Early Turkey on WSM

[Steve Madden]

Cooked a turkey yesterday on the WSM for the first time and the family really enjoyed it. Injected and rubbed with salt/baking powder the day before and slathered in softened butter right before going on

 

[JimK]

Now that's a beautiful turkey!

 

[Chris Allingham]

Great looking turkey and a great cooking method, too.

Looks like a 14.5" WSM? How much did that turkey weigh?

 

[Steve Madden]

Great looking turkey and a great cooking method, too.

Looks like a 14.5" WSM? How much did that turkey weigh?

Thanks Chris! It was cooked on an 18.5” WSM and I don’t remember the exact weight but I ordered a 10-12lb bird from Whole Foods. I should add that I followed your cooker setup directions from your Whole Turkey – Salted aka Dry Brined write up adapting cook times for the separated parts. It was really nice being able to pull the white and dark meat when each was done to my liking.

 

[Michael C.]

Great lookin' bird there!!!

 

[Chris in Louisiana]

Looks like someone made an early attack on those wings in the second pic.

 

[Rich Dahl]

Great looking bird, like the way you did it also.

 

[Ken Barth]

Nice looking cook!

 

[JSpradlin]

Nice job, looks great! I have a WSM 14.5 and plan on doing a 5.5 lb bone-in breast + 2 thighs (~1.8 lbs total for the thighs) I got from my butcher. I can fit the breast on my top rack but the thighs will need to go down below since I'm on a 14.5. I am cooking the breast in an aluminum pan to catch the drippings for gravy. Should I put the thighs on at the same time that I put the breast on or wait a bit before putting the thighs on?

 

[Steve Madden]

Nice job, looks great! I have a WSM 14.5 and plan on doing a 5.5 lb bone-in breast + 2 thighs (~1.8 lbs total for the thighs) I got from my butcher. I can fit the breast on my top rack but the thighs will need to go down below since I'm on a 14.5. I am cooking the breast in an aluminum pan to catch the drippings for gravy. Should I put the thighs on at the same time that I put the breast on or wait a bit before putting the thighs on?

Thanks! I put everything on at the same time and the thighs/legs came off at least an hour before the breasts at 175ish so you could probably push them back at least 45 minutes or so. I would say the dark meat is forgiving so concentrate on the breast meat. This being my first turkey on the WSM was the juiciest breast meat I think I’ve ever produced.

 

[JeffG]

Really nice color on that bird....

 

[JSpradlin]

Thanks! I put everything on at the same time and the thighs/legs came off at least an hour before the breasts at 175ish so you could probably push them back at least 45 minutes or so. I would say the dark meat is forgiving so concentrate on the breast meat. This being my first turkey on the WSM was the juiciest breast meat I think I’ve ever produced.

Will do, thanks!