First Turkey This Weekend

Hey SlimJim!

I would check out some of the old turkey reports on some ideas. If I remember right 2007 report, Smokin' put down estimated time per lb for brined birds for the different temps.

I brined my 8% enhanced bird for 48hrs and thought my next practice bird would be longer, so I think you'll be fine on the 60hrs and if not at least it is a practice bird, ya know!

I would diffidently finish at 325* if you eat the skin, but hey, I'm not much on skin eating on turkeys. I'm gonna try 275* in my 020 for this practice session.

I would use a long spoon and pull the skin loose, so I could put the rub on under the skin, that's what I did on my first bird and even add some stick butter under the skin. I'll do this again.

I'm gonna start thawing my bird out this weekend and practice next weekend, a guy doesn't want to wait till the last minute to practice.

Heck I might try slicing an orange for the cavity.

Thanks for reminding me that I need to be practicing!!!

Hey Cal,

I did find the approximate times in Turkey 101. Not sure how I missed them the 1st time, but I did. Looks like 3.5 hours for my bird.

Anybody have any input on my cook temp and time in the brine? Do I rub or just go with the brine? Maybe I should inject? Soooo many choices!

Cook temp looks fine, but poultry picks up smoke easily so you might want to cook at a straight 300 or 325*. I'd cut the brine time to no more than 36-48 hrs on your first attempt to see how you like it. You'll taste the salt if brined too long. You can always add brine time on the next bird, but if it's too salty for your taste, then there's no fixing it. Brine, apply a nice poultry rub and then let the smoker do the rest. Enjoy.

I put the bird in the brine last night (Wednesday) and won't cook it until Saturday afternoon. Should I pull it out of the brine on Friday night and let it sit in the fridge until I cook it on Saturday?

This is how I did my 1st turkey, so my experience is limited on turkeys,but I've done a few whole chickens both ways and can't really see much difference.

As Pags pointed out, if your concerned about salty taste, you might want to rinse your bird after brining.

Not sure how your brining setup is, but make sure it is totally covered by brine and kept under 40* the whole time.

48 hours max on the brine. Is this a solution enhanced bird, how much?

Pull it out Friday and let it air dry in the fridge.

Hi Jim,

These are the things I have learned along the way that work for my family:

We brine for 1-2 hours per pound, for us anymore time and we notice the salt.

Rinse the bird after brining and discard the brine. Pat dry and let the bird dry in the fridge until the skin is tacky (kind of the same principles to brine and dry a salmon).

Consider using a rub with less salt. The reason is due to the brine. I forgot to take this into consideration once and the turkey was a little salty. The rubs we use are either the Cookshack Chicken rub (don't brine as long since you can't vary the salt content) or this recipe found on amazingribs.com called Simon & Garfunkel Spice Blend.

Ingredients
1 tablespoon dried crushed parsley
2 tablespoons dried crushed sage
1 tablespoon dried crushed rosemary
1 tablespoon dried crushed thyme
1 tablespoon dried crushed oregano
1 tablespoon dried crushed basil
1 tablespoon dried crushed bay leaf
1 tablespoon ground black pepper
1 tablespoon dried crushed hot red pepper (cayenne or chipotle)
1 tablespoon table salt
1 tablespoon white sugar

We usually cook birds around 325 to 350 to get crispier skin. We usually leave the bird open. As for cooking time we go by temp. We pull the turkey when the breast meat reaches 160 to 163 as the carry over cooking should bring you over the 165 recommended temp. If you are monitoring thigh meat the temps will be different. This should roughly be around 3 to 4 hours. We also put a pan on a lower shelf to collect drippings for gravy.

For wood we use cherry or apple. If you are worried that the smoke may over power the bird use less wood initially and adjust to your taste on the following birds. Like our forum gurus say take good notes...

The bird will keep a few hours wrapped up but you then run the risk of the skin getting moist. If you discard the skin this shouldn't be an issue.

Once you get the bird to your liking you will never go back to making your bird in the oven...

Good luck!

SO This bird says up to a 6% solution. I made a double batch of your brine so I could cover the bird. I also had to dilute it with an extra 1.25 gallons of water to cover. I will pull tomorrow night and let it dry.

Does the extra water change when I should pull it?

biere.froide,

Thanks for the detailed tips! I'll look for a low salt rub to go with it.

6% isn't enough for me to worry.

I go max of 48 hours, not sure 60 would be long, but unless you want to experiment, just pull it out and chill it.

Extra water will just dilute the solution, which is okay for longer brines.

