My daughter brined a turkey in orange and cranberry brine and wants me to smoke it tomorrow. My smoker is the old SM045. What wood would I use for this brine? I only use chunk wood and have many kinds.
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Although I do not smoke poultry, my personal preference is hickory for all my smokes. Alder, cherry and maple would be good choices.
My choice would be a mix of apple and cherry.
I'd go with any fruitwood. Cherry for the most intense flavor, peach for the least intense. Apple in the middle. I wouldn't use more than 3 oz of chunks, given all the other flavors involved.
Thank you, I went with 9 oz. combination of Apple and Cherry. Turned our really great.
Thank you all for your responses. I used 6 oz, not 9oz.
9 oz have had a different/stronger flavor profile that may or may not have been enjoyable. Always better to go light and work up.
Yes, I corrected that 9 oz to 6 oz. The turkey turned out great with good flavor. The brine was originally posted by smoken oakie.
Anything posted by smokinokie is gospel.
I had a really good wood flavor chart that I used a lot but can't find it now. I did some searching online but can't find it now. I did find these 2 charts: smoking - Wood Smoking Flavor Chart | The Hot Pepper , and Smokewood-Flavor-Profiles.pdf (linvilla.com) . I use cherry wood when I want something to have a reddish color to the finished product. For poultry I usually use a combination of fruit wood and oak. I really like the Whiskey or wine barrel oak. With poultry you really aren't smoking for a long period of time and can get away with using the wood chips like the Jack Daniels whiskey barrel wood chips. I really like the orange flavor profile when I do turkey, and usually add it by making a compound butter with herbs/seasonings and some fresh squeezed OJ and a touch of orange blossom honey. I rub this all over and under the skin. I also stuff the cavity with a sliced up orange. I keep seeing that you can smoke with citrus wood, and it sounds interesting, but I have never found a source for it. Hope this helps in the future, sounds like you knocked it out of the park this time.
I like those charts. Downloaded into my BBQ file. Thanks!!!