How to cook pulled turkey


 
Gary S

Gary S

TVWBB Guru
I have a 14lb. seasoned turkey thawing to make pulled turkey. I'm thinking about spatchcocking it and cookng LNS on my 26" kettle. We don't eat the skin so not worried about HH. Does anyone have any experience making pulled turkey?
Thanks
 
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Yea. There isn't a benefit to LnS with turkey. I cook 325. Spatchcocking is a good idea. Heck, you have that fancy custom meat hook rack right? Why don't you hang them- I'm so curious if they'll turn out as good as chickens do.
 
I thought about using the smoke rack, I also have a vertical rack I've used with the WSM but spatchcocking a turkey seems more interesting. Thanks for the tip on temps.
 
Gary, instead of spatchcocking, I would seperate the legs / thighs from the breast. I do this often as the breast gets done quicker and I remove it while continuing to cook the thighs.
Ray
 
I'm not sure I've ever had pulled turkey. Is there enough fat to do it? I know if you try to cook something like a pork loin to pull, it just dries out too much.

Whenever I smoke bone-in turkey breasts, I do them L&S to "just done", i.e. just cooked all the way. They come out fork tender and super juicy that way. But if pulling works, I'd love to hear about how to do it so I can give it a shot!
 
Inject that bird with one of these: http://www.butcherbbq.com/#!bird-booster or similar, we did 5 pulled turkeys for a wedding a couple weeks ago and people loved it. You can always add chicken broth while holding or reheating for moisture.
On the kettle I'd put the legs towards the heat. As for temp, I usually shoot for 325 to 350° too
 
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Dave if you google pulled turkey there are lots of hits but mainly for sauces and crockpot cooks. There are some references to it in links on this site as well but it does not seem to be all that common. I'm certain given it's poultry there would be plenty of smoke flavour and yes it might be a bit dry that's kind of why I was thinking LNS as opposed to a higher heat but I really don't know. A finishing sauce might be in order too or possibly injecting with an unsalted compound butter. Note the bird I have has been seasoned.
I've also been thinking about putting on the rotisserie with heat on just one side.

Plenty of ideas, just one bird!:)
 
Greg Powers said:
Inject that bird with one of these: http://www.butcherbbq.com/#!bird-booster or similar, we did 5 pulled turkeys for a wedding a couple weeks ago and people loved it. You can always add chicken broth while holding or reheating for moisture.
On the kettle I'd put the legs towards the heat. As for temp, I usually shoot for 325 to 350° too
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Greg thanks for your input, that's what I had in mind. Did you do yours on a kettle(s) or smoker(s). I'd love to hear more about what you did.
 
Larry Wolfe did a few pulled turkeys LnS when he was a regular on here. They might still come up on a search, or Google " The Wolfe Pit" that's a site he has.

Tim
 
Gary S said:
Greg thanks for your input, that's what I had in mind. Did you do yours on a kettle(s) or smoker(s). I'd love to hear more about what you did.
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These were done on a FEC100 since there were 5. ( I had 8 butts on my 22" WSM )
We injected with a 50/50 mix of Butcher's Honey and Herb injections, then rub applied and on the smoker they went. When done we pulled them and added chicken broth to reheat for serving.
 
Done them on both my large clay egg and my ceramic egg, but not that small of a bird. I usually like to be in the 20-22 lb range. Cook around 300-325 with bird sitting (breast up) on a rack in a roasting or aluminm pan. I also put a heat deflector under the pan. After bird has taken on smoke (couple of hours, depending on size of bird) flip to breast down and tent seal bird in roasting pan. This will keep steam and juices inside pan. Try to keep the bird from laying directly in the juice. Cook to 165 in thigh. Remove from cooker when done. Leave tented for about 1/2 hour. Remove from pan, remove skin and pull meat.

What's this "custom kettle" you got and the meat hooks?
 
Thanks Steve. I sent you a P/M regarding the kettle and Smoke Rack
 
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I cook mine at 350 on the smoker for 2-3 hours until the thights get to 150 degrees or so. place the bird in a foil pan with some juice or broth, cover tightly with foil and bake in the oven until the thighs are done. If your smoker is large enough, just put the pan back on the smoker instead of the oven to finish if you like. Let it rest for awhile and then pull. I sliver the cooked skin with a sharp knife and then render it in a skillet until it's crisp and crumble it back into the pulled turkey, adds alot of flavor. If you want to kick it up some more, smoke the neck for a couple hours and make some stock with it to pour over the pulled turkey.
 
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Thanks everyone for your input. There's more information on this thread than anything I was able to find. The wife now says she wants some white meat for sandwiches so I've butchered the turkey and put it on the big kettle to smoke. I will save this thread for a bigger bird as was suggested. I appreciate the advice.
 
Got this far
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took the dark meat to 170F. Removed the skin and placed it on a rack with some broth in the crock pot. We will see how it turns out. The breast was really moist. I foiled it at 150 and took it up to 165F
 
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