Unlike biere, I like to brine mine for 3 to 4 hours per pd. We just fine we like that taste.

Salt is SO subjective that's why it's best to experiment now, not on TDAY.

SO,

Any rub recommendations that go well with your Holiday Brine?

Well I'm not Smokin'...BUT, I can tell you that tastes are so subjective.

In fact me and a master judge at the last contest got into a little discussion after she tried to tell me what my tastes were. Lets just say I told her she needed to go out and join the fine cooks, maybe she could learn something about BBQ.

I use McCormick chicken rub for a lot of my poultry rubs.

I don't have a set rub for the Holiday Brine. Basically anything you want ot use on Poultry would go well.

I would use some of the rub, make a compound butter and add that under the skin.

quote:

Originally posted by SmokinOkie:
I don't have a set rub for the Holiday Brine. Basically anything you want ot use on Poultry would go well.

I would use some of the rub, make a compound butter and add that under the skin.

I use Lawry's Perfect Blend Seasoning and Rub from Sam's Club for chicken and poultry. Love it, love it, love it! Always gets me compliments...

SmokinMAINEiac

Ditto the rub.

RandyE

A couple more questions guys:

* Do you loosen the skin on the legs and underside too? I'm finding it a little difficult in those areas.

* Have you used olive oil instead of butter to apply the rub and apply to the cheesecloth? Not to get all healthy on you, but I'd prefer to use olive oil.

Thanks.

SJ

I haven't used olive oil on turkey but substitute it (and grapeseed oil) on lots of things. I would think it'd do the job for you. Also, the grapeseed oil has a lighter flavor which might work better on turkey. It's also healthier than olive oil if you can believe that.

The cheesecloth is to keep the turkey from getting to dark with smoke.

On some of my chickens I will hit the breast area with Pam spray, they make all different types/flavors of this.

I do use the olive oil, and then the Lawry's rub.

Run the smoker at around 275 for the first hour then up to 300 till it comes up to temp. I don't pull on the skin.

My mom likes it better than her own turkeys. Very moist, and not an over powering smoke flavor. I use apple wood for the smoke.

RandyE

Okay, here's how it went. I brined the bird for 48 hours in a diluted version of Smokin's Holiday Brine. It was diluted because I added more water to cover the bird. I cooked the bird at 325* for about four hours until done. Bird was very moist and tasty, but I would have liked a little more smoke and brine flavor. I didn't taste any smoke, but that may be due to having a snoot full of smoke from cooking it!

Next time, I will use the full strength brine and cook at a lower temp to generate more smoke.

Thanks again for all your help.

SJ

You'll get less smoke flavor cooking it hot in the CS, because it's not burning that much wood.

The challenge is smoke it lower and you don't get good skin. You might experiment with a hybrid of lower smoke with a finish at higher temp.

48 hours, even with a diluted brine should have been enough, maybe just increase the quantities of some of the other flavors/seasonings.

I'm thinking about my doing my first turkey. I've done lots and lots of chickens but this would be the first time for a big bird. While Turkey 101 says to put in a hot smoker of at least 250 degrees, everyone here is talking about 275. My smokette only goes up to 250. Any issues I should think about? Is it okay to do a big turkey in?
Thanks !

When you say BIG, give us some idea how big that might be?

I'm aware of your chicken smoking, because if I remember right you helped me down the correct path on my 1st. If you want skin better than what you get on your chickens you'll need to finish in the oven or on a grill. I would think preheating is a must and make sure you loosen the skin and use your butter/rub spread under the skin.

I wouldn't dump any moisture before the turkey was smoked half or 2/3rds of the way, but hey, I've never smoked a turkey in your smokette so I'm just guessing on this.

Like Smokin' has always told us, "keep good notes".

Good Luck and have FUN!

quote:

Originally posted by CarrollFamily:
.. My smokette only goes up to 250. Any issues I should think about? Is it okay to do a big turkey in?
Thanks !

Plenty of people smoke them at 225, 250 etc so you'll be fine. The real issue is one of the skin. Lower temps just don't all the fat under the skin to render, so you'll get that "rubbery" texture that people don't like.

Easiest option is make it look pretty, but when you serve it, remove the skin when slicing.

If you want the skin to be better, you might just crisp the skin on a grill or the oven inside.

You'll be fine at the lower temp. If you haven't done it at 250, go for it, keep good notes and DEFINITELY do a practice run. Turkeys are pretty cheap to practice with.

Thanks Cal and Smokin,
When I say "big," I'm just comparing it to a chicken...normal turkey is what I'm thinking about.
I appreciate the reassurance. Thanks !