Here is the annual warning on deep frying a turkey. The net is full of burning oil videos due to the turkey overflowing the pot. Keep safe!
Smoking a turkey
- Thread starter Chris142
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Brine it with a cup of kosher salt and a cup of sugar. Spatchcock the bird and smoke it. I have a Yoder pellet smoker and a Green Egg. The food is better on the egg but the pellet smoker is so much easier to use and needs zero babysitting. Good luck with your turkey!
And just try to find rolling paper the right size for a turkey.
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I've never smoked a whole turkey and don't think I will, but I cooked a small-ish bone in turkey breast on my pellet grill last night. I used Pit Boss Competition Blend pellets. I cut the neck parts out and removed the skin, but left the wishbone in. Coated the breast with a little olive oil as a binder and sprinkled on an Applewood rub. Cooked at 250° until it hit 165° internal. Wrapped in aluminum foil and let it rest for 20 minutes, then sliced. It was moist and delicious. Took a few hours from cranking up the grill to slicing into the turkey.
Brine with a brine kit. Add two cups cognac, two star anise, and a handful of peppercorns. Brine for 24 hours. I sat my turkey whole on top of half apple slices, carrots, onion etc. I smoke at 250 with lump charcoal and Hickory and Cherry wood for 6 hours. I spritzed the turkey roughly every 1.5 hours. The entire bird was moist.
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Excellent advice. Not my favorite way to cook a turkey, but I can see why many like it. It is easy to make a mistake and pay the price. That is a lot of superheated oil!
SammyChevelleTypeS3
$50 site donor 2023
I can imagine with all the turkey cooking stories (near disasters) I have heard about. Seems like most of them involved a bit too much drinking while cooking. 
BAD combination I think. Especially for anyone who will try to fry turkeys for their first time. NOT ME.I learned the lesson of cooking a turkey a new way the first time on Thanksgiving with one of those water smokers. Then, to make sure, I relearned that lesson one or two more times in the ensuing years. I finally broke the code. Throw the water smoker in the recycle bin and get a real grill/smoker.
I now use a Big Green Egg. No need to go with an expensive cooker like that (I'm cheap, mine was given to me), but ceramic or insulated steel is recommended if you live where wood and fuel is dear (like where you live in the desert), or you just want to set and forget the fire source.
I've found that brining and spatchcocking offer an improvement, but aren't necessary. A good sealed dome smoker traps a lot of moisture in and I always get a moist turkey if I don't overcook it. I do like injecting the turkey with a butter/Cajun spice mix.
My darling wife let's me use any smoking wood I like, as long as it's mesquite. Lump charcoal along with the large wood chunks. No water soaking of the chunks necessary. I also like oak, hickory, cherry wood and apple wood, but don't forsee using them again in my lifetime (she's younger than me).
I've done this for over 20 Thanksgivings now. With big gatherings, a family member would bring an expensive fresh oven cooked turkey. My mesquite smoker turkey was the cheapest supermarket loss leader turkey I could find. At the end of the meal, mine would be stripped, and the oven turkey would be barely touched.
I now use a Big Green Egg. No need to go with an expensive cooker like that (I'm cheap, mine was given to me), but ceramic or insulated steel is recommended if you live where wood and fuel is dear (like where you live in the desert), or you just want to set and forget the fire source.
I've found that brining and spatchcocking offer an improvement, but aren't necessary. A good sealed dome smoker traps a lot of moisture in and I always get a moist turkey if I don't overcook it. I do like injecting the turkey with a butter/Cajun spice mix.
My darling wife let's me use any smoking wood I like, as long as it's mesquite. Lump charcoal along with the large wood chunks. No water soaking of the chunks necessary. I also like oak, hickory, cherry wood and apple wood, but don't forsee using them again in my lifetime (she's younger than me).
I've done this for over 20 Thanksgivings now. With big gatherings, a family member would bring an expensive fresh oven cooked turkey. My mesquite smoker turkey was the cheapest supermarket loss leader turkey I could find. At the end of the meal, mine would be stripped, and the oven turkey would be barely touched.
