I bought a fire and flavor brine kit. It has different herbs in it like rosemary, thyme and sage. My mom hates the smell and taste of sage, so she freaked out when she saw the brine had sage in it. Let’s hope the turkey doesn’t have a strong flavor of herbs or I’ll never hear the end of it. LOL. It smelled good to me while simmering the mixture, so who knows.
 

AlistarWills

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Jul 26, 2006
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So I got up at 5:30 and got the fire started. Been catching major grief from the family who refused to cook this turkey, that I should have smoked it yesterday. It need at least 12 hrs. We won’t have turkey for Thanksgiving was a comment I got.
So I got the bird on and smoked with apple and a smidge of hickory after brining it for about 14 hrs. I had a remote temperature probe in the breast and monitored from inside the house. Grill stayed around 300-350 for me. The thing seemed to be running towards the magic 165 in the breast quicker than I thought it should. Repositioned the probe and double checked that temp with an instant read thermometer and they matched. I let it get to temp then checked with instant read thermometer again and also checked the temp in the thigh to make sure it hit 175. When I pierced the thigh a 2” long stream of juice shot out. It literally took an hour and a half from the time I put it on the grill grate to pulling it. I did find out I have a friend who has done this multiple times. He indicated that it’ll cook a lot faster when brining.
Since we won’t eat for a couple more hours, it’s sitting in a roasting pan over about a half inch of water, tented with foil and sitting in a 170 degree oven (that’s as low as it’ll go).
I have been questioned multiple times how I knew it was done to the point I’m getting fed up with it. I’ll post back this afternoon and let you know how it tasted.
 

GrayTide

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Nov 15, 2005
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I'm pretty sure I was having the usual dilemma of trying to keep the temperature steady. That was the main struggle I always had. The electric fryer looks a lot better that way. I once accidentally dipped my hand into the boiling oil. I ran cold water over it for about five minutes and covered it up with a large Compeed bandage. Eventually the skin there sloughed off, but I never had a blister nor any kind of scar. When I was a kid, I used to use cold water while my mother yelled at me that I was just driving the burn in. (She believed in butter or Unguentine.) I lived long enough to be proven right... :D
Have not heard of Unguentine in at least 50+ years.
 

FitToBeTide

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Aug 19, 2001
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St. Florian

I've been using this brine for years. Imparts a really great taste to the meat. I usually do 2 turkey breasts.
- Put all the ingredients into a large pot and simmer for about 30 minutes.
- Then let it cool.
- Place meat in a non-reactive container and pour brine over meat.
- Cover and refrigerate for 3 days, turning meat occasionally if brine doesn't cover meat completely.
- Soak a few hickory chunks in water for 30 minutes before the cook, then place them and lump charcoal in the fire pit of the Big Green Egg, bringing heat to about 300 degrees.
- Smoke the turkey in for about 4 hours or until the meat reaches 165 degrees internal. (I usually do the cook a day ahead in case of a mess up. Stuff does happen, you know...)
- Enjoy.

Hope all you folks are having a happy, blessed Thanksgiving day!
 

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CrimsonBloodn62

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Feb 1, 2002
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I realize this isn't an answer to your question, but just wanted to mention I am probably going to get one of these in the near future for cooking a turkey - plus whatever other stuff I decide. I like the overall design, features, & associated benefits it provides.

There are a few different sizes available and looks like Lowes carries them as does Amazon, of course.


Good luck with your Thanksgiving dinner...hope it turns out well! :)
Bazza, I have this electric cooking fryers and it’s makes the best deep fried turkeys I’ve ever eaten. My turkey fryer is all digital.
 

Bamabuzzard

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Aug 15, 2004
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Where ever there's BBQ, Bourbon & Football
I have been questioned multiple times how I knew it was done to the point I’m getting fed up with it.
People can be very finicky and over-reactionary about food preparation. I've been cooking BBQ (on a personal level not business) for 20 some odd years. I've cooked for events such as church events, fundraisers, small groups and groups of up to 500 people. Many times BBQ'd meats have a "smoke ring" that appears on the outer edges of the meat that commonly gets mistaken by the average person as "under cooked". I can't tell you how many times I've had people walk up to me with their plate in hand and pointing to the smoke ring saying "Hey man, I just wanted to let you know that you under cooked this and it probably needs to go back on the smoker." Even after I explained to them it's not under cooked and it is a smoke ring produced in the cooking process. I've watched otherwise smart people walk a plate of good BBQ over to the trash and dump it.

I quit cooking for my mother in laws side of the family for this very reason. I got tired of the constant "is this done?", "it looks under cooked", "are you sure this is safe?" questions.
 
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