Smoked turkey

From TheKCGuy

I get asked sometimes how I smoke my turkeys for Thanksgiving. I use a Big Green Egg smoker for almost all of my grilling and smoking, and the turkey is no exception. Most of my tricks came from various pages on the Big Green Egg site and from the Ugly Brothers turkey page.

Contents 1 Ingredients 2 Supplies 3 Procedure 4 Serving

Ingredients

• 12 to 14 lb turkey
• minced garlic
• "poultry pack" of herbs from Hy-Vee, which is fresh sage, rosemary, and thyme.
• 1 white onion
• pam
• margerine

Supplies

• Big Green Egg (BGE) or perhaps any smoker
• vertical roasting stand (this is one of those wire towers)
• drip pan (I use a 9x9 baking pan
• wood chips for smoke. Apple or pecan are good.
• electronic thermometer

Procedure

I get a medium sized turkey from McGonigles, which is typically between 12 and 14 pounds. They have fresh (not frozen) turkeys around Thanksgiving, and I think throughout the fall and winter. Order in advance if you're doing this for Thanksgiving.

To start, I prepare a seasoning paste. For this, I combine my "poultry pack" of herbs (sage, rosemary, and thyme) with a large spoonful of garlic and a chopped, white onion. I use a stick blender or a food processor to make a paste. This can be done the night before.

When I'm ready to start cooking, I first start soaking some hardwood chips in water. I've used apple, pecan, and a few other kinds. I'm not sure it matters too much, though. I like them to soak for a while before I put them on the fire. An hour seems to be plenty, but I don't think there's any harm in soaking them longer. Then, I cover my drip pan with foil. It gets really smokey and difficult to clean otherwise. I use a metal 9x9 baking pan, but anything should do as long as your vertical roasting stand will sit in the bottom of it and it will fit in the smoker.

Then, I prepare a fire in the BGE. This section could fill a book, but briefly, I put some lump hardwood charcoal in the egg, and also fill my chimney starter with more. Once the charcoal in the starter is going pretty well, I dump it in the egg on the rest of the charcoal and open the vents about a third of the way. After about 10 minutes, it's going enough that I try to dial it back down to around 250 degrees or so. 300 is too hot, and it's tough to run the smoker below 200. Perhaps this is because I'm building too big of a fire.

Clean out your turkey, This means removing the neck and other parts from the cavity, along with any seasoning bag that may be in there. I throw that stuff away, but some folks find uses for it. I rinse out the bird pretty well, inside and out. Then, I cut off the tail area, making it easier to eventually place on the vertical roasting stand.

Before I put it on the stand, I put the seasoning paste under the skin on the breast. I do this by slicing a cut just through the skin right down the middle of the bird. It only has to be about 4" long. I peel the skin up off of the breast meat and use my hands to cram handfuls of the seasoning paste under the skin. Get it plenty deep in there. I've considered doing something to try to hold the skin back together, but it doesn't seem to matter too much. In fact, the parts of the breast meat that are exposed end up with a delicious smoky flavor. At this point, I place my thermometer probe into the thickest part of the breast meat. I don't use the pop-up thermometer that is already on the turkey, but I leave it on there just so there's one fewer hole for juice to run out.

Next, I put the turkey on the vertical roasting stand. I drop it on there pretty firmly and often have to press down quite hard to get the top of the stand to poke out of the neck just a bit. If I don't push it down all the way, I'm concerned that it might touch the top of my BGE. Sometimes, I put a quartered apple up in the cavity after the tower. I'm not sure this adds much moisture or flavor, though, so recently I've been leaving it out.

Once it's on the tower, I'm ready to cook. I open the BGE and throw on my wood chips. Then, I place the drip pan on the grate and the bird and tower in the drip pan. Then, I close the egg and set the vents to try to hold the temperature around 250. Sometimes, after about 30 minutes, I open it up and rub it with butter or margarine. I'm not sure that's necessary, though.

I try to get the bird in before noon for dinner. It cooks somewhere around 4 to 6 hours. When the thermometer reads 180 degrees, I pull it out.

Serving

I try to make sure the turkey rests for about 30 minutes before carving it. To carve it, I cut off the legs and thighs by splitting the joints with a large knife. Then, I cut the breasts out so that I can slice them on a cutting board. I'm sort of torn between delicate, thin slices and hearty, thick chunks. My amateur slicing method usually results in plenty of each, though.

Since you can't really make gravy out of the smokey drippings, you'll need to pick up some gravy from McGonigle's when you get the turkey.

As you have probably noticed, I don't really keep a formal recipe or anything, but I try to keep track of what I've done each year that works better or worse. That way, I can make it better next year. If you have any suggestions for me, please let me know. I'll be happy to try them out and include them on this page.

Happy smoking!