Turkey to learn on

[Lynn Dollar]

I smoked a Labor Day Turkey on the 18 WSM yesterday, its not Thanksgiving but at least its a holiday and a good time to practice on a turkey I bought on sale last January. This is the only the second turkey I've smoked on the WSM. I visited a local barbecue joint and got inspired by their excellent turkey. And Mrs Dollar's family always does the turkey at T-Giving.

And a first for me, I spatchcocked the bird. Another first was using Tony Chachere's seasoning. I used his Creole Style Butter injectable marinade and his Original Seasoning.

I went the long cook, Minion Method with water bowl filled with water.

This wasn't a great tasting turkey, it was good, but I made too many mistakes.

I used too much of the Chachere Orginal Seasoning. The injection may have been plenty, and then just a light dusting of the seasoning. While the meat has good flavor, the spicy cajun seasoning wears out the taste buds after a while. I might still inject but I'm gonna find a different seasoning next time.

And definitely go high heat. I filled the charcoal bowl with 30 lit briquettes in the middle and then ran the WSM wide open and let it go where ever it wanted to go. It slowly got up to 265 , held that for a while, and dropped to 235 and the temp in the breast was still high 150's. I added 30 more lit charcoal and got it up to 285 to finish the cook. But altogether it took five hours.

I do my yardbird high heat and I need to do the same with turkey.

I do like the spatchcocking, I would do that again, and it was not that difficult. I had a little trouble getting the keel bone out, but that was it.

But we've got a lot of meals and sandwich meat in food saver pacs in the freezer , its very edible.

 

[Cliff Bartlett]

That's a a lovely looking turkey Lynn. Thanksgiving's just around the corner and I might make a practice run after seeing yours. I think I see some delicious hot turkey sandwiches in your future. I'm going to check out that injection butter.

 

[Barb D]

It's never to early for smoked turkey. Rich and I do a couple each year and maybe a turkey breast. Like Cliff said, nothing like hot turkey sandwiches with left overs.

 

[Rich Dahl]

Pretty much what Barb said. For the first time I spun a turkey breast did it on the E320 rotisserie and man was that good. Your bird looks excellent.

Here's a great Weber recipe that Barb and I have done for the past two Thanksgiving. You could give me a coffee cup of that gravy and I'd drink it all.

https://www.weber.com/US/en/recipes/poultry/brined-and-barbecued-turkey/weber-9139.html

 

[JRAiona]

Beautiful look bird Lynn.

 

[Lynn Dollar]

Pretty much what Barb said. For the first time I spun a turkey breast did it on the E320 rotisserie and man was that good. Your bird looks excellent.

Here's a great Weber recipe that Barb and I have done for the past two Thanksgiving. You could give me a coffee cup of that gravy and I'd drink it all.

https://www.weber.com/US/en/recipes/poultry/brined-and-barbecued-turkey/weber-9139.html

Thanks ! Got that bookmarked for my next turkey .

I'm gonna have to do a lot of things differently.

 

[Mike Freel]

Made me hungry looking at it. Like yourself, I learn something every time I grill or smoke. That is one of the things I love about out obsession, always looking to make the good better.

 

[Dustin Dorsey]

That looks fantastic, Lynn. Tony's can be pretty salty. I use the "more spice" version, lately. It's not all that spicy. It should be called "less salt."

 

[Lynn Dollar]

I've found another mistake, now that we've eaten more of the turkey. I need to be more careful to spread the injection around all the meat. I've found pockets heavy with marinade. I need to go slower and be careful not to inject too much in one spot. Gotta keep the needle moving from spot to spot. Put it deep in the meat and inject a little, and stop and inject as I slowly pull the needle out.

I'll get to practice again Wednesday when I smoke a couple yardbird. Will use the leftover Creole Butter on one of the birds.

 

[Chris C in Chicago]

Thanks for posting this- my wife wants me to smoke a few turkeys for Thanksgiving and I'm thinking I might want to practice now first.

 

[Clay Neubauer]

Looks pretty tasty to me, but I'd probably just save the spatchcocking for chicken if you want any advice for next time. A good sized turkey has enough more mass that it can use a different approach, although I do like the 300 degree+ and not a low/slow cook. And, a turkey has a big enough cavity to add lots of cool things during the cook. Like apples, bacon, etc.

 

[Karl Quist]

Lynn, that turkey looks great! A spatchcocked turkey is the only way I cook them on the grill now. A lot of benefits, not many negatives (but not zero).

Your 'mistakes' are just what it is. I have never cooked a perfect meal in my life. Some better than others. Many of them worse than others. The less than perfect results just give me a list of things I know for a fact I won't do again, vs. just wondering if maybe I should try it or not.