Turkey Reports - 2014

1. SMO45
2. 14 lb. whole turkey, 7.5 lb. breast
3. Brined with a modified Smokin' Okie Holiday Brine for 36/12 hours. Used a combination of Cookshack Spicy Chicken and two other rubs. Olive oil coating on the entire bird, onions & garlic in the cavity, a Salsa Verde paste under the skin. Coarsley chopped garlic cloves pushed into slits cut into breast meat.
4. 230 for 4 hours, then 270
5. 5/3.5 hours - 4 oz. hickory
6. Absolutely the best tasting turkey ever. Moist and juicy - breast was smoked breast down and the whole bird was flipped to breast down after 3 hours.

I did turkey two ways. 18#s each. One brined using Kikkoman recipe/Cavender's Rub/FEPG 1000 @ 350 X 4 hours. The other using COOKSHACK Chicken Rub brine/Montreal Chicken Rub/FEC 100 @ 250 X 4 hours then 350 X 1 hour. Mix of CS Fruitwood & Hickory pellets. Both came out perfect! Obviously more smoke on the 250/350 turkey. Sorry no pictures, (I was getting "the stink eye").

1. SM 024
2. 2 7.5 lb turkey breasts
3. Injected with the following ingredients:
2 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup garlic juice
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup honey
1 tablespoon hot sauce
6 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoon rosemary
2 teaspoon sage
1 bay leaf
2 teaspoon thyme
Covered birds with cheesecloth soaked in 2 sticks butter and 2 teaspoons poultry
seasoning.
4. 275* with cherry and pecan wood
5. 2.75 hrs total smoke time. Removed the cheesecloth with about an hour to smoke
them. Set out to cool for 30 minutes then carve.
6. Turkey was outstanding. Incredably moist and flavorful. A hint of sweetness/garlic and nice
rich smoke flavor.

1) FEC100

2) 14# 8% enhanced frozen bird

3) 48 hrs in Holiday brine, over night air dried in frig.

4) 275* for 3hrs, 325* for 1hr

5) 4 hrs cook time,30 minute rest time

6) pulled at 160* in breast, still amazes that my sm020 can cook a turkey faster at 275* than my FEC does, oh well, must be more direct heat. Excellent bird.

16# Kroger bird
Simple brine x 36 hours
Rubbed under skin with rosemary garlic rub.
Into cold AQ smoker set to 300, covered with butter soaked cheesecloth. Smoked with 1 piece hickory and one piece apple.
Removed cheesecloth at 1.5 hour mark.
Total time was 3.5 hours. Finished with breast at 162, thigh at 172.
Rested for 20 minutes, then dug in.

Best color on a bird I have ever had. The photo looks a bit darker than it actually was. Very moist meat. Could be a tad smokier flavor. The wings were really good.

Brining really helps. Pleased with results.

Thanks all--your posts have contributed to my success.

You have done it right! Thanks for the detailed info. Was there any crispness to the skin? I'll be trying this in my AQ in a couple of weeks. Thanks again!

Nice looking bird soleman.

only a few reports? Guess it's time to stop doing the reports, no one is doing turkeys.

Agree soleman. Nice looking bird.

Jay, the skin looked great but unfortunately not too crisp. Our family doesn't care for the skin too much anyway, but it would be nice if crisper.

10 Pound Turkey Breast. Brined for 48 hours in 8 ounces of salt, 8 ounces of white sugar and 8 ounces of dark brown sugar and a teaspoon of vegetable curing powder with some allspice and rosemary. Let the brined bird breast dry overnight in the refrigerator. Rubbed with some mayo mixed with rosemary and allspice. Pulled the skin loose and tucked slices of fatty Tamworth bacon right under the skin to ensure a good moisture distribution as they melt. Smoked with pecan pellets on the FEC 100 at 180 for the first hour then boosted to 260 for the duration, which was around 5 hours. Pulled at internal temp of 160. I think the color came out nice on this one even though I didn’t use a cheese cloth. This was the absolute moistest and well flavored breast we've done. Nice pink smoke ring from the pecan wood. I was a little worried that I got too much sugar in the brine but it came out fine. ---Ok, back to dinner!!

Beautiful bird. Bet it tasted great too...