Never Again Total Disaster but it Tasted Great.


 

Rich Dahl

TVWBB 1-Star Olympian
We do the Jamie Purviance Brined and Barbequed Turkey with Pan Gravy in his Weber’s Charcoal Grilling book. Been doing it with excellent results since 2014.
I knew the weather wasn’t going to be good, but had no idea how bad it would be. Temperature wasn’t too bad at 34 degrees, but the rain and the wind was unbelievable. Constant 35mph winds with gusts to 60mph. Moved the performer to the covered patio. Doing an indirect cook I could not get the temps over 250 reading with my maverick and I needed 325 -350. Started at 1 pm and at 4:30 the bird was ay 160. I took a peek and it looked good at 5:20 it hit 165. We went out to get it and when I lifted the lid I was shocked, looked like it had been cooked in a garage fire. Skin was black and one of the legs had fallen off. I though no turkey for us. Let it rest for 30 minutes and decided to see how bad it was…… Except for the one leg it was perfect the breast meat was moist and tender.
Won’t ever try this again if the weather is going to be bad.

Try not to gasp when you see the cooked picture.

Nice fifteen pound butterball used 1/2 the salt the recipe called for.
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[/url]100_5429 by Richard Dahl, on Flickr[/IMG]

The cider I thought
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[/url]100_5445 by Richard Dahl, on Flickr[/IMG]

Lucked out on this one
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[/url]100_5441 by Richard Dahl, on Flickr[/IMG]
Hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving.
 
Rich, I thought you said it was going to be a disaster.... :)

In all honesty, it really could have been far worse. No argument that it cooked far hotter on one on side, but it doesn't look all that bad. I'd say that it's more uneven than anything.
 
I dont know what you’re looking at I see a good looking bird there.
 
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I was expecting to see something that resembled a 15 lb chunk of coal; that bird is more handsome than me. I'm glad it tasted great for you! I was out of sorts during one of our turkey cooks because our clothes dryer caught fire right after loading it in the smoker. We are thankful for no damage aside from the 16 year-old dryer biting the dust.
 
Rich, you’re being hard on yourself! That bird looks just fine! Treat that kind of thing like a Christmas tree, put the scarred side in the corner. I’ve been through the same thing more than once. You are seeing a pretty rapid swing in weather out there aren’t you? Be safe.
 
Thanks everyone for the encouragement, it was really a frustrating day
What I can't figure out is how it got like that with a max grate temperature of 250. And yes I did hook up a second Maverick with a different probe and it read exactly the same.
To say it was windy would be remarkably true. Prescott airport reported a gust of 73 mph the airport is just five miles from us.
About half way through the cook I heard a bang outside and found the wind had slammed the performer right into the house....forgot to lock the casters, luckily no damage to the house or performer.
Oh did I mention it snowed all day:mad:
 
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I agree with others, looks fine to me .......... if there's a need for a silver lining, then you won't have as much leftover to eat
 
Thanks everyone for the encouragement, it was really a frustrating day
What I can't figure out is how it got like that with a max grate temperature of 250. And yes I did hook up a second Maverick with a different probe and it read exactly the same.
To say it was windy would be remarkably true. Prescott airport reported a gust of 73 mph the airport is just five miles from us.
About half way through the cook I heard a bang outside and found the wind had slammed the performer right into the house....forgot to lock the casters, luckily no damage to the house or performer.
Oh did I mention it snowed all day:mad:

Rich, any thin sheet metal cooker has significant "opportunities" with windy conditions. I fought my Oklahoma Joe offset clone for a few years. Wind just plain cooled it off, although a breeze directly into the firebox vent really lit it off.
 
Gusts to 60? That bird would have gone in the oven at my house. Way to persevere Rich!
 
If it tastes good, it is good.............I've had many almost (no-go's) but they ended up great. I'd have been happy to be there and share....

looks uneven but not shot..

chris
 
Update:
I think I found out what went wrong. The ice and snow finally melted on the patio today so I went out to clean the performer and get it back where it belongs. After I got the ashes swept into the ash catcher I noticed a lot of light down in the ash catcher. Apparently the last time I cleaned it I didn't get the ash bucket on correctly and one side wasn't in its holding slot. It was the side the wind was blowing in. I suspect it was creating a vacuum in the kettle as the wind went past the lower vent and the coals couldn't get enough air to burn properly, hence topping out at 250.
I've used the performer in stiff winds before without issue, although not as strong as it was T-day, but I suspect that was the problem. Without the wind everything would have been fine.
 
As the saying goes “ the proof is in the pudding “ or in this case “on the meat platter “
Actually the quote is:
“ The proof of the pudding is in the eating.” But, your point is valid, if it eats well, it was a success.
Rich, I have had the same issue with getting all the pins properly situated from time to time. I have learned to double check that every time I clean it!
 
Tim.
I learned my lesson freezing my butt off fighting a grill that always has been there for me, I should have suspected more than wind. Lesson learned!
 
We've all been there at one time or another. Looks like a tasty meal was still had!
 
If it tasted great, then it's a winner! I had a rough cook too, but that probably had something to do with the Bloody Marys starting at 6AM
 

 

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