First smoked turkey


 
Sheldon Koehler

Sheldon Koehler

TVWBB Super Fan
I finally smoked a turkey on my WSM. For years I have done them on my Genesis and was always happy with the results. Below is a picture showing how dark the skin got. Should I have not used olive oil on the skin? I did not brine, just olive oil, salt, pepper and half dozen cloves of garlic inside. I used a few chunks of cherry wood for smoke. It tasted fine, but the skin was tough and almost black but did not taste burnt:
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I think she looks beautiful. I foil my birds about 1.5 hours in which helps get that golden look. Great looking bird in my book.
 
every time i've smoked turkey or chicken, the skin is always leather...
i don't expect to include it in the servings.
i do brine however... helps with the fudge-factor.
Sheldon, this bird looks sensational!
I have cherry and never gave it a thought.
hmmmm.... next time.
Thanks for posting this... it is getting near that time
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smoking will never give you great skin. its smoked but not edible. for edible skin you need to foil very early or do as i do and smoke roast in my kettle at high heat.
 
OK, I will quit being so hard on myself...
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The bird did taste great and my wife loved it. I will try a brine next time, probably Alton Brown's honey brine. I have used that several times on the gasser with great success.

I did mesquite once on one of my first turkey's, I will never do that again! Fruit woods so far have all worked. Pecan is next to try.
 
You can get GREAT skin on a smoked turkey rubbing it with olive oil and going high heat. The first cook i did on my wsm was a turkey and with blue bag k and mesquite chunk's.. two to be exact, I did not take the bark off, But i did soak the wood...They say it does not matter if you soak dry wood~ Yes it does if the bark is still on, I soaked two piece's for four hour's changeing the water every 30 minute's. At the end the water was still stained redish brown just as the it was to start with ...The end result's was the BEST Mesquite Smoked Turkey we have ever tasted and the skin was perfect and golden brown the bird was soooo moist and the flavorful.
 
That's a good looking bird. About the only way to get a juicy, flavorful, AND crispy-skinned bird is to brine and then do the high heat "smoke roast" like George said.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by george curtis:
smoking will never give you great skin. its smoked but not edible. for edible skin you need to foil very early or do as i do and smoke roast in my kettle at high heat. </div></BLOCKQUOTE> That's just not true there is no need to foil.... a high heat smoke will get you crispy skin with great color and a excellent product at the end.
 
Great looking bird, Sheldon.

I do my poultry on the WSM with a dry, foiled water pan and a full chimney of lit. Get temps 325-375 and the skin comes out nice and crisp. I don't know if there's any connection, but I've noticed that the skin seems to come out darker when I've used cherry vs. apple. Maybe coincidence, but just an observation.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Fruit woods so far have all worked. Pecan is next to try. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Definitely check out pecan, I have always used it for my birds on thanksgiving and it comes out wonderful.
 
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