23 lb Birdzilla Turkey w/pics


 
Michael C.

Michael C.

TVWBB Gold Member
This was by far, the largest turkey, I have every cooked, on my WSM. I have many turkeys underneath my belt, mostly in the 14-16lb range. But, this one, was by request, from my co workers. Boy, do I know, how to spoil them LOL. Anyways, this is a 23 lb Honeysuckle (pre injected) turkey. I woke up this morning, to find it was very windy today. I used my wind block, which, helped a lot. And, it was very chilly too. I think it was around 38F or so. The wind, made it seem to be colder. I used 4 chunks of apple wood, Good o'l Rancher's charcoal, STD method. The smoke was at 325F, before I dropped the bird on. The smoker remained at 250F, for the entire cook. Foil in the pan, no water. It took exactly 4 hrs, to bring the breast up to 165F. I let it rest for 35-40 minutes, underneath foil. The meat was super moist, and tender, with a nice, mild, smokey flavor to it. I sprinkled some K-pauls seasonings on the bird, I think, that might have made some "dark" spots. No biggie. The skin was soft, not krispy, a nice tradeoff, for super moist meat. Here are the pics.








 
"And the mighty turkey gobbled no more..." From a journal written by one of the pilgrims.

That bird looks great! I hope mine comes out that well on thanksgiving.
 
That’s a great looking bird. Do you think the smoker temperature stayed at 250 because the size of the bird or the outside temperature?

Thanks,
Oak
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">this is a 23 lb Honeysuckle (pre injected) turkey. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Hey Michael,
Japan Called, they want there "Monster" back.
icon_biggrin.gif
JK LOL
Really though, thats a good looking bird.
 
Thanks for your kind comments. The turkey, was a HUGE hit, at work today. It did not last long, it was pretty gone, by 1:00pm, LOL. Anyways, during the summer, I have no problem, in keeping my smoker, in the 300-325F range. But, in this cook, the smoker stayed at a rock solid, 250F, for pretty much, for the entire cook. Not sure why, but, it did not matter. The results, came out excellent. I still had enough coals going, for another 2-3 hrs, if I needed to. The WSM, is just, one amazing cooker!!!!!
 
Michael, what knife did you use to slice the breast meat? You have perfect skin on your slices. Whenever I slice mine, the skin caves in and just slips off.
 
I used an electic knife, to carve the turkey. I tried my best, to keep the skin, on the meat. It sorta kinda, was falling off the meat. But I did my best, to keep it on there. The wind break works pretty good. I know how the wind, always swirls, from the back of my house, towards the front. This set up, always, seems to work the best, for my location. When I first put Birdzilla on the smoker, I had trouble, getting the lid, on. The legs, was preventing me, from putting the lid on. I just, forced the lid on. Turns out, the turkey, shrunk, a little bit, as it cooked. I have used maple wood in the past, for turkeys, and it's good, but, I like flavor, of apple wood, better.
 
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