Turkey Questions anyone?

I have only smoked Butts in my Smokette and love them, but I wanted to know if you can use the Smokette as a roaster for low roasting a full Turkey 912lb range) without using any wood? Not sure everyone around my house like the smoked flavor on thier Turkey but wanted to see if you had any suggestions if I wanted to use the smokette as a roaster?? Any help would be appreciated.

Oppps sorry, thats "SLOW" roast a turkey, and (12lb range)...sorry for the typos

I'm going to try my first one on Saturday. It is a 12+ #er. Safeway stores has the under 16# turkeys for $6.. not bad.. bought a few of them. They are up to 8% added solution in them.. so, I guess I won't brine them.

I plan on breaking the skin away and doing a salt pepper mix and poultry rub under the skin and inside the bird. Smoke it in the 008 until it is very close to the finish temp.. and then putting it in the weber kettle to crisp up the skin..

I'll let you know how it turns out.

Bill

Beach. If you're going to use it as a roaster, you certainly won't get a skin that you want. The skin needs higher temps to crisp up. But take the skin off and put a cheese cloth on (to keep it from drying out) and it'll work great.

Wee, usually, because I don't trust the % in those solution added, I don't brine BUT I've done brining on the less than 10% ones and cut my brining times in half and have a better bird. I'd say try it first and see what you think, no brining.

Smokin'

Smokin, I havent tried it yet, but dont you think this would work:

After the internal temp is reached, how about cracking the door and cranking the T-stat up to crisp up the skin?

I have used a Smokrama pressure smoker, and they sugest doing that with their smoker.

I am intrigued by the fryers- anyone ever try putting -maybe- an hour of smoke (lots of wood- high temp) on the turkey , and then doing the deep fry?

Must be missing something. I keep hearing about brining and then crisp skin. I have been smoking fish and turkeys for years using a wood fired smoker and for turkeys I find the meat salty when brined and I don't like salty flavors. As for crisp skin, yes! On ducks I look for a crisp skin. But, turkeys?

I like a well smoked turkey, so well smoked that when I cut the turkey I have to throw away the skin or it will get the meat dirty. Have I been smoking turkeys the wrong way all my life? Never had company refuse it.

smokemullet.

There are limitations on the smaller smokettes, one of them is the temp limit of 250. Also, by design they tend to keep the air very humid so the skin doesn't "dry" out enough to crisp up.

Brining is a salt solution and to some they'll think it salty, others not salty enough. Just like making your own rubs, you can reduce the salt in the brine (but you can't get rid of it).

If you're smoking turkeys to the point that you throw away the skin, that's fine for you. I think, what most people are trying to achieve is the Visual Effect you get from a 350 oven -- that golden skin look so when you put it on the table it looks great. Hard to do right in a smoker, because too much turns it dark.

That method I've posted here for years, about brining and then using cheese cloth works around here and get a good lookin' turkey.

Here's how my turkey's come out:

Well folks.. I finished my first turkey this afternoon.. In a prior post I said I'd do it on Saturday and that it was a 12#er. Well I did it on Sunday and it was a 14 3/4 # bird.

What I did wrong.. I ran my hand under the skin of the bird and broke the skin away from the keel. Next time I'll let the skin hang to the bone there.. it will help keep the end of the breast meat covered better. Once broken away it shrunk away from the breast back at the "hole".

I didn't cover with cheese cloth.. I thought I'd get home from church in time to cover it before things got too warm.. WRONG. We had a meeting after church and the bird was at 160. I pulled it from the smoker.. turned it breast side down and put back in smoker at 140* to hold till dinner time.

What I did RIGHT.. coated the bird under the skin and inside the cavity with Montreal Poultry seasoning.. and put it in the frig over night. Pulled the bird this morning and sprinkled a lot of McCormick Lemon Pepper inside the cavity and on the skin. Added a bunch of Pappy's seasoning on the outside also.

