TALKIN' TURKEY!! (The official/unofficial turkey thread)

[Brisketbloke]

Smoked Turkey Breast.

Hi all
Just to let the Brethren know, I smoked a 4lb skinless, boneless, turkey breast today using Aaron Franklins method from his book, got the breast from Costco. I changed the salt and pepper rub to my own Turkey rub.
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp garlic granules or powder
1/2 tsp onion granules or powder
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 tsp dried thyme
Salt and pepper
Mix all the ingredients together and rubbed all over the breast just before smoking.
It came out beautiful and moist.
It served four of us for dinner, with plenty leftover for sandwiches. Yum!
If any of the Bros are interested in the method, I would post it up. Just let me know.

 

[OpelGTMan]

Amazon has the turkey cannon on sale for $17.46 and Prime shipping. I just picked up one. [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Camp-Chef-Infusion-roaster-TKYC/dp/B000GEBYQ4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1447099280&sr=8-1&keywords=turkey+cannon"]Amazon.com : Camp Chef, Sante Series Turkey Cannon Infusion roaster indoor/outdoor TKYC : Grill Parts : Patio, Lawn & Garden@@AMEPARAM@@http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51PnDN3hh%2BL.@@AMEPARAM@@51PnDN3hh%2BL[/ame]

 

[itschris]

Hi all
Just to let the Brethren know, I smoked a 4lb skinless, boneless, turkey breast today using Aaron Franklins method from his book, got the breast from Costco. I changed the salt and pepper rub to my own Turkey rub.
2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp garlic granules or powder
1/2 tsp onion granules or powder
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 tsp dried thyme
Salt and pepper
Mix all the ingredients together and rubbed all over the breast just before smoking.
It came out beautiful and moist.
It served four of us for dinner, with plenty leftover for sandwiches. Yum!
If any of the Bros are interested in the method, I would post it up. Just let me know.

Hey Brisket... Yeah.. if you could do the details that'd be great. I'm going to do a whole turkey in the Stumps... now we have more coming to Thanksgiving dinner so I'm going to need to do another larger breast or two.

Also... any issues doing stuffing in the turkey? I can't imagine why there would be.

 

[Brisketbloke]

This is for those that have asked.

Turkey Breast
Stuff your going to need:
3 to 4 pound skinless, boneless Turkey breast
1 cup of butter
Heavy-duty aluminium foil
Brisketbloke Turkey rub as above.

Start the fire and set the temp at 265°f using wood or charcoal, or both, up to you.
Apply the rub to the Turkey breast
The book says cook the Turkey breast, what would have been skin side up for 2 1/2 to 3 hours then wrap. I felt like mine was ready after 2 hours.
Before you wrap the breast, place the butter on the top of the Turkey and double wrap the breast in the foil, dull side out.
Then place back on the smoker upside down (what would have been, skin side down).
Continue to cook the Turkey until the internal temp hits 160°f. This took about an hour.
Take the breast off and let it rest until its internal temperature drops back to 140°f, then slice.
When I read this method originally, I thought it was going to be dry and over done. How wrong I was.
Enjoy Bros

 

[Brisketbloke]

Stuff that bird...

Hey Brisket... Yeah.. if you could do the details that'd be great. I'm going to do a whole turkey in the Stumps... now we have more coming to Thanksgiving dinner so I'm going to need to do another larger breast or two.

Also... any issues doing stuffing in the turkey? I can't imagine why there would be.

Hi itschris

Because the breast joint I'm using is skinless and boneless, there's not much of a cavity to stuff. You could cut into the bottom of the breast, flattened out slightly, make a sausage shape with your stuffing, lay the stuffing on the cut side of the breast then roll the breast around it. Then tie it off with butchers string. Might take a little longer to smoke, just keep an eye on your internal temps. Might try this myself next time, I'm starting to salivate at the thought of a stuffed, smoked breast cooled down and sliced into sandwiches! Hope this helps.

 

[Happy Hapgood]

This is for those that have asked.

Turkey Breast
Stuff your going to need:
3 to 4 pound skinless, boneless Turkey breast
1 cup of butter
Heavy-duty aluminium foil
Brisketbloke Turkey rub as above.

Start the fire and set the temp at 265°f using wood or charcoal, or both, up to you.
Apply the rub to the Turkey breast
The book says cook the Turkey breast, what would have been skin side up for 2 1/2 to 3 hours then wrap. I felt like mine was ready after 2 hours.
Before you wrap the breast, place the butter on the top of the Turkey and double wrap the breast in the foil, dull side out.
Then place back on the smoker upside down (what would have been, skin side down).
Continue to cook the Turkey until the internal temp hits 160°f. This took about an hour.
Take the breast off and let it rest until its internal temperature drops back to 140°f, then slice.
When I read this method originally, I thought it was going to be dry and over done. How wrong I was.
Enjoy Bros

The rub sounds great! I'll be doing Cajun fried turkeys this year but our Family has almost doubled. I've been wanting to smoke a turkey breast ever since joining this site. Yours looks like the way to go.

