First Turkey - Questions


 
A

a palombo

New member
13 pound turkey, self basting, do I still need to brine it?

If we don't plan on eating the skin is there any reason to dry the turkey out in the fridge overnight?

Any insight or tips would be much appreciated!
 
If we brine a self-basting turkey, will we have to cut down on the salt in the brine, or just keep it the same??
 
Tim D. said:
If we brine a self-basting turkey, will we have to cut down on the salt in the brine, or just keep it the same??
Click to expand...

I usually cut the salt in half, and have never noticed a too salty bird, but everyone has different salt tolerances.

Tim
 
I've done 2 turkeys now and brined them both. They were also both "enhanced" with solution. Used a simple apple juice brine found on this site. Certainly had no complaints. Everyone loved both and raved on how juicy they were. I will add though, the skin was not edible...not sure if it was due to brining or just me doing something wrong, but meat was awesome!

mm
 
Doing my first bird on Sunday to prove to my wife I can do this on Thanksgiving! It is "enhanced" so I will half the salt in the JD Maple brine. Plan on using cherry wood (a friend had a cherry tree cut down and gave me the wood) for the smoke and am going to figure about 3-4 hours. The bird is getting dunked in about 8 hours for a good 30 hour bath! My mouth is starting to water just typing this post. Keeping my fingers crossed!
 
Well, my first smoked turkey was a HUGE success!! JD Maple brine was all that and a bag of chips!! 18lb bird took just about 3.5 hours and I made sure to keep the temp above 300, which really wasn't a problem to do. Pulled the bird when the temp hit 165 in the breast and 175 in the thigh. I used 2 full, lit chinmey for fuel and had plenty! I am so looking forward to doing this again for Thanksgiving!! Thanks to all how posted advice on smoking a turkey. I couldn't have done it without you! Blessings! I did take a pic but can't seem to get it to post here.
 
Tim D. said:
Well, my first smoked turkey was a HUGE success!! JD Maple brine was all that and a bag of chips!! 18lb bird took just about 3.5 hours and I made sure to keep the temp above 300, which really wasn't a problem to do. Pulled the bird when the temp hit 165 in the breast and 175 in the thigh. I used 2 full, lit chinmey for fuel and had plenty! I am so looking forward to doing this again for Thanksgiving!! Thanks to all how posted advice on smoking a turkey. I couldn't have done it without you! Blessings! I did take a pic but can't seem to get it to post here.
Click to expand...

Tim,

What kind of turkey did you go with? Is it worth going with something other then butterball?

What wood did you end up using?

Thanks, Will
 
Will,

I can't tell you the name, since my wife bought it. But I can tell you it was not Butterball. I used a few chunks of Cherry. I had a co-worker try it today (who also uses a smoker) and he loved it! Had a subtle taste of smoke and still very juicy and tender.
 
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