Smoked Turkey

[jerk bait]

Does anybody have a good recipe? I'm hosting a grad party and have decided to serve smoked turkey. I plan on cooking the day before the event and reheating in roasters that day. I would like to inject them. Any ideas?

[LABS4ME]

Buy some High Mountain poultry brine. Soak bird in brine 24 hrs and then inject the brine into the meat. I do several spots on the breast, thighs top and bottom and drumsticks from the bottom up. A light rub on the outside of the skin and you are good. Turns out moist and delicious!

Go to page 2 under bbq turkey and look at the breast I did. You'll have to increase your cooking time for whole birds. You can slice it and serve it in a Nesco roaster. Add some chicken broth to the bottom of the roaster for the meat to sit/soak in while re-heating... You'd even be able to shred one and coat with a light amount of BBQ sauce to make some good turkey sandwiches.... one pan of regular and one BBQ'd.

Good Luck!

Ken

[jerk bait]

Thanks Labs,

You confirmed what my plan was. I plan on using Maple or Apple wood. Do you have a preference on wood? Have you tried any other injections? I might try a couple of varities. I'm planning on doing at least 6 birds. I was also thinking of using a smoking bag like is used for ham.

[LABS4ME]

I like apple for poultry. Maple is good too. I use Alder for salmon. Good plan to mix it up a little...! HAve fun!

Good Luck!

Ken

[crawdad]

Can't go wrong with what LABS suggested. I've done the brine recipe last two Thanksgivings, 2 turkeys at once, turned out great. I used a cooler and let em soak. remeber to keep the brine temperatures cool, under 40 I think. Only thing I would change is using mesquite, but I think something a little milder like apple would be a good try next time too.

[jerk bait]

Recap: I smoked 7 birds. I mixed a brine of salt and brown suger and dropped the frozen birds along with a half a block of ice in coolers on Tues. Friday a.m I took the birds out of the brine and let them drain. The ice blocks were still the same size as when I started and the brine was still very cold. I used a friends smoker he built out of a commercial freezer using a burner and controls from an old oven. I got some netting from the meat department at the grocery store. It was a challenge to bag them up but it worked great to hang the birds in the smoker. After I dried them the best I could I rubbed them down with olive oil and hung them in the smoker at 10:00 a.m. for an hour with no smoke. I used apple wood and smoked them at 220 degrees they were done about 6:00 p.m. I let them cool and put them in the fridge until the next day. About 2 hours before the party started I sliced them and put in the warmes with chicken stock on low heat. They turned out great.

[LABS4ME]

Nice!!! Now that's a good turkey feed!

Good Luck!

Ken