Thanks for the great turkey primer. I am doing a couple sacrificial turkeys before Christmas company comes over (Not stupid) I got a big bone in breast turkey, brined it as per recipe with some minor changes. Dissolved the Rub in a cube of butter and put it inside and out under the skin. Smoked with some Hickory and a little cherry wood. That thing cooked fast at 300 degrees. I took a half hour power nap after it was in the smoker for an hour and when I got up, the skin was already dark brown and split. I obviously should have put the cheese cloth on earlier. I also let it cook to 165 degrees instead of 160. I lowered the temp to give the cheese cloth some time on the bird. Another mistake. The extra cooking time and cheese cloth delay did dry out a little of the white meat. Once past that, the breast was moist.
So lessons learned. The flavor of the meat was wonderful. The brine and rub are very good. (By the way Costco sells a very nice smoked paprika in big containers. Ideal for rubs)
So thanks again. I will be on top of my bird next time...so to speak.
Should be a good Christmas. Twelve people and a twelve pound turkey may not go around. I'll probably also smoke a boneless Foster Farms turkey roll just to make sure we have enough of every kind of meat for everyone.
I also hate cleaning the smoker so I smoked seven kinds of cheeses before the turkey based on instructions I got on this forum. I smoked two kinds of cheddar, yellow and white, pepper jack, Gouda, Gruyere, Parmesan and creamy Toscano. People go nuts for these smoked cheeses. These are my favorites so far. Dubliner, Havarti and string cheese, not so much.