smoking other parts.....


 
B

Becky M-M

TVWBB Pro
Hopefully this is in the right forum....

I smoked on my kettle for the first time this sunday.... man, i am super excited about it. and already dreaming up the next one.... i might try ribs tomorrow, hopefully the rain stays away.

what i was wondering was this.... the parts that i cut off the turkey, such as the backbone and the other parts neck, organs, etc. could i have placed those in the drip pan that was under the turkey?

I make a lot of collard/kale greens and fresh green beans and use smoked hocks or shanks. Never used smoked turkey in them, but if i had it on hand i would try it.
 
You absolutely could have put the trimmed pieces in the drip pan. They would have imparted flavour into your drippings. Another great thing to do with them is to roast them alongside the turkey, then use them with the carcass to make stock. You end up with a bit of that smokey flavour when you use the stock in things like rice...
 
yup exactly what i was thinking..... I'm only on my second cup of coffee, so you worded it much better... lol

i make a lot of rice and use bits and pieces in stock... my mind instantly went to using smoked pieces in stock and how it would make the rice/greens taste different, in a good way.
 
I would roast the trimmings indirect and pull em quite early. Then make a stock out of them as Stuart said. I always roast the bones and stuff before the boiling part of the stock.
 
ok... didnt think about having to pull them off earlier. so under the turkey would be a bit harder to move everything to get under there.

im thinking i need to invest in the grate that pulls up easily.
 
Well if you cant fit them on the top grate. They could be on longer since the heat isnt that intense below the cooking grate. But then again i dont low´n´slow my trimmings. You could save some from different bird cooks in the freezer and roast em in the oven(all at once) Or just do a kettle run when you have enough. Im not a big fan of sauces/stock made of smokey parts/drippings. Rather go with a heavy smoke on the protein.
 
If you are cooking them under the turkey in the trimmings I wouldn't use them in stock. As the liquid collects in the drip pan the flavour in the "bits" will leach out into the drippings...meaning if you used them for stock there wouldn't be much flavour left to get into the stock. The main reason to roast them in the drip pan is to get flavour into the gravy.

I would roast them in a separate pan, or even in an open tin foil pouch, next to the turkey. As Daniel said, they won't need nearly as much time as the turkey itself and should be pulled off earlier. Since most of the extra trimmings won't have much fat in them, I'd collect all the juices that come out and use those in the stock as well.

I have a relatively big Oxo fat separator like the one below and I run all my stock through it so I don't worry too much about the little amount of residual fat that you'd get IF the pieces, like the backbone, had some fat on them.

oxo-2cup-fat-separator-456.jpg
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Wolgast:
Well if you cant fit them on the top grate. They could be on longer since the heat isnt that intense below the cooking grate. But then again i dont low´n´slow my trimmings. You could save some from different bird cooks in the freezer and roast em in the oven(all at once) Or just do a kettle run when you have enough. Im not a big fan of sauces/stock made of smokey parts/drippings. Rather go with a heavy smoke on the protein. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

jaha, I agree with you...but sometimes a bit of smokey flavour is nice when you're making a risotto to go with a heavily smoked protein...
 
i appreciate the suggestions. Been grilling forever but really new to the smoking thing so really just learning here.
 
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