Deboned Stuffed Turkey Plan

[Jon in DFW]

Wow, as if I needed another reason to love Julia Child, I didn't realize she made a chicken melon. I got this idea from a guy on youtube who did this with a chicken, but JC for predated this guy.

I am very happy with how its going. In hindsight, I could have gone smaller on the turkey, but I could easily see doing this again using chickens

 

[Jon in DFW]

Just got to 3.5hrs, roughly halfway. Pit is 315° and IT is 105° . Stopped the wood about 1hr ago as the color is darker than I expected, but I think it has a lot to do with the glaze.

 

[Jon in DFW]

Turkey was a success. Finished a little quicker than expected, but kept it in oven at 150° for the extra 45min.

Very moist and great taste.

Could have cooked it either lower temp (275-300°) or shorter period next time.

 

[Jon in DFW]

Been thinking over the cook from today and looking at my photos throughout. The turkey skin was intact and looking great for the first 3.5hrs. At 4hrs, small splits occurred and it started getting pretty dark. After 6.5 hours the skin was completely peeled like you see.

This was a 21lb turkey, thus it required a lot of time. If I was to do this again, I would not go any bigger than 14lbs. This way the time of the cook is less than 4hrs. This will keep the skin from being destroyed.

 

[DuaneMac]

That was a great cook! Loved all the pictures. I’ve always wanted to try Ina Garten’s Tuscan Turkey Roulade. Maybe I’ll try a chicken first, as you suggested!

 

[Joe T Gomez]

Wow that looks awesome

 

[Jon in DFW]

That was a great cook! Loved all the pictures. I’ve always wanted to try Ina Garten’s Tuscan Turkey Roulade. Maybe I’ll try a chicken first, as you suggested!

I will absolutely do a deboned whole chicken in the future, may even do the roll like you linked.

This was a very fun cook and I thoroughly enjoyed the deboning of the turkey. It was challenging and I learned a lot... im for sure better for doing it.

 

[Bruno]

Amazing job! Looks like a ton of work and well worth it.

 

[Timothy F. Lewis]

I think you are on a s art track with doing a smaller bird but, remember you are considering “predressed weight” at 21 lb. dressed out you probably lost three or four pounds? Just food for thought.
That really is an impressive cook, I am more inspired to do one again! My brother used to be really good at deboning big birds intact, not as good since he had a stroke.

 

[Jon in DFW]

I think you are on a s art track with doing a smaller bird but, remember you are considering “predressed weight” at 21 lb. dressed out you probably lost three or four pounds? Just food for thought.
That really is an impressive cook, I am more inspired to do one again! My brother used to be really good at deboning big birds intact, not as good since he had a stroke.

Your correct, for clarification:
The original full turkey was 23.8lbs
The final product was 21.2lbs
I added approx 2-3lbs stuffing/sausage mix
Guessing 6-7lbs of bone, and wings removed
(Minimal weight lost to overnight rest in fridge)

 

[Timothy F. Lewis]

Thanks, I appreciate your mathematical notation.
Thanks Jon, that is a seriously nice piece of work, one of these days…

 

[MichaelLC]

I wish I had weighed my bird post-cook. Just would have been good data for future years and to compare different birds.

Jon, you of course had a lot more going on between the deboning and stuffing.

 

[Tony-Chicago]

There is always a lot going on between deboning and stuffing. Prep, ambiance, sometimes drinks, eating, dessert, more eating, not to mention clean-up.

 

[Jon in DFW]

I laughed realizing how many weights I actually took, and it was only because it was my first time doing this, and time needed to be near perfect with all the other peoples food being ready.

I will def weigh post cook next time for fun as well