Can you post pictures? :thumb:

 

[itschris]

Hi itschris

Because the breast joint I'm using is skinless and boneless, there's not much of a cavity to stuff. You could cut into the bottom of the breast, flattened out slightly, make a sausage shape with your stuffing, lay the stuffing on the cut side of the breast then roll the breast around it. Then tie it off with butchers string. Might take a little longer to smoke, just keep an eye on your internal temps. Might try this myself next time, I'm starting to salivate at the thought of a stuffed, smoked breast cooled down and sliced into sandwiches! Hope this helps.

I'm going to make a whole turkey too and maybe two extra breasts like you made. Thanks for the directions...that'll help

 

[Brisketbloke]

I want fried turkey.

The rub sounds great! I'll be doing Cajun fried turkeys this year but our Family has almost doubled. I've been wanting to smoke a turkey breast ever since joining this site. Yours looks like the way to go.

Can you post pictures? :thumb:

Cajun fried turkey sounds amazing, I've never fried a turkey, would love to try it one day.

Sorry pics came out very dark, need to get a decent camera. I'll definitely be doing turkey breast again, so I'll get some good pictures next time.

 

[Brisketbloke]

I need a sandwich now.

I'm going to make a whole turkey too and maybe two extra breasts like you made. Thanks for the directions...that'll help

No problem, hope it all goes well for you.

 

[Wampus]

Amazon has the turkey cannon on sale for $17.46 and Prime shipping. I just picked up one. Amazon.com : Camp Chef, Sante Series Turkey Cannon Infusion roaster indoor/outdoor TKYC : Grill Parts : Patio, Lawn & Garden

That's a great price. I love my Turkey Cannon(s). I actually have two!

 

[kbeasley]

I will be doing my first turkey (first whole bird) this Thanksgiving. Gathering a lot of great information and tips from this thread. I have a kamado style grill (Vision). I have a lava stone/heat deflector that I can place above my coals/below my cooking grate. Would it be a good idea to use this and go for indirect with my bird? Forgive me if this was covered several times in this thread and I missed it. If you can't guess I'm pretty new to the bbq world.

 

[db335]

Turkey/Ham

Yeah I plan on doing a smoked and fried turkey. Waiting on my Shirley Fabrications smoker (should get it the first week of Dec.) so we can do our first annual Christmas meals for the homeless in Jacksonville, FL. If you are in the area and would like to help please hit me up. Navy will be in full force.

 

[Wampus]

I will be doing my first turkey (first whole bird) this Thanksgiving. Gathering a lot of great information and tips from this thread. I have a kamado style grill (Vision). I have a lava stone/heat deflector that I can place above my coals/below my cooking grate. Would it be a good idea to use this and go for indirect with my bird? Forgive me if this was covered several times in this thread and I missed it. If you can't guess I'm pretty new to the bbq world.

That's what I would do, yes. Even on a Weber kettle or something like that it's always a good idea to use pavers or some other kind of heat diffuser/deflector to shield the turkey from the direct heat to prevent uneven cooking.

I've done turkey on my BGE and I always use the platesetter when doing so for an indirect cook.

 

[S.Six]

So far i got about 9 turkeys going on the Lang 84. Going to be smoking them with apple and cherry wood.

 

[OpelGTMan]

http://imgur.com/8pDbHrl

I used the turkey canon last night in a trial run before Turkey Day. It turned out great. I did have a hard time keeping my WSM at 325 but it eventually got done.

 

[Right on Q]

Would you do anything different with a fresh turkey?

My FIL just harvested 20 turkeys from his herd a week ago and we will be smoking a few of them for thanksgiving. I know these birds will take to a brine well since they haven't been "enhanced" but are there any other modifications you would do to a really fresh bird?

 

[Wampus]

Would you do anything different with a fresh turkey?

My FIL just harvested 20 turkeys from his herd a week ago and we will be smoking a few of them for thanksgiving. I know these birds will take to a brine well since they haven't been "enhanced" but are there any other modifications you would do to a really fresh bird?

Personally, I haven't done a truly fresh farm raised bird like that, but I cannot imagine anything being different, other than a better product because it's so fresh.

If it were me, I'd still brine it and then season and cook it the same way.




Perhaps others who've cooked truly fresh birds will chime in with different advice though? As I said.....I'm making an assumption.

 

[qman]

It's been a few years since I did a farm fresh turkey, but I think Wampus is right on here. I would use a simple brine, let the fresh flavor shine. Simple seasonings too. I always use fresh thyme and citrus fruit in the cavity, loosely filled, kosher salt, and pepper. Rub skin with olive oil or butter.

 

[Bob in St. Louis]

Rub skin with olive oil or butter.

The turkey. Not yours.
Just in case anyone wasn't clear on that.

 

[boog1455]

Great ideas here for sure.... Sorry if I missed this in the 32 pages of this thread but..... Got a frozen turkey from the work place recently and was in the process of thawing. Noticed on wrapper it had 8% solution added. I usually brine my turkeys but is that really necessary with that large amt of solution added? The most I remember ever seeing was 3-4%. Would have preferred fresh but impractical I guess when you are passing out 3000 birds. Beggars can't be choosey. Thanks for all your wisdom....