My wife’s company bought turkeys for Thanksgiving for the employees of their plant. They have some extra that they wanted to have cooked for a Christmas luncheon next week. Well, they can’t find anyone wiling to cook birds not purchased there. So, I’ve been enlisted to cook four turkeys for them. We actually have eight in the freezer, but they think they only needed four. There will be 80 plus people to feed, but everyone there is bringing food of some type. They usually have a lot of food when they bring stuff.
I can cook four turkeys at one time between the WSM, Kettle and oven. I figure if I get up early enough, they should be done in time for me to deliver to the luncheon. I plan on brining the turkeys in a cooler overnight. I have some apple wood that my father brought down from NY that will go in the WSM. The kettle will get a small chunk of apple wood on the lump/briquette mixture. The oven-baked bird will have my traditional turkey in it.
Since many folks in the plant are Hispanic, I was thinking about a southwestern rub for one of the birds. That will probably be the one on the Kettle. The one in the oven gets a butter/garlic/spices/orange zest paste between the skin and meat. The ones on the smoker will probably have something mild enough to enjoy the apple smoke flavor.
One of my concerns is the carving and delivery of the food. I plan on taking the breast meat off in one chunk and then slicing it. The drumsticks will be removed along with the wings and thigh meat and placed in a pan. I was thinking about putting a couple of bricks in the oven wrapped in foil to keep in the bottom of the cooler to serve as food warmers. I don’t know if I want to slice the breast before I leave or when I arrive. I’ll probably have three different pans for the three different cooking methods.
Does this sound like a good plan? Any things I should look out for? The temperatures will be carefully measured to make sure the birds are cooked enough.
I can cook four turkeys at one time between the WSM, Kettle and oven. I figure if I get up early enough, they should be done in time for me to deliver to the luncheon. I plan on brining the turkeys in a cooler overnight. I have some apple wood that my father brought down from NY that will go in the WSM. The kettle will get a small chunk of apple wood on the lump/briquette mixture. The oven-baked bird will have my traditional turkey in it.
Since many folks in the plant are Hispanic, I was thinking about a southwestern rub for one of the birds. That will probably be the one on the Kettle. The one in the oven gets a butter/garlic/spices/orange zest paste between the skin and meat. The ones on the smoker will probably have something mild enough to enjoy the apple smoke flavor.
One of my concerns is the carving and delivery of the food. I plan on taking the breast meat off in one chunk and then slicing it. The drumsticks will be removed along with the wings and thigh meat and placed in a pan. I was thinking about putting a couple of bricks in the oven wrapped in foil to keep in the bottom of the cooler to serve as food warmers. I don’t know if I want to slice the breast before I leave or when I arrive. I’ll probably have three different pans for the three different cooking methods.
Does this sound like a good plan? Any things I should look out for? The temperatures will be carefully measured to make sure the birds are cooked enough.
