Wood selection for turkey/ brine


 
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Dave S.

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Which wood do you like to use to smoke a turkey? And does brining really make a big difference in moisture retention of the meat?

Thanks, Dave
 
Fruit and/or nut woods are best. Brining? Unequivocally yes-- wouldn't do it any other way.
 
Dave-

The last turkey I did I used Peach wood (from my father-in-law's tree he cut down.) Nice mild flavor to complement the turkey. I'll be trying another one soon with some plum that he gave me.

HTH,
Rich G.
 
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>Originally posted by Rich G (RWC Q'er):
[qb] Dave-

The last turkey I did I used Peach wood (from my father-in-law's tree he cut down.) Nice mild flavor to complement the turkey. I'll be trying another one soon with some plum that he gave me.

HTH,
Rich G. [/qb] <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>And you'll be trying out the Cherry that I'm delivering to your prch this weekend. I'll e-mail you to work out the details. OK?
 
HJP:

Right on!! Only real bbq geeks would get together to trade smoking wood. This is the only weekend this month that we don't have anything scheduled!!

See ya.

Rich
 
My preference for turkey is cherry wood. As for brining, yes do it, or save yourself some time a buy a prebasted bird that is basted with natural juices. I have done several and they turn out excellent.
 
I have used the honey brined recipe with a light amount of pecan wood ie 3-4 fist sized chunks.
It was the best turkey I have ever done , and I had 5 people tell me that it was the best turke /infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif y they ever tasted
 
I'm hooked on the Apple, Orange, Ginger brine. It's the best combination of flavors for turkey I've ever tasted. I used French Wood Barrel Oak, came out great.
 
I've smoked a coupel of turkeys on the WSM so far and they both turned out awesome. My dinner guest thought they were the best birds they had ever eaten.

I always use cherry wood. I put on about 3-4 fist size chunks. The cherry wood gives the bird a sweet smokey flavor that is not too over-powering. I also do a flavor brine using kosher salt and Cajun seasoning.

-mc
 
Thanks for the help. Think I'm going to try a few Cherry and pecan chunks combined and see what happens. I'll be brining the turkey per the recipe in the cooking tips.

Thanks, Dave - not a gator fan /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif
 
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