Smoked it at 225 for 5 hours with 3 oz of hickory and 3 Kingsford briquettes.. Held it at 140 for two hours.

This bird was kickin.. it was awesome. We had a great meal.. and I cut most of the meat off the frame.. leaving a liberal amount on it. The frame is now in a pot of water in the frig waiting for tomorrow morning to make a great STOUP.. Rachel Ray's word for Stew/Soup.

I'll probably use a couple of pounds of it to make the Neely's BBQ Spaghetti that Tom posted..

I'll probably do another before the real turkey day.. but we'll see.. Safeway has, as mentioned above.. a GREAT buy on birds < 16#. So I bought five of them.

I think I'll try to stay at about 11-12#. This 14#er touched that back and the door.. but didn't cause any off flavors from the 'tars' on the walls.

Thanks again for this great forum.

Bill

It grew 2 3/4 pounds in ONE DAY?


lol, just kidding!

Bill

Great post. Always good to hear from everyone how that goes and you provided a lot of details.

Yes, you found, like I did, that when you separate the skin it will shrink back. What I do is after putting the butter in, I pull the skin tight, fold it inside the cavity and use toothpicks to hold it in place.

I didn't use butter or mayo on this bird at all. Just spices. It was not juicy.. but it was far from dry.. I was surprised when it hit temp earlier than I figured.. I fully expected to have time to pull the bird from the CS, baste the outside of the bird after wrapping in cheese cloth.. but.. it was DONE WHEN IT WAS DONE

Next time.. I have the cheese cloth on hand and will add some baste to the underskin side of the bird.. I'm going to get a roast rack and flip the bird on the breast side about half way thru.

Bill

Bill, We did a turkey breast on the SM150. Just sprinkled with lemon pepper, no other spice. It turned out so wonderful. I took some to work and said it might be a little dry. Everyone said, "That's dry?" They know I want honest answers, so they don't hold back! I still don't know what everyone means by crisp skin. I know what tough skin is. Is crisp the same as a potato chip? Just wondering...
Peggy

Peggy,

What temp did you smoke at in the 150? It goes higher than the littler cookshacks, so that's the issue some have, since they only get to 250.

Yes, crisp like a potato chip or crisp like fried chicken. Did on yesterday in the FEC and for the last hour did it at 325 and it was perfect skin. To me, rubbery skin always come from something cooked less than 275. The skin can't dry out enough without killing the bird, and in the 150, the humidity stays high enough to keep the skin from drying out.

Smokin'

Cheesecloth is to keep the skin from being too dark?

Mark

Yessir

I'm sure this has been covered, but I can't find it. How far ahead of time can you make the brine before actually putting the turkey in it? 2-3 days, a week or what?

Yep

Probably a strange question but what were the 3 Kingsford briquettes for?? I have yet to do a turkey in mine but chickens turn out great --

Guess it is becoming habit from when I do beef and pork.. It helps bring on that $m@ke Ring that no one wants to mention Probably, for poultry.. it don't do nuttin. Sure didn't hurt a dang thing tho.

Bill

Brine can be stored for quite a while unless you're throwing weird stuff in there. It's just salt water with flavorings, so go ahead and make it in advance. Takes me about 3 or 4 minutes to make I've done it so much.

Once you put the bird in it, the clock starts ticking.

Cheesecloth does two things, 1 it absorbs some of the creosote/bitterness/dark smoke and if you soak it in butter/mayo/oil it helps to keep it moist.

Yup, Wee Willy answer the briquette question...the dreaded SR...

Been looking and cannot find the answer...how long can I keep a cooked turkey in the smoker oven to hold before eating??And what temp is best for a 2-4 hour hold?

Keep it above the danger zone temp of 140*. Don't know how long you can hold a yardbird without it drying out. Someone else will chime in!

I'd wrap it loosely with foil and just turn the smoker off, leave the door closed, if it's only 2 hours or so. You're not going to have a crisp skin after that long so the foil is more protective at that point.

For longer, set the temp to hold at 140.