Talking Turkey

[CJF]

Time to get this going again. Anyone have any new recipes they’re going to use? I smoked a turkey after Thanksgiving last year and it turned out great. But I can find, nor remember what I did. I do have pictures but can’t find notes.

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[Lost Student]

Seeing Jay's post above makes me want to try sous vide but I don't want to have to cut the bird up beforehand. Anova says you can cook the entire turkey sous vide, so maybe we'll try it this T-day.

They pour a bunch of chicken stock into the bag with the turkey, sous vide for 24 hours @ 150ºF, and then crispify in the oven.

[Eddie]

Time to get this going again. Anyone have any new recipes they’re going to use? I smoked a turkey after Thanksgiving last year and it turned out great. But I can find, nor remember what I did. I do have pictures but can’t find notes.

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Those pictures look great! I'm hoping to smoke a Turkey this year - last year I had a broken auger and was waiting for a part, so I couldn't.

I need some help with the do's and don't's. When I'm cooking full chickens, I usually just set it at 225-250 and watch the temperature to see when the bird is done. Seems like Turkey is just a much larger chicken, if you know what I mean. So JL's "225 until it hits 160" sounds pretty simple and like it should turn out a good bird.

I'll probably go with the Alton Brown brine, and my favorite rub now is the Zero to Hero, which is awesome on chicken so I'm assuming will work well with turkey too.

[All-American]

Tip no. 1: you don't need to take breast meat to 160.

165 is the temp you need to reach to kill all bacteria instantly. But you can do the same thing if you get it to 150 for at least 5 minutes. Odds are pretty good that by the time you got to 165 (or 160, which does in 30 seconds what 165 does instantly) the little bugs will be long dead. Give it five minutes after you notice the breast meat reaches 150, and you'll be good to go. Going higher than that risks drying it out.

https://www.seriouseats.com/2016/11/...key-video.html

Tip no. 2: air dry after a wet brine.

Brining is a great practice-- it will do wonders for juiciness-- but it will also keep the skin moist when you cook it. You want that crispy skin. After brining, put the bird out so the skin can dry up, which will increase your odds of a good, crisp skin (as will cranking up the temperature at the very end of the cook).

Tip no. 3: separate the parts.

The truth is that turkeys were not designed to be cooked whole. The part that will cook fastest, the breast, is the part you want to keep at a lower temperature, and the part you need to get up to 185, the thigh, won't get there until the very end. Take a few minutes to pull the thing apart. There's something oddly empowering about deconstructing the turkey, but more importantly you will be able to manage the temps of the individual cuts to get each part just right. Then you can give the legs to the two cavemen of your party, hot-temped thigh meat to the savory minded, and perfectly moist breast meat to the rest. (This comes at the cost of your Norman Rockwell moment, admittedly, and I don't discount the value of tradition lightly. I mean, if you really wanted the best turkey possible, you'd ditch it altogether and smoke a brisket.)

[Northwestcoug]

Tip no. 1: you don't need to take breast meat to 160.

165 is the temp you need to reach to kill all bacteria instantly. But you can do the same thing if you get it to 150 for at least 5 minutes. Odds are pretty good that by the time you got to 165 (or 160, which does in 30 seconds what 165 does instantly) the little bugs will be long dead. Give it five minutes after you notice the breast meat reaches 150, and you'll be good to go. Going higher than that risks drying it out.

https://www.seriouseats.com/2016/11/...key-video.html

Tip no. 2: air dry after a wet brine.

Brining is a great practice-- it will do wonders for juiciness-- but it will also keep the skin moist when you cook it. You want that crispy skin. After brining, put the bird out so the skin can dry up, which will increase your odds of a good, crisp skin (as will cranking up the temperature at the very end of the cook).

Tip no. 3: separate the parts.

The truth is that turkeys were not designed to be cooked whole. The part that will cook fastest, the breast, is the part you want to keep at a lower temperature, and the part you need to get up to 185, the thigh, won't get there until the very end. Take a few minutes to pull the thing apart. There's something oddly empowering about deconstructing the turkey, but more importantly you will be able to manage the temps of the individual cuts to get each part just right. Then you can give the legs to the two cavemen of your party, hot-temped thigh meat to the savory minded, and perfectly moist breast meat to the rest. (This comes at the cost of your Norman Rockwell moment, admittedly, and I don't discount the value of tradition lightly. I mean, if you really wanted the best turkey possible, you'd ditch it altogether and smoke a brisket.)

