The Great Turkey Debate!


 
Pat Romero

Pat Romero

TVWBB Super Fan
Over the past several years, I have deep-fried a turkey for Thanksgiving with great success. However, I wanted to change things up this year & smoke one on my WSM. My wife is a fan of the deep-fried turkey, but wants me to try cooking one on a new Butterball Oil-less Turkey Fryer instead. We agreed to settle this like the Pepsi Challenge. In that spirit, I'm cooking a turkey today "her way" in the Butterball Oil-less Cooker. In about a week from now, I'll cook a practice turkey on my WSM "my way" and we'll see which we like better for the Official Thanksgiving Day Menu!

Today's bird getting injected with Tony Chachere's Creole Butter:



Next, lightly oiled with Peanut Oil & seasoned with NuNu's Cajun Seasoning:



Seasoned bird sitting happy in the cooker. Temp setting on "High" which should have this 12 lb turkey ready in 2 - 2 1/2 hours:



One hour into the cook, it's starting to get some color and smelling pretty good:



I'm in the home stretch on the cook now & will post a pic of the finished product once the turkey hits final temp ... Stay tuned, Folks!
 
Okay, so here's a couple of shots of the finished product. Overall cooking time was approximately 2 hrs, 20 min:





Overall, a thumbs-down on the Butterball Oil-less Turkey Fryer. The Creole Butter & Cajun Seasoning gave the turkey meat good flavor, but the texture of the bottom half of the bird & the skin gave it more of a steamed feel. Cook #2 with the WSM will be in another week or so. The Turkey Taste Challenge continues . . .
 
thanks for the info. based on my cook today, i'm guessing the WSM is gonna win out.
 
Why not do both? We fry and smoke one each year. Leftovers are excellent! ... but that turkey doesn't look as good as what I know can come off a WSM.
 
Last edited:
Pat, My wife wants me to do the Christmas turkey in the WSM this year, as we will not be in town for Thanksgiving. I told her that I would want to to a practice bird first. I am sure we can find a use for some smoked turkey leftovers.
 
NAR_Simpson said:
Pat, My wife wants me to do the Christmas turkey in the WSM this year, as we will not be in town for Thanksgiving. I told her that I would want to to a practice bird first. I am sure we can find a use for some smoked turkey leftovers.
Click to expand...

My favorite use is smoked turkey, andouille and oyster gumbo! I remove the majority of the meat from the carcass and then make turkey stock from the carcass. Making the stock first makes a good gumbo, IMO, and then I've got all that smoked meat for the gumbo.
 
Thanks for the feedback, everyone! I'll be able to do my WSM Turkey in a week or so. Looking forward to doing my first turkey in the WSM ... :D
 
Have it both ways???? I have seen methods where the turkey was smoked to a certain temp and then finished in the fryer. I have not tried this yet, but thinking about it.
 
It looks real good Pat.
I smoked my first turkey this past weekend. It came out really good but the family concensus is the deep fried bird is better.
 
Hands down, the best turkeys I've ever done were smoked/cooked....everything else, to me anyway, is just,........... well, crappy turkey. They do make good sandwiches with mayo.......................d
 
Okay, Part II of "The Great Turkey Debate" continued today with a test cook on my WSM. I injected a 13 lb turkey with Tony Chachere's Creole Butter, then I lightly rubbed the outside of it with Peanut Oil. I then rubbed Old Bay Seasoning on the outside & put 2-3 pats of butter inside the cavity. Placed it on a rack inside of a roasting pan before placing inside the WSM:



I loaded the WSM with Kingsford Blue & some apple wood using a modified tin can method:



I took the advice from some of the Forum members & shot for 325-350 degree target. I opened all vents & even cracked the lid a bit using a clothes pin. No problem getting the temp up:



I did have a leftover Halloween Gremlin get into my Maverick & it started indicating 425+ degree temps. I think my grate probe finally died! Oh well, the Finished Product came out great:



The turkey was moist & very tasty! The Make or Break Test was my wife's palate. She's not a big fan of smoke, so I was concerned about winning over her taste buds. I have to say that she has commented no less than 6 times since serving her plate as to how great that turkey tasted! The Gold Standard for our Thanksgiving Day bird has been Cajun Fried. She said that this bird ranked maybe just a half-point less than that ... That's saying something! ;)

The Great Turkey Debate is over ... And, The Undisputed Winner is the WEBER SMOKEY MOUNTAIN !!! :wsm:
 
James Lake said:
Have it both ways???? I have seen methods where the turkey was smoked to a certain temp and then finished in the fryer. I have not tried this yet, but thinking about it.
Click to expand...

Those are called smofried. I would rather have 2 small birds, one deep fried and one over the coals with some apple wood.
 
Pat both Birds look fantastic, but you have to leave with the one who brought you. Your CEO. Go with her choice. Nice cooks Brother
 
Michelle in New Orleans said:
My favorite use is smoked turkey, andouille and oyster gumbo! I remove the majority of the meat from the carcass and then make turkey stock from the carcass. Making the stock first makes a good gumbo, IMO, and then I've got all that smoked meat for the gumbo.
Click to expand...

This sounds awesome! Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

 

Back
Top