Expectedly unexpected turkey plans


 
W

Wayne Ficklin

TVWBB Fan
Don't let the title fool you. I don't have any plans, but I've been expecting word that I'll be smoking the turkey. To make matters worse, Thanksgiving's Sunday for me. (The holiday got shuffled since the family business is retail. It doesn't make sense to me, but it does to whomever's planning, ...so it is.). My mom-in-law started asking about who was going to smoke the turkey this past Saturday evening. That message went to my wife, so she mentioned it ...and I've been out of the loop since, until moments ago.

I saw the turkey the easy way thread and asked a question there. (Where do you get the vertical turkey roaster stand?). 325-350+. Probably brine it if I can find a bird it's appropriate to do that with. That's the extent of my planning. Well, that and watching the video linked in the aforementioned thread.

Can anyone offer some advice on where to go? I'll come back and fill in a few more details later, but thought I'd try to get this ball rolling.
 
According to the http://www.butterball.com/calculators-and-conversions, I need a 23lb bird (or 32lb for leftovers) for the 27 (19 adults & 6 kids) of us, which will take 11 hrs to thaw in cold water (or 16 for leftovers), and 4-4.5hrs @ 325°F. (32lbs breaks the how-long-to-cook calculator, but 30lbs is 4.5-5 hours.)

Since I can't find any truly natural turkeys, looks like I'm going to have to go with an 8% solution. I've read on here that if I'm going to brine, I should start with a regular turkey (since the word "natural" has been tainted), but I can't find one of those, although I've got one more place to look. Would the wisdom of the group suggest that I go ahead with my brine (in a 5-gallon bucket?) or do I need to figure out what injecting entails? I've spotted Tony Chachere's Spicy Butter injections.

My plan is to buy the turkey today and stick it in the fridge, but Saturday morning start the thawing-in-cold-water treatment. That ought to let me brine it* overnight Saturday for an early-morning Sunday cook. (At what point should I apply a rub and do you have any suggestions? I won a rub giveaway on this board a while back and so I've already got a "poultry rub" if necessary.) I'm planning to pull @ 155°F breast. I've heard to let it rest and the temps will rise on the counter. If I'm shooting for 160°F finished temp in the breast, ...what do I need the thighs to be WHEN I PULL IT? To make matters more complicated, I've got a business meeting after church ...and the meal starts at 1, so I'm having my mother-in-law (or f-i-l) carve the bird. Its starting to look like I won't have the vertical roaster, so I'm giving up on that ...unless I happen to find one locally. Will I have a probably cooking this 23 lb (...or 32) on the rack of my 18.5" WSM?

Has anyone cooked rice under the turkey, catching the drippings ...or are the drippings (plus some chicken broth to prevent burning) usually kept just for gravy?


I'm backing away from the keyboard now. Thanks for your help.




* If brining is still recommended. Else, I'll have to inject.
 
One last thing: Probably a half-ring of used & new charcoal & 1 and a half chimney's of lit to get this thing up to temp ...and keep it there once the cold bird hits.

Thoughts on this (and anything above)?
 
Given the amount you'll need, It sounds like maybe you'd be better off with two smaller birds in the 14-16 # range than one big gobbler. Since you're typically paying per pound, it doesn't cost any more to do it that way. If you're stuck on doing one big bird, and it's being carved before the meal (ie: you don't need to worry about a Norman Rockwell-like presentation with the whole bird), I'd strongly recommend separating the white and dark meat. For the last two years, I've done 20 #+ turkeys on my offset and just to get them to fit, separated the leg quarters (leg & thigh) from the rest. I'd put them on and give 'em a good 45 minute head start before putting the breasts/wings in the smoker. This resulted in all of the parts being done at the right time.

In the 18.5" WSM, I doubt you'll fit the whole bird with enough space around it for proper convection. You could split off the leg quarters and put them on the lower grate with the rest on the top grate. Foil the water pan and, if you want to catch drippings for gravy, add another layer of foil that's suspended above the inside of the water pan (so they don't burn). You might even be able to just put an aluminum pan in there as long as the edges/corners of it prevent the bottom from contacting the bottom of the water pan.

If you end up going the two-bird route, you could put one on each rack and maybe rotate the two mid-way to be sure they cook evenly.

Now, this will be my first time doing whole turkey on my 18.5, so don't take any of what I just said as "authoritative" or "expert". My test runs with whole chickens haven't yielded the skin texture I'm looking for, so I'm going to fire up my gasser and have it ready should I need to finish the bird in it.
 
I agree with Chad. 23# may be asking a lot of a 18.5" WSM. I've done a 23# on my 22.5" and it filled up the top rack.

I've injected and brined on seperate occasions. I prefer brining.

I also recommend leaving it uncovered in the fridge after brining or injecting in an attempt to get crsipy skin.
 
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Good news. Just found out someone's bringing a ham, so I don't have to have as large a turkey (and there's a little less stress). Dwain, I'd seen your recommendation to leave it uncovered in the fridge to help with getting the skin crispy. I didn't mention it earlier, but I intend to incorporate that into ThePlan™.

I'm still reading, watching, and learning. Thanks for the guidance!
 
My apologies for using this as my personal notepad ...but I'm trying to keep track of things ...and hoping y'all will point out anything i'm doing that's too stupid.

I got a 17.49lb turkey @ $0.59/lb, w/ 8% solution. I thawed it in the sink w/ cold water, switching the water every 30 minutes, and then put it in the fridge last night. I'll continue the sink treatments as time permits, ...possibly having the bird thawed by late this evening or first thing in the morning. I may see if I can get some help on this from my wife who's home today.

I'll need to brine it as early as possible Saturday morning, so that it can sit in the fridge uncovered overnight Saturday as Dwain Pannell mentioned above. I still need to figure out how to season the bird, but at least I'm narrowing down things.
 
So, I didn't have time to brine it, and at the request of my mom-in-law, I'm cooking it now and she'll take care of carving it tomorrow (preferably reheating it whole/intact before carving). I went with Tony Chachere's Creole Butter injection since I didn't have time to brine it today. It did sit in the fridge uncovered after being rubbed this afternoon. I don't know if 6+ hours is enough time to see the results I'd hoped for, but we'll see.

Half ring of new unlit charcoal and a full chimney of lit. Smoker was @ 366ºF before I put it on, and was sitting @ 300ºF (and climbing) about 5 minutes afterward. I'll call the start time @ 7:30p.
 
Tom's off the smoker. It looks good. It smells good. We'll see. (Once the bird was on, I never saw above 310ºF ....and most of it right under 300ºF. I'm wondering if I had too much stock in the roaster pan below.)
 
I meant to add yesterday that I added an extra half-chimney of lit coals to try to get it over 300. It didn't make much difference. Vents wide open while the bird was on.

Results are in. It looked great. It smelled heavenly. There were lots of compliments and a few, "This is the best meats we've ever had," a dual compliment for the pork and the turkey.

I made a thinnish gravy with the drippings, but it ended a little salty. (Next time I'll plan ahead and buy some low-sodium chicken broth/stock.) My wife didn't LOVE that the gravy was smokey, but my bro-in-law begged me not to change a thing about the gravy.

Now back to your regularly scheduled Thanksgivings.
 
I wonder if a Facebook pic will show up. Hope so.
1962872_809710679087848_457070514087173748_n.jpg
 
Good looking turkey. And now you have some experience. I'm in retail too and so I'll have a non-traditional turkey day as well.
 
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