WholeTurkey & Breast (not Boneless) ????


 
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Carl F.

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Practice Thankgiving smoke this weekend. My family is partial to white meat. Therefore I want to do a whole turkey 12-14lbs and one large breast (not boneless). Any tips on how to do both? How many chimneys of charcoal? Should breast go on upper/lower rack? How much quicker should I expect the breast to cook? I'm sure folks have done this before. Anything to watch out for?

Thanks
 
I'd fire up with two fully-lit heaping Weber chimneys-full-- this translates to filling the charcoal ring to the top. I say fully-lit because you are going to have over 20 lbs. of cold poultry in there sucking up heat energy, and this won't be an extended cook. Leave the water pan dry, and shoot for 325-350* cooking temp.

I always recommend brining turkey for best flavor and moistness. If you don't want to be bothered or don't have space to do that, just purchase enhanced birds.

Placement shouldn't matter, but I'd probably put the whole bird on top. As far as cooking faster, a turkey breast is just a turkey quadruple amputee, so a 10 lb. breast probably started out life as a 12-13 pound whole bird. If you also have a use for additional dark meat, why not consider just cooking a second bird-- turkey breasts cost usually much more per pound than whole birds.

You'll probably be looking at a little over 3 hours at 325-350, but as always, go by internal meat temp, not just time.
 
I am still a rookie with the WSM. I had a few butt cooks under my belt, so I tried a turkey smoke. Whole 12lb. bird and a breast at the same time. Went to the "cooking" tab at the top of the page here on TVWB. Followed the "whole turkey" instructions to the letter. Followed the brining instructions. Used the creole seasonings. Breast and whole bird came out really tasty and moist. BTW,Used apple for smoke, not hickory. My WSM is "taking up the slack" for my inexperience so I will try cooking about anything now!!! I believe I could smoke some pinto beans and corn bread and they would be good..lol
 
Test turkey came out great! Used the apple brine recipe from this Site and a few chunks of apple wood for smoke. Family loved it. I'm ejoying the leftovers for lunch as I type this. Looks like I'll be smoking for Thanksgiving. Thanks for the help!
 
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