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

Bob in St. Louis said:
Well, since you asked... With humble intension, I submit my unedited, unredacted, raw, and highly unorganized "t-day turkey smoke notepad".
These are my notes to myself (and nobody else) meant to make my family the perfect turkey.
The notes suck, there's a lot of missing info from year to year.
But, I've had rave reviews every year.
Please remember, this is my "diary", which allows me to learn and grow every time. Seems last year I was lazy and didn't take notes. :roll:
Enjoy.

----------------

============
2019

21# bird. Bag of Kingsford, rainy, slight breeze (5mph). 40 degrees ambient.
Bird on at 9am breast temp 40 degrees.

9:00... "GO!!!"
11:00 grate temp 275, IT 110, ambient 47.
11:30 grate temp 300, IT 127, ambient 48.
1:00 grate temp 277, IT 160, ambient 50.
1:45 grate temp 275, IT 165, ambient 51.

Pulled bird. Put into large cooler with two towels as a "nest" lined with heavy duty foil (three layers)
laid bird upside down in order to juices to flow back into "top" (breast).
One more towel on top. Lid on.

By 3:00, IT went to 167, then back down to 165.
It 'rested' for over an hour and held temp.


================
2018


20# bird. On at 11am. Ambient is 50, grate temp is 250.
Cherry wood and Kingsford.
----------
= Brined about 14 hours:
1.5 cups Kosher
1.5 cups brown sugar
------------
= Drip pans:
Kosher
Butter
Onion
------------
11:00am bird on.
IT = 42
Pit = ?
------------
12:00pm
IT = 63
Pit = 252
------------
1:30pm
IT = 111
Pit 284
---------
2:30
IT = 129
Pit = 260
----------
Weather: 47 degrees, fairly breezy and heavy rain.
Opened lower valves in attempt to slightly to raise pit temp.
----------
3:10
IT = 142
Pit = 275 Have been adding handfuls of cherry 'flavor' to keep the fuel going and raise pit temp..
Cools temps, steady rain, and slightly breezy wind is consuming fuel.
May have over-smoked meat adding cherry chips to fire. Wasn't enough to raise pit temp much.
---------
4:00 -- crunch time. Dinner is scheduled to be at 5:00.
IT - 147 - Brought turkey into house, and set oven at 300. dammit.
---------
5:00 -- bird has been in the oven at 350 "pit" {oven}. (cause 300 wasn't enough)
IT - 158
--------
Taken out of oven about 5:30. 'rested' upside down in cooler.
6.5 hours is a bit long, but tasted great and looked great.


================
2017

50 degree ambient
18# bird
16# bag Kingford, two handfuls of cherry chunks

16 hour brine:
- 2 gallons water
- One 'twig' of rosemary
- 1.5 cups Kosher
- 1.5 cups brown sugar
- One head garlic

Drip pan:
- Half gallon water
- 1/4 cup bacon grease
- 1/2 stick butter
- One onion, quartered
- One head garlic
- TBS ground pepper

Bird on at 10:00
Grate temp at 280 bird at 39 degrees

12:00 - Two hours in.
IT is 98, grate is 289, ambient is 58
Foiled the wings and "hind section" to stop browning.

3:30, IT is 165, ambient is 61, grate is 309.
5 hours, 30 minutes. Done.
Based on color, it should have been foiled halfway through. It looks good, but a bit too dark (for my taste).
TASTED VERY GOOD!!!
================
2016;
- 50 ambient temp, no wind. - 11# turkey
- One 16# bag cheap charcoal. Occasional handfuls of hickory chunks.
- WSM vents at about 10% top vent 100% - running at 250.
- Bird on at 12:30
- At 3:00 the breast I.T. is 138, pit at 275
- 4:45 breast temp is 165.
- loosely foiled, and pulled from pit. Pit temp was 250.
- Done. Tasted great. Tina said it was perfect, not "too much" smoke.

=================

2015;
45 degree ambient temp, slight breeze, raining entire time.
One 16# bag cheapo charcoal. Two pounds cherry wood 'flavor'.
Lit fire at 5:45am, turkey on at 7:00am. Pit temp steady at 250.
Didn't mention what the bird weighs!?!?!

- Smoker temp swung to 320 in first two hours (was trying to compensate for weather). Don't do it like that again!
- Shut down bottom vents to 10% and top vent to 50%.
- Pit temp steady at 190 for the remainder of cook. (Meal time WAAAYY far away, trying to go very slow)
- Skin is perfect color. Foiled entire bird at 11:00am.
- 165 in thigh, 160 in breast, six hours exactly. Done.

It's 1:00pm. Meal time goal is 5:00pm (obviously done way too soon).

- Pulled. Put into pre-warmed large cooler with four beach towels in a 'nest' shape.
- Lay bird upside down in foil 'nest', wrap foil over top.
- Put three beach towels on top. Close lid. Temp probes still in thigh and breast and ambient cooler temp.
- 4:30 and breast temp is still @ 132.
- Ate at 6:00, forgot to check the internal temp, but it was warm enough to serve. Surprisingly pink inside...must have faith in the thermometer.
Click to expand...

I refuse to write anything down...
my secrets die with me
 
Put my bird (15.5 lb) brining yesterday morning in a 5 gallon water cooler, 2 gallons of water and ice to make a slush, my bird is one with broth/water added so I made my brine a little less salty than normal, 3/4 cup salt per gall of water, 1 c white sugar per gallon, several stems of rosemary and a bunch of satsumas squeezed in it. I simmered the salt and sugar to dissolve them well before adding to the brine.

Pulled the bird out of the brine this morning and put it in the fridge on a wire rack over a pan to let it dry for day. Will season with a lot of fresh rosemary, thyme and oregano and a little mixture of a salt free rub I'll make, truss and cook hot and fast. I'll shoot for 350 degrees.
 
For some reason we decided to get a fresh turkey from the local butcher this year instead of a butterball. Picked it up this morning and put it in a brine solution at 10AM an put in in the refrigerator. it will come out of the brine 11PM tonight, will be patted dry and left uncovered in in the fridge for the night. We fired up the refrigerator in our RV for the occasion so it’s in there by itself.

All set up to rotisserie the bird on our Weber performer tomorrow. I even bought a Meater plus temperature probe for the occasion.

We made turkey soup using the innards and had some for lunch. So we started eating turkey already.

5-CFE41-E7-9-D4-F-4445-9-C59-7-FD684-F82044.jpg
 
Last edited:
I’m very curious about Franklins recipe https://youtu.be/nimSejyW2Sk

The smothering with butter and wrapping is something i hadn’t thought about but kind of want to try. My question. I plan on injecting my bird would rubbing with butter like this squeeze the injection fluid out?
 
Mike, the problem with doing two things is not knowing what worked.
 
frognot said:
Mike, the problem with doing two things is not knowing what worked.
Click to expand...


You make a good point. The last time i did this i injected so the only change really would be wrapping with butter. It was pretty damn good last time however. So im debating on whether to change or not.
 
This is the first year we're not having family over, so a big bird seems like a waste.
I'll be smoking a single breast instead. Actually, a coworker asked if I'd smoke one for her too, so I'm actually doing two.
I'll be following this recipe 100%, brines, rubs and injections, to the 'T'.
This guy is legit and his reaction on the first bite wasn't fake at all.
https://youtu.be/D8YY2CwihxU?si=nzvXYTYwy_-e7n5f
 
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