How did your bird turn out?

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So...let's hear it. How did everyone's bird turn out?

I believe mine might have been the best I've every done.

My wife made the stuffing this morning and we trussed the 13 pounder together about noon while the fire was getting going.

I was figuring 4 to 5 hours to cook, but I hate sittin' around waiting on a bird, so I built some fudge into the timing (seeing as how it was the first time I'd cooked on this rig) and put it on the spit at 12:30 pm. Ran the temps up to 410 and climbing and left it for 30 minutes, then throttled my fire back to 325 and let it cook. Had to replenish the fire a couple times, but I had no problems holding the temps where I wanted them.

The spit worked great. I never had to baste because nothing much was making it to the drip pan...the spit makes the whole thing self-basting. I ended up with just enough fat to make my gravy and everything else stayed on the bird.

I never used the cheesecloth. The skin turned out fabulous -- dark golden brown, nice and crispy.

After 3 hours, I checked the temps and the bird was getting done. Since the guests weren't arriving until 5:30, I throttled the fire back to 210 - 250 degrees for an hour and a half in a holding pattern.

I set about making Bechamel Sauce for Julia Child's creamed onions and whipping up the gravy. Towards the end, I cranked the heat back up on the bird and put the extra pan of stuffing under it to catch some drippings for the last hour. Pulled the bird when thigh hit 180 and let it sit for half an hour before carving.

While I carved, my daughter sauteed some fresh asparagus and we served it all up.

The turkey and stuffing were fantastic and all the side dishes were right on the money. The creamed onions were to die for!

I'm beat, though. I basically prepped and cooked non-stop from 10:00 to 6:00 including an interlude to sharpen some knives. Now I'm ready for a nap!

The remote thermometer was the cat's meow for this kind of cooking. One probe through the side of the cooker to keep an eye on my fire and another probe in the turkey at the end (with the spit turned off!) to see when it was done. Very convenient to not have to be running outside every few minutes to check the grill!
 
Our bird turned out damn amazing. It was a 19 pounder and I used the apple brine. I brined it for 24 hours. Then I let it sit overnite in the fridge for crispy goodness.
Then I stuffed it with lemons oranges and
apples and brushed it with butter.
I cooked it for 6 hours @230-260 on the upper grill on it's back and it was just as juicy ,moist and flavorful as a bird could be and it looked Martha Stewart good.
So thanks to everyone for all the good posts and recipes.
Stuffed in Seattle
John
 
Best turkey I've ever had. Will always brine from now on. Used the apple brine recipe, Martha Stewart's spice rub and wrapped in cheescloth. Took about 4.5 hours, just amazing. Thanks to everyone's help, being a newbie with this piece of equipment. What a difference the WSM makes over the cheap Char-Broil we used to have. Ready to go buy some ribs to fire it up again!
 
Currious, are these posts refering to cooking on the WSM? I assume they are and wonder what wood did you use if any at all? Where can I find the Martha Stewart rub and brine recipe?

Thanks.
 
I went back to the old way of smoking my turkey. Just thaw it,out season it well with Tony's Creole Seasoning,and smoke with a little hickory and pecan.
I tried the honey brine recipe on this site and didn't care for it. In my opinion the meat tasted like lunch meat.
I realize that the brine is supposed to be safer from a bacteria standpoint but we like plain old smoked turkey.
 
Thanksgiving was at Mom's, so I volunteered to smoke a turkey for the cause. I used the Apple Brine with the 300*F cooking instructions from the Whole Turkey - Basic Brine section, a method that worked out great for me the previous year. I also tried air drying the turkey overnight, to see if I could get the skin to turn out well.

I knew Mom would roast a turkey (we were feeding about 25 people, so we needed another bird), but what I didn't know is that my younger brothers had some plans of their own. They went out and bought a turkey fryer on Wednesday! This resulted in The Great Turkey Cook Off.

My cook went as planned. I took the WSM up to my parent's house around noon, and assumed it would take me about 3 hours to cook my 12lb bird. I put the bird (on a vertical rack) in the WSM at 1:30PM, and added two fist-sized chunks of cherry wood to the coals. My temp settled down in the 310*F range by 2PM, and I enjoyed the football game. (I love my remote thermometer - I don't even have to leave my chair to check the temperature of the WSM...)

Mom was roasting a monster - a 22lb bird with stuffing in the cavity. It went in at 10:30AM. (Dad, knowing Mom well, waited for her to leave the room and turned the heat up to 400*F to try to move things along).

At 3PM, I checked my bird. The skin on one side was noticeably darker than the other, so I covered that side with foil, and rotated the turkey 90*.

The boys had a minor problem - they didn't know where to find peanut oil in large quantities, so they wound up cooking with Canola oil. They injected their 12lb bird with a mix of butter and Cajun seasoning, and sprinkled more Cajun seasoning on the bird. Their bird went into 4.5 quarts of 350*F oil at 4PM.

