What I learned from my first turkey......


 
M

Matt Sanders

TVWBB Pro
This isn't about turkey per se, but I learned some things smoking my first turkey on Thanksgiving day. I tried a few new techniques (for me), and solved a long standing mystery.

1. Meathead's Simon & Garfunkle rub is the best thing going for poultry. You can find it here:
http://www.amazingribs.com/rec...d_garfunkel_rub.html

2. Oiling the skin, and putting a wet rub under the skin makes a HUGE difference.

3. High heat really does work well for poultry!

4. My dome thermometer reads about 40-50 degrees too low (this settles the mystery why my butts and ribs always seem to cook faster than everyone else who goes low and slow).

5. To get over 300 degrees (lid temp) I have to crack the door open, at least when it's 40 out.

6. Cooking even a small (12#) bird at high heat takes a lot of fuel.

7. Smoked turkey rocks. This was the best tasting turkey I've ever had.
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excellent post. I've been wanting to smoke a turkey for a while, prob will do after the holidays are over. I have an 18.5 wsm, do you think a whole (say 12lb) turkey will fit on it? I've smoked several chickens on high heat, and will probably be doing the same technique for the turkey (cover in seasonings, over and under skin, smoke hot, although never put oil on the skin, sounds interesting). Also, what smoke wood if any did you use?

can't wait, been thinking ab smoked turkey for a long time.
 
Zac,

A 12# turkey easily fit my 18.5. I know some of the guys cooked a lot bigger turkey than that.

I brined the turkey (salt and sugar) for 12 hours, then ran my hands below the skin while it was rubbery to separate it from the meat as far as I could get under it. I then let it rest, uncovered, in the fridge overnight to dry the skin out. In the morning, I mixed the Simon & Garfunkle rub with EVOO and rubbed it over and under the skin, and in the cavity. Put half a quartered onion in the cavity, and let 'er rip.

For the first half hour, I was figuring out what I needed to get temps up, and chased them just a bit. It mostly cooked between 310-350 for about 2 1/2 hours.

Below the turkey, I had a pan to collect drippings for a thin gravy.

You can get a great rundown of what I (more or less) did here:

http://www.amazingribs.com/rec...e_smoked_turkey.html

For the wood, I used one medium chunk of apple, and one medium chunk of oak. I spilt both to make them a little smaller. That came out perfect.
 
My WSM can hold a 250 temp all day with very little effort, but keeping it above 300 took some work. Your right about cracking the door and the more fuel used. I did all that and had to play with the vents. But smoking turkey for me really did get me to think outside of the box when it comes different techniques.
 
Sanchez,

I had the door cracked about 2 inches until it got up to 320ish. At that point, I could maintain just keeping a slight (1/4 inch) crack in the door, and then fine tune as necessary with the bottom vents.

It took a little playing with the tongs to get it to hold the upside-down door up. I didn't realize it had to actually hold the door up as well as open.
 
I used a wire hanger wrapped around the dome handle then bought it down to the door handle to help keep my door open without falling. Also made it easier to keep it an inch or fully open. looked weird but worked
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Another thing to try for increasing air flow (and temp) is a wooden shim under the lid. Push it in and the heat goes up. Pull it out and the heat goes down. This is what I do and it makes it really easy to dial in higher heat temps...at least for me. I find it easier than trying to prop the door.

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<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Don Cash:
Another thing to try for increasing air flow (and temp) is a wooden shim under the lid. Push it in and the heat goes up. Pull it out and the heat goes down. This is what I do and it makes it really easy to dial in higher heat temps...at least for me. I find it easier than trying to prop the door. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>

Glad to see I'm not the only one that has discovered that free paint paddles make the best shims.
 
Nice set of conclusions--I agree with them all. At high altitude in CO I have to use the wire hanger to open the door as well as a stick in the lid to get 325-350.

Also need a lot of hot coals and lump burns hotter but goes away faster so I use Kingsford comp sometimes for chicken cooks since it burns a bit hotter.

When I do high heat it seems the smoke wood chunks burn up too fast and I worry the smoke is too strong but with apple it seems light enough.
 
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