Turkey: smoked or fried?

I'm certainly no expert,and I'd just as soon go to some good cook's house,eat the whole holiday meal,go home and nap on the couch to the ballgames.

Even then,we'll cook a fruitwood smoked,brined breast.

Smokin' Okie's Holiday Turkey Brine:

1 gal. water
1 c. coarse kosher salt
3/4 c. soy sauce
1/2 c. white sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. honey
1/2 c. apple cider vinegar
4 Tbsp. black pepper
3 - 4 Tbsp. chopped garlic
1 tsp. Allspice


If no time to brine,inject with Scottie's Creole Butter injection ,or Cajun Butter.

Scottie's Creole Butter
1/2 can of beer
1/2 lb. Butter
1 tsp. Bonesmokers Big Time BBQ Rub (any mild BBQ rub will do)
2 tsp. Paprika
1 1/2 tsp. White Pepper
1 1/2 tsp. Sea Salt
1 tbsp. Garlic Powder
1 1/2 tsp. Onion Powder
1 tsp. Coleman's Mustard
1 tsp. Ground Black Pepper
1/2 tsp. Cayenne Pepper
1/2 tsp. Tabasco

Warm mixture on stove until ingredients mix well. Let mixture cool a bit and then inject...

Chilled overnight,sliced for sanwiches.

yum

I'll be doing both. But as much as I like them smoked I have to have some Fried. Can't beat a fried Turkey.
Lee

Looks like I should add a poll.

A couple of years ago, we experimented for the family.

Did Fried, but not wanted that after eating it (wasn't the flavor, it was just too far from traditional).

Next year, we did an oven vs a brined/smoked. Did the two birds and did a blind taste test. 100% voted for the brined/smoked.

Turkey 101 covers the cheescloth method which WILL solve the problem of looks/rubbery skin in a Smokette. I do mine now in the FE100 because I can cook it on smoke and then hotter to finish the skin.

I also added J Appledog's Award winning Turkey recipe to Turkey 101 for another recipe.

Turkey 101

My wife does the turkey every year and she cooks it in the oven. We do the same meal for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Everything is home made and that adds to the Holiday charm. However, I want to smoke a turkey in my 009 one day. Next Spring I'll smoke a turkey. However, I would like to smoke a ham around Christmas after seeing Mainly Dave's ham.

i know you all are going to shoot me but the way we like our thanksgiving turkey the best is to use our rusty trusty 29 buck bullet and just smoke it. guess just because it has been a traditon with us for i guess 25 years. i think peg likes it cause i am not under foot in her kitchen since i am always fritzing with the fire. heck for the turkey i don't even use a thermo just old notes and a wet finger in the wind.
jack
but after that it sure is nice to get back to the fec and sm150

quote:

Originally posted by prisonchef313:
[qb] i know you all are going to shoot me...[/qb]

You are correct -- actually around here we say "get a rope". So now that you're selling you 150 and FEC and sticking with your El Cheapo, how much you want for them

quote:

Originally posted by Dennis-UT:
[qb] Just curious how alls yous turkey experts prefer your birds. Personally, I don't care much for turkey and have found that the fried birds are much more to my liking.

What is your favorite method for preparing turkey? ...smoked? ...fried? ...smoked then finished in oven? [/qb]

After a lot of experimenting, I finally nailed (at least for me) the perfect bird. 10-12 lb. fresh turkey (101 brined). Some chopped up onion and a lot of crushed garlic in the cavity. Smoke for 2 hrs. @225F. Use 2-3 oz. apple. Finish on a rotisserie. I use a Weber gas with 3 horizontal burners. Use the back burner only. Set on medium.

had to do about 6 turkeys for work party no time to smoke them all the way (my favorite ) so I brined them injected them and then smoked all of them for about 2 hours then finished them in the fryer turned out great a big hit.

I love my new Amerique and I'll eventually do a turkey but, for Thanksgiving, the family insists on a fried turkey done in my Big Easy oiless fryer. My son is a professional chef and is convinced that there is no better way to do a turkey. I have done several this way and they always turn out PERFECTLY tender and juicy, with golden, crispy skin. And I really like the clean-up time - about 10 minutes.

Big Easy sounds good.. I've watched a number of videos on You Tube etc.. sure looks easy n FAST. Might be fun to smoke the turkey for an hour and then put in the B.E.

Note: Edited/update info in first thread

The Big Easy is, well, very easy! It is not quite as fast as frying a turkey in oil though. Cook time is about 10-15 minutes per lb., depending on how cold it is outside. All you do is drop the bird in the basket, lower the basket into the unit and turn it on. I cook to an internal temperature of 170 degrees.

I usually inject a marinade but they come out great with or without the injection. The fryer has a mesh lid that reflects the infrared heat. It is best to cook with the lid off until it's near done. Put the lid on until the turkey is as brown as you like it. When you take the lid off, it stops browning.

All the grease drips through a hole in the bottom into a drip pan. You can use the drippings for gravy or just discard it. If you use an aluminum pan to line the drip pan, you can cut the 10 minute clean up time in half.

I do plan to try your suggestion about smoking for an hour before going into the fryer, Smokenque. We have a second bird that I'll probably do that way for Christmas.

I thought maybe some of you would like to know how things went with frying the turkey. Today is the day we are having our family Thanksgiving and the turkey just finished. Here are the details:

12:30pm - Cleaned out the turkey and injected with 1/2 bottle of Lemon Butter & Garlic marinade.
12:40pm - Put turkey into fryer. Lit fryer. Put cover on. Meat temperature - 36 degrees. Outside temperature - 30 degrees.
1:15pm - Meat temperature - 66 degrees. Outside temperature - 30 degrees.
1:40pm - Meat temperature - 117 degrees. Outside temperature - 30 degrees. Removed cover. Turkey is PERFECTLY brown.
2:20pm - Meat temperature at breast - 170 degrees. Removed turkey. SMELLS AWESOME! Wrapped in foil, then a towel, and placed in cooler.

Bottom line - cooking took less than 7 minutes per lb. even while the outside temperature was below freezing.

The only bad part is that I still need to wait about 3 hours to eat!

Happy Thanksgiving,

Smokin', roughly how long do you smoke it before you crank up the heat to finish it?...and to what temp setting? I'm doing a practice bird on wednesday in the fec 100. Thank's

quote:

Originally posted by SmokinOkie:
Looks like I should add a poll.<br /><br />A couple of years ago, we experimented for the family. <br /><br />Did Fried, but not wanted that after eating it (wasn't the flavor, it was just too far from traditional).<br /><br />Next year, we did an oven vs a brined/smoked. Did the two birds and did a blind taste test. 100% voted for the brined/smoked.<br /><br />Turkey 101 covers the cheescloth method which WILL solve the problem of looks/rubbery skin in a Smokette. I do mine now in the FE100 because I can cook it on smoke and then hotter to finish the skin.<br /><br />I also added J Appledog's Award winning Turkey recipe to Turkey 101 for another recipe.<br /><br /> Turkey 101