At 4:30, my smoked bird read 165*F in the breast, 175*F in the thigh. It was done. It looked gorgeous; it had a wonderful mahogany colored skin. I took the bird out of the smoker, covered it loosely with foil, and waited (impatiently) for everyone else to finish.

The fried bird was done in 45 minutes(!) at 4:45PM. It didn't look as "fried" as I expected; the skin was a splotchy brown. I expected it to look like something from KFC, I guess. The meat had pulled away from the drumsticks rather nicely, though. It was also covered with foil, while we waited for the roasted bird and the side dishes.

The roasted bird finished at 5PM, and all the side dishes were done soon thereafter.

We carved the roasted bird, then the fried bird. This was where we made our tactical mistake: while I was carving the smoked bird, we let the fried bird leave the kitchen. It only took me a few minutes to carve the smoked bird (I watched the "Good Eats Thanksgiving Special" repeatedly last week to get myself prepared), but by the time I was done, the fried bird was almost completely gone. A couple of small pieces of breast meat and the wings were all that was left. We brought out the other two birds, and dug in.

I may be biased, but I have to say the little bit of the fried bird I had was a disappointment. It was a bit dry, and tasted like canola oil. The skin didn't wow me either. I figured that it would be wonderfully crisp, but it was only average.

The roasted turkey was dry. Mom doesn't believe we do all the stuff we do to the bird - brining, injecting, etc. I may have to try to sneak a brine in for the roasted bird next year.

I've been wanting to get a Turkey fryer for a few years, after hearing all the hype, but I couldn't justify the $80 cost for something I'd only use once or twice a year. Now that I've had the fried bird, I'm glad I didn't spend the money. No fryer purchases in the future for me! (It helps that I can probably borrow my brother's fryer if I ever get the urge... /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

And the smoked, Apple Brined turkey? It was my favorite, by far. The apple brine added a nice, light taste to the meat, and the brine left the breast meat wonderfully juicy. As usual, though, the skin left something to be desired. It was rubbery and tough. Next year I may try the method Chris described in another post here - 30 minutes at 400+*F, then down to 325*F for the rest of the cook. Still, I'm not going to cooking my turkeys any other way. (And the in-laws, who had last year's smoked turkey, are threatening me with bodily harm if I don't cook it for them again next year!)

The general opinion was that all the turkeys came out well. With 25 people, there was only enought left over for a handful of sandwiches. I'm going to have to smoke another turkey in the near future to get some leftovers of my own!
 
Michael,
Thanks for taking the time for such an imformative post. I am frying 5 turkeys Sunday afternoon and it's my first time!!
I've never even seen one fried before. Seems dumb but the biggest expense is the peanut
oil -$35-so it makes no sense to fry only one turkey when they are .50/lb. I am going to brine one and inject one as a comparison.
It kay be my last time also as I have brined and smoked one on the WSM and it was incredible. I "only" paid $60 for my fryer
and we can always use it for boiling seafood.
Keep on smokin' /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif
 
Pat,
We fried 4 birds (3 injected 1 brined)
and smoked one.
For us side by side brined and fried worked best vs just injected and fried.
Just moister.
But I have to say the smoked and brined ruled over all.
Maybe brine and inject?
John
 
Sorry your first fried turkey experience was not a good one.. I fried 4 over the holiday and every one was excellent...
I do not brine or inject my turkeys... I use a dry rub seasoning that I use to cover the bird.. I then cover it and let it sit in a cooler for 3 - 5 days to marinate...
I cook it in 310* peanut oil ( a must for fried turkey) and it comes out perfect every time!! I have been doing the same recipe for over 12 years now !! My kids would boycott Thanksgiving if we didn't have a fried turkey.... I tell people that after you have tasted my fried turkey, you will throw rocks at anybody, even your Momma, that tries to serve you a turkey cooked in an oven !!!
I am just the opposite - I have never done a smoked turkey... But I hope that changes either this weekend or the next...
Have a good week !!
 
I have smoked one turkey on the WSM. I used
the brine recipe at the web site and injected some of it into the turkey. Soaked it for about 48 hrs and smoked it at 230-255
until I got a breast temp of 160. I took it off and wrapped it in foil and an old towel and put it in an ice chest. We ate it a few hrs later and it was real good. Hope it wasn't beginners luck. By the way,I smoked it on a vertical rack that I got at the Corning/Revere store in the outlet mall. I have 4 of them and I can stand up 4 whole chickens on the bottom rack and get after it.
 
We brined(Fatmans) and injected(50/50 hotsauce and butter) four 15# birds, cooked one on WSM @350deg, deep fried two in veggie oil and smoked one for a couple of hours then plooped in the hot oil 'till done.

The favourite was the smo-fried but all disappeared rather quickly at the tailgate party. Seems to be a good idea to let turkey dry in fridge overnight or so to dry skin, then rubbed with cajun spices b4 cooking. It drove some of the Sioux fans wild fighting for some skin /infopop/emoticons/icon_biggrin.gif
Thanks Bruce C for the lessons /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

Buzz
 
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