Turkey Thigh help...

[Mark Smith]

Hi all,

Hope everyone is good and nearly ready for any big Christmas cooks...

Was hoping for some help...

Whilst I have had my fair share of pork, beef and ribs in the WSM, I am yet to brave the Christmas bird being chucked in there...until now.

I am traditionally roasting the turkey breasts/body in the oven to appease the extended family (and to act as a backup plan in case all goes wrong...), but I also plan on cooking the turkey thighs (and drumsticks, although I am less fussed about these) in the WSM.

My plan (if you can call it that) so far is to whack the WSM on with wide open vents until about 350 degrees with an empty foiled pan...and that's as far as I have got. I had thought I would just Google "WSM turkey thighs" and it would bring up an idiots guide...but no such luck - lots of info that all seems to be saying different things.

So my questions are - am I right to go high and hot with the WSM (350 degrees), should I be brining the thighs,and how long do we think it will take to get the thighs up to a done temp of 170 degrees? (I know that there are a hundred and one factors that could effect the cooking time, but just looking for a guesstimate really?)

Thanks in advance for any help, appreciate it!

 

[timothy]

Welcome to the board Mark! Chicken legs & thighs usually take a little over an hour at those temps, I would bank on 2 or more hours for turkey.

Tim

 

[Bob Ivey]

Welcome Mark. I did our whole turkey in my WSM for Thanksgiving last month and was not thrilled. The bird was great but hard to maintain high head in the smoker. I have always done our turkeys in the Weber kettle and will go back to that in the future. Much easier to maintain high temp cooks. You will also use more briquettes with the WSM also. Since you are only doing thighs, you should be ok. If you have a kettle, I would use that. The Weber 22 inch kettles are a dream to use at high heat. Good luck with the cook and Merry Christmas to you and yours.
Bob Ivey