Recipe of the Week - 4-28 - GRILL SMOKED HONEY-BRINED TURKEY

[Hotspotter]

Being a fan of the wild turkey, I've searched far and near to find different ways of cooking the tasy thing. This is pretty much hands-down the best way I've ever found. Done as many as three birds at one time for big crowds (on 3 grills!), and have requests to bring it to parties and other events. I've only done it on gas grills, but it works essentially the same on any grill. 3 burner gas models seem to work best for tinkering. It's Alton Brown's with a few tweaks if that tells you anything!

GRILL SMOKED HONEY-BRINED TURKEY

-1 gallon warm/hot water

-1 pound kosher salt

-2 quarts vegetable broth (use veg. boullion cubes, can be hard to find....when you do, pick up 2 packs)

-1 pound honey (you can sub brown sugar at the rate of 2 cups/lb, but I like to do 1/2 lb of honey and 2 cups of brown sugar to keep the ingredients a bit cheaper)

-1 (7-pound) bag of ice

-1 (15 to 20-pound) turkey, with giblets removed

-Vegetable oil, for rubbing turkey

Combine the hot water and the salt in a brine container. Cooler works well in the summer to retain coolness, but I use a sealed food-grade plastic 5-gal bucket with a tight-fitting lid. Stir until the salt dissolves. Stir in the vegetable broth and the honey. Add the ice and stir. Keep the brining turkey under 50 if at all possible all night. If your 5 gallon bucket fits in the fridge, that's probably best. A cooler with enough ice (you may have to add a bit more) works second-best.

Use injector to put brine in breast, up to 20 pokes per breast. Place the turkey in the brine, breast side up, and cover with cooler lid. After injecting brine overnight, a total of up to 12 hours. Not too long with the injected brine or it'll get way salty!

Remove the turkey from the brine and dry thoroughly next day. Rub the bird thoroughly with the vegetable oil, but don't pile it on. Too much oil dripping everywhere and you'll have massive flare-ups.

Heat the grill to 400 degrees F.

Using a double thickness of heavy-duty aluminum foil, build a smoke bomb. Place a cup of hickory wood chips in the center of the foil and gather up the edges, making a small pouch. I've also used apple and mesquite with success. Mesquite was the strongest of the smokey flavors, need to really like smokey taste for the mesquite. Apple was almost too mild for me. Hickory is medium smokey.

Leave the pouch open at the top. Set this directly on the charcoal or on the metal bar over the gas flame. Set the turkey over indirect heat (use foil pan under grate over 3rd burner with 3rd burner off), insert a probe thermometer into the thickest part of the breast meat, and set the alarm for 160 degrees F. Close the lid and cook for 1 hour. I like to put down Reynold's non-stick on the grill grate to keep that thing from fusing to the grill grate!

After 1 hour check the bird; if the skin is golden brown, cover with aluminum foil and continue cooking. Also, after 1 hour, replace wood chips with second cup.

Once the bird reaches 160 degrees F, remove from grill, cover with aluminum foil, and allow to rest for at least 1/2 hour, up to 1 hour. Carve and serve.

It's alot of work to set-up, brine, and figure out, but I've never had turkey any better.

***Notes - Setting up the grill is half the trick. Whatever you do, use a foil pan under the bird to provide the indirect heat. I like a 3 burner setup with bird over the 3rd burner turned off, and the other two going to achieve the 400. Keep the furthest burner from the turkey the highest, closest as low as possible to achieve 400.

Drawback to this plan is that drippings/oil collect and can really flare up. Constantly monitor that first hour to avoid flare-ups. Use only as much oil as needed to generously cover the skin of the turkey. Dripping off is way too much.

For carving/presentation/serving, lots of folks like to be able to sort through breast meat and dark meat. I do two pans for that. I cut out the breasts all in one big chunk, then for slicing, put each breast skin side up on a cutting board and slice perpendicular to the length of the breast. Great for sandwiches this way.

Oh, and cooking time is 3.5-4 hours depending on size of bird. It took 4 hours exactly for a 23lb store-bought turkey last time I did it. Smaller wild-turkeys will be around 3-3.25 hours total.

[Kidd]

Just making sure I understood. It sounds like you soak the bird in brine for 2 day's, one before the injection and one after?

This sounds good, I think I'll give it a try.

[Hotspotter]

Kidd:

My bad, inject the bird with brine before immersing it in brine a total of up to 12 hours. DO NOT SOAK BIRD IN BRINE FOR LONGER THAN 12 HOURS TOTAL. If you're a little over, it won't be bad. Two days would be off the salt-o-meter.

Sorry for the confusion.

Joel

[polarsusd81]

I did a turkey in a similar fashion at one point in time. I used a fruit juice based brine and it was awesome. Brining big chunks of meat like that is the way to go if you are grilling it. Smoked on the grill for 2 hours and then finished off in the oven at the scene of the party. One of the best turkeys I have ever had and certainly the way to do them. I will try this recipe the next time I get a turkey to cook up. Thanks Joel.

[Kidd]

Thanks, I was a little suprised at a two day soak

[Nate McVey]

WOW Joel, I wish I wouldn't have pulled the trigger on the jake this year I'll have to give it a go with my next tom.

[Hotspotter]

You can still do it with the jake unless you breasted him! You'll just have extra brine in the bucket. Not a big deal.

Joel