Full Turkey?

[spartanhuntr]

Anyone out there do a full turkey? I have one in the freeze and need the space for venison. I expect i need to brine 24 hours. But, really don't even know where to start with smoking a turkey. I haven't seen much out there. Lots of videos on brining but not a lot of details with temps.. ideas.. key points, etc.

Any help out there? ideas? Recommendations? Do nots?

 

[Smoker4]

I did one quite a few years ago in my older electric smoker. Before I took notes on my cooks. I did it spatchcocked. Did NOT brine, but injected it with mesquite marinade. I don't recall any of the times or temps. It was as good as turkey can be.

 

[Marius]

I’ve never tried this but I liked your idea so I went googling.
Spatchcock seems to be the way to go as they say it provides for more even cooking.
This Heygrillhey recipe is one I may try this Thanksgiving.
https://heygrillhey.com/spatchcock-smoke-roasted-turkey/

 

[ndfan6464]

Heres a link to my whole chicken. Same principle would apply to a whole Turkey. If you do the butter under the skin, which I do recommend to keep the white meat juice use unsalted butter if you choose to brine. The salt brine will add enough salt to make up for the loss of salt in the butter. Unless you like really salty food then by all means used salted..

Let's know how it goes and what you did to smoke your Turkey so other can learn along with you. Cheers mate

https://www.recteqforum.com/threads/bourbon-brine-whole-chicken.677/#post-5891

 

[Mike]

Anyone out there do a full turkey? I have one in the freeze and need the space for venison. I expect i need to brine 24 hours. But, really don't even know where to start with smoking a turkey. I haven't seen much out there. Lots of videos on brining but not a lot of details with temps.. ideas.. key points, etc.

Any help out there? ideas? Recommendations? Do nots?

I've done full turkeys and turkey breasts using the following method, Smoked turkey breast on Rec Tec

 

[Stlsbc]

If you Google Meat Church smoked turkey there is a video. All the recipes I have followed of his have turned out great.

 

[spartanhuntr]

Thanks all. I haven't gone down to double check it is thawed, but i think today is the day. Ha.

 

[Jonathan Buffett]

Here’s a twist for you - smoke-fried turkey.
smoke turkey 4hrs at 225 or 250, rest it while you get fry oil up to temp, drain cavity, fry until done. Check every 5 min or so - it doesn’t take long.
advantages
Skin is rendered
Smokey flavor but not to much
you get both the smoke and the fried taste/texture
I cannot stress this last one enough - you will have dinner ready when you told your wife it would be ready. 4 hrs + 30 min rest + 5 to 10 min frying time = done

 

[ARCbbq]

I just did a 12 lb turkey on my 590 (Nov 7, 2020). 325 deg for about 3 1/2 hours. Preparation was only olive oil & rub, then put into an aluminum foil pan (Dollar Tree) with a small metal rack on the bottom to bring it up off the bottom of the pan by about 1/2 inch. Cooked breast up. The breast, legs were done very well, the deepest part of the thighs were just barely done enough. Skin done very well. Checked multiple areas with a digital thermometer - was from 164 to 178 deg. However, if I had left it in longer, I think some parts may have dried out too much. The pan I used had 2 1/2 to 3 inch sides. I wonder if the sides shielded the air flow, resulting in somewhat uneven results. If I cook another one, I will probably brine it, and leave it in longer, use a pan with shallower sides, and maybe turn it over once. We have cooked whole turkey many times in conventional oven (not convection) with perfect results, so this time was a little disappointing. Also might cook it slower - I'm going to do more research on recipes, before trying another. At this point I don't see any advantage in using my grill vs a conventional oven - flavor was pretty much the same.

I have done a lot of other types of cooking on the grill (ribs, brined chicken, boston butt, pizza, fish, etc) and results have been very good. I use a Lodge P14P cast iron griddle at 500 deg for pizza (fantastic), Rec Tec mesh for fish, modified 321 for ribs (wonderful), so a whole turkey is a different type of challenge.

 

[DenStinett]

I keep hearing about "Brown Bag" Turkey
A Friend from Hawaii said that's the "only way" to smoke a whole Turkey
Thoughts ?