Looking For Barbecued Turkey Recipe

Hey Rayvyn.. welcome to the forum..

Now that I have a CS.. I'm smokin the bird.. but, I've done about five smaller birds in the Weber kettle.. and they turned out great. Nice finish on the bird and they were succulent.. not dried out. With the grill you will have to do offset cooking.. I have racks in my kettle that hold the charcoal to the sides of the kettle..and I put a steel cake pan between the racks to catch drippings. I fill the sides with hot coals and let er rip..

Now that I'm getting a bit more 'sophisticated'.. I'd add a rub under the skin of the bird and inside the cavity. I used to only season with lemon pepper.

Try the kettle if that's what you have.. you'll be very pleasantly surprised. Heck, I bought one of those deep fryers for doing turkey.. and it's very good.. but, I doubt I'll use it for turkey any more... just for brewing beer.. The smoker has it beat to heck and back again.

rayvyn,
just follow willy's advice. it works like a charm. even tho i have an fec i still don't brine and my results are just like willy says.
the only thing is i use bell's seasoning and a little kosher salt. but just have fun and play around with it and you will do just fine
jack
ps. be careful. 25 years ago i started with a weber kettle, which lead to a webber bullet, which lead to an sm150 and an fec and to have somewhere to put them an 8 x 18 foot trailer lol

quote:

Originally posted by prisonchef313:
[qb] ps. be careful. 25 years ago i started with a weber kettle, which lead to a webber bullet, which lead to an sm150 and an fec and to have somewhere to put them an 8 x 18 foot trailer lol [/qb]

Thanks for the confirmation Jack.. somehow I KNEW this was a progressive disease

Bill

Steven Raichlen covers grilling a turkey in a Weber kettle grill in one of his books--can't remember if it's BBQ Bible or BBQ USA.

http://www.barbecuebible.com/store

Go to your local book store and peruse his books--they're good--not great--but good books.

I've also seen them grill turkeys on the PBS show America's Test Kitchen,

www.americastestkitchen.com

Rayvyn,

I agree with WeeWilly. I have done several turkeys in my Weber kettle 22.5 inch and I love them. I have brined once but have not injected and I must say my birds turn out moist enough for me just with your favorite rub.

To keep the breast moist you could rub some butter (maple butter is what I am doing) or pork fat or place some bacon/fat under the skin of the breast area. You can put lemons, oranges, apples onions etc. in the cavity for flavor but do not stuff for concerns about bacteria.

If your kettle is small and space is an issue just leave out the grill, place some firebricks on the charcoal rack and the turkey in a pan on that with coals on the sides for indirect. I usually soak my hickory chips and put in a foil pouch and sometimes also throw a fist size chunk of wood on the coals as well for smoke.

I have purchased the weber kettle ring and rotisserie attatchment. This setup is awesome! The ring creates plenty of room for indirect roasting and rotisserie chicken and turkey tastes way better than even the famous beercan poultry recipes. I think that the self basting affect really helps.

Rayvyn,
First advice, don't wait until T-Day to do this your first time.

We'll try to help, you've got some great answers already.

I'm confused by "I just want to barbecue the bird" so I apologize if I'm getting too detailed. Since I spend a lot of time helping people with Turkey, I'm just trying to figure out which question to answer. You will barbecuing, whether you grill or smoke (NO Forum regulars, let's not go down the "what is barbecue" definition again. That's the hard part. There may be some variations in what/how you're asking. "Barbecued" turkey you're looking for on a grill and then saying you want smoke flavor are two different birds.

Are you wanting to "grill" it, or smoke it? Sounds like you're wanting to smoke it on your grill. Grilling would be using direct heat and smoking is lower temps for longer times

If you're wanting "light hickory smoke" then you need to follow the smoked turkey recipe. You don't have to brine but it will help control the moisture if you're cooking it direct.

More info at:

Turkey 101

Thank you all for the suggestions. I'm not too experienced with all the barbecue terms. I'll follow the recipe WeeWilly gave. It's exactly what I had in mind. I'm not depending on this as my main turkey, Mom is baking a traditional turkey in the oven. I'm cooking this barbecued turkey to try it out.

Dennis, I've been planning to buy those Steven Raichlen books. I just started watching his show.