Thanks for this.

One question: how long do you let the turkey dry after brining?

[Eddie]

Thanks for this.

One question: how long do you let the turkey dry after brining?

Ditto - thanks for this.

Also - anyone have any thoughts on injecting? Worth it? Or does brining do the trick and no big needles necessary?

[All-American]

Talking Turkey

Thanks for this.

One question: how long do you let the turkey dry after brining?

Some say as few as eight hours; others, as much as 24. You’ll probably start smoking it fairly early on the day of, so if you are doing a wet brine, plan on taking it out of the brine sometime Wednesday (therefore, put it in the brine late Tuesday or very early Wednesday).

[All-American]

Ditto - thanks for this.

Also - anyone have any thoughts on injecting? Worth it? Or does brining do the trick and no big needles necessary?

I wouldn’t brine AND inject. You might inject rather than brining as a way to introduce liquid, especially if there’s something in particular you want to try. But brining will keep it juicy. You’ll be amazed at how much liquid runs off as you’re carving.

Which is the other thing. If you don’t separate the parts before smoking, at least pull the breasts off after smoking so you can carve across the grain.

[Northwestcoug]

Some say as few as eight hours; others, as much as 24. You’ll probably start smoking it fairly early on the day of, so if you are doing a wet brine, plan on taking it out of the brine sometime Wednesday (therefore, put it in the brine sometime Tuesday).

Excellent, thanks. I’ve never done this after brining but will try it this year.

[imanihonjin]

Tip no. 1: you don't need to take breast meat to 160.

165 is the temp you need to reach to kill all bacteria instantly. But you can do the same thing if you get it to 150 for at least 5 minutes. Odds are pretty good that by the time you got to 165 (or 160, which does in 30 seconds what 165 does instantly) the little bugs will be long dead. Give it five minutes after you notice the breast meat reaches 150, and you'll be good to go. Going higher than that risks drying it out.

https://www.seriouseats.com/2016/11/...key-video.html

Tip no. 2: air dry after a wet brine.

Brining is a great practice-- it will do wonders for juiciness-- but it will also keep the skin moist when you cook it. You want that crispy skin. After brining, put the bird out so the skin can dry up, which will increase your odds of a good, crisp skin (as will cranking up the temperature at the very end of the cook).

Tip no. 3: separate the parts.

The truth is that turkeys were not designed to be cooked whole. The part that will cook fastest, the breast, is the part you want to keep at a lower temperature, and the part you need to get up to 185, the thigh, won't get there until the very end. Take a few minutes to pull the thing apart. There's something oddly empowering about deconstructing the turkey, but more importantly you will be able to manage the temps of the individual cuts to get each part just right. Then you can give the legs to the two cavemen of your party, hot-temped thigh meat to the savory minded, and perfectly moist breast meat to the rest. (This comes at the cost of your Norman Rockwell moment, admittedly, and I don't discount the value of tradition lightly. I mean, if you really wanted the best turkey possible, you'd ditch it altogether and smoke a brisket.)

Yes! yes! yes!

Turkey is....well, it's just okay. There are so many other meats that are superior. When celebrating our bounty, go with a meat that is truly worth of celebration. Brisket, prime rib, tri-tip, ribeyes etc.

These are meats worth celebrating!

[Katy Lied]

I've noticed that our trips to BamBams, the balance of our order is now going to smoked turkey. The brisket is also good, but its so heavy and gives me the meat sweats. Turkey is delicate and just as yummy, and I can grab a slice as a keto snack from my fridge. Brisket is a full on commitment while turkey is a light flirtation.

[The_Tick]

I've noticed that our trips to BamBams, the balance of our order is now going to smoked turkey. The brisket is also good, but its so heavy and gives me the meat sweats. Turkey is delicate and just as yummy, and I can grab a slice as a keto snack from my fridge. Brisket is a full on commitment while turkey is a light flirtation.

I've been in this mindset the whole time. The turkey there is the best thing they have. I think it's better than the brisket.

[Jeff Lebowski]

I haven't been to Bam Bam's in years.

[Pelado]

I haven't been to Bam Bam's in years.

I haven't been to Bam Bam's ever.

[All-American]

I haven't been to Bam Bam's in years.

Going to other BBQ places is tough for me. For the amount of money I spend for one or two plates at a BBQ joint, I can feed several times that many cooking it myself, with results that are sufficiently good so as not to outweigh my astonishing cheapness. Plus, I think it's fun.