Scamer, I'm thinking of getting one of those rotisserie attachments to do fowl, lamb and beef. I�ll take your advice and put something under the skin to keep the breast moist. I�ll also put a lemon and/or pieces of orange in the cavity.

BTW. I was watching BBQ with Bobby Flay last night and low and behold they had a recipe for BBQed turkey except they did it in the oven. They rubbed the bird down with a lemon, cloves of garlic, and a little BBQ sauce. Then they put carrots, the lemon, and half an onion chopped in the cavity. Then she took the other half of the onion and stuck two cloves in it and put it into the cavity as well. I might try this one time but I don�t really consider it �real� BBQ because it was done in the oven.

I�ll let you guys know if it came out ok or if I produced a large lump of charcoal.

Thanks again all.

Rayvyn

Good Luck Rayvyn,

Just shoot for 160 temp in the breast, 170 in the thigh and you won't get a lump of coal.

Smokin'

quote:

Originally posted by SmokinOkie:
[qb] "Barbecued" turkey you're looking for on a grill and then saying you want smoke flavor are two different birds.

Are you wanting to "grill" it, or smoke it? Sounds like you're wanting to smoke it on your grill. Grilling would be using direct heat and smoking is lower temps for longer times
[/qb]

True, Smokin.. but, I've smoke flavored birds by simply taking a branch off an oak tree and putting a chunk on the coals.. but prefer to soak the chunks, wrap them in a layer of foil, poke a few holes in the wrapper and set on the coals.

I think I'm interpreting this correctly.. it is grilled with a smokey flavor.. no?

But, I agree with you in the truest sense that I understand.. smokin is low and slow.

Bill

Yup, grilled with smokey flavor.

Lets just say the defining of a term like BBQ is one of THOSE threads...

Looks like Rayvyn has the help needed.

Smokin'

Well here's how it came out. It didn't. I guess it just wasn't meant for me to barbecue a Turkey for Thanksgiving. First of all, I caught a bad cold two days before Thanksgiving. Then it got really cold. It's not supposed to get that cold in California! Then as we went to the store to buy a turkey, they were out. I think every store in Oakland, CA was having a turkey shortage. We finally found a 22lb turkey and cooked it the regular way. All the smaller turkeys were sold out. It came out pretty good. I guess I'll wait for Christmas to try and barbecue a turkey. Then I'll tackle my other ambition, deep frying a turkey.

Rayvyn

quote:

Originally posted by Rayvyn:
[qb] I guess I'll wait for Christmas to try and barbecue a turkey. Then I'll tackle my other ambition, deep frying a turkey.
Rayvyn [/qb]

Sorry you had some bad experiences and hope you are feeling better by now. We have tons of small frozen birds about an hour north of you here in Healdsburg. Safeway is loaded with them. I bought a bunch of them to put in the freezer.. under 16#ers were/are $5.99 till the stock runs out and over 16#ers are $7.99 (I think.. maybe $6.99) but they are too large for my Smokette.

Watch out for the deep frying.. they taste great.. but they can EXPLODE...

Bill

WeeWilly,

Bought one of them turkey fryers also, but have never used it for anything but steaming clams. Thats what I bought if for - don't have to worry about catching the house on fire, like so many people have done trying to fry a turkey with too much oil in the pot. A turkey was made for only one thing, to be smoked. An oven or fried turkey is just bland blackbird or chicken.

Got a real good SMOKED turkey salad for sandwiches if anyone wants it.

smokemullet

quote:

Originally posted by smokemullet:
[qb] WeeWilly,

Got a real good SMOKED turkey salad for sandwiches if anyone wants it.
[/qb]

OK S'Mullet.. fess up.. what is your recipe???? Huh? Huh? Inquiring bellies wanna know..

mullet,
come on man cough up the recipe
jack

Rayvyn,
Try smoking the turkey way before Christmas, but after you feel better. You won't be on a timetable, or feel like you have to do a professional job, AND you'll get to taste after the cold is all gone. You'll be a hero to anyone you share it with.
Peggy

quote:

Originally posted by Rayvyn:
[qb] Then I'll tackle my other ambition, deep frying a turkey.[/qb]

Don't listen to the smokeheads here--they'll smoke anything! Frying a turkey produces outstanding results. And only a little common sense is needed to keep it safe.

I fried mine for Thanksgiving and it was incredible.