If you are not a fan of smoked meat, I would avoid smoking birds (turkey, chicken, etc). The meat really takes on the smoke flavor so anyone who is on the fence is not likely going to be a fan. I happen to like it, but we don't do it because not everyone is the same.
When I smoke whole chickens I spatchcock them and remove the spine. Smoke with the bone side down. They cook much better this way than being whole.
I agree though, Thanksgiving is not the time to experiment unless it is just you and the wife.
I used to smoke it whole. Started at around 5 am and smoked till 2-3pm. Always had a pan full of water to make sure nothing dried up.
IMHO it's the only way to eat that bird
Ive baked, deep fried, and smoked Turkeys one day per year for at least 40 years and I eat just one slice of Turkey per year ( after I slather gravy all over it ) just to let the cook know I appreciate the annual effort of trying to make the most vile tasting bird on the planet palatable. I’ve heard and read about folks that have cooked flavorful, crispy, moist Turkeys, but in 73 years I’ve never experienced this culinary delight but I admit I’ve never tasted Buzzard, Condor or Ostrich and can’t imagine them tasting any worse than a @#$& Turkey. I know I’m not alone, and I do feel better for saying it….pass the ham please……
Are you experienced at smoking meats, but just haven't smoked a turkey? And do you have experience cooking turkey? While I have generally followed the advice of not experimenting with food on company, if the answer is yes to both, then smoking a turkey should be a walk in the park. I would go for it.
It really isn't that difficult. If you want to make it super simple, just prepare and cook the bird as if you are cooking it in the kitchen oven, but put it on the smoker. Use the same pan, same temperature. Same basting practices. For wood, I would recommend a fruitwood (cherry, apple or pecan).
I've been smoking the Thanksgiving Day turkey for probably close to ten years now, and my family loves it. I personally like how it frees up the kitchen, and I think my wife likes that too. I think my family would be at least a little disappointed if we went back to cooking the turkey in the oven. My turkey is in a brine right now, but I wouldn't necessarily worry about brining a turkey. It will turn out fine without. This is the first year I am trying the spatchcock method. It really wasn't all that hard to cut out the spine.
Clearly, that's not a problem for the OP. His wife asked for the bird to be smoked, so it seems safe to assume that the family likes smoked meats. But it has never been my experience that the smoke flavor is that strong. The skin blocks the smoke from penetrating the meat as much as it would without. But I guess if you spatchcock the bird, then the "inside" of the bird is fully exposed to smoke. I guess I'll find out this year.
It really isn't that difficult. If you want to make it super simple, just prepare and cook the bird as if you are cooking it in the kitchen oven, but put it on the smoker. Use the same pan, same temperature. Same basting practices. For wood, I would recommend a fruitwood (cherry, apple or pecan).
I've been smoking the Thanksgiving Day turkey for probably close to ten years now, and my family loves it. I personally like how it frees up the kitchen, and I think my wife likes that too. I think my family would be at least a little disappointed if we went back to cooking the turkey in the oven. My turkey is in a brine right now, but I wouldn't necessarily worry about brining a turkey. It will turn out fine without. This is the first year I am trying the spatchcock method. It really wasn't all that hard to cut out the spine.
Clearly, that's not a problem for the OP. His wife asked for the bird to be smoked, so it seems safe to assume that the family likes smoked meats. But it has never been my experience that the smoke flavor is that strong. The skin blocks the smoke from penetrating the meat as much as it would without. But I guess if you spatchcock the bird, then the "inside" of the bird is fully exposed to smoke. I guess I'll find out this year.
J
We removed the back bone and openen him up that way. Made sure to check the internal temp with a thermometer. Just pulled him out.
Fortunately if it's a failure Sizzler is open as is a local pizza joint lol
Yes I often do tri tip steàks in the smoker. Just never a turkey. Watched some videos and used Google.
We removed the back bone and openen him up that way. Made sure to check the internal temp with a thermometer. Just pulled him out.
Fortunately if it's a failure Sizzler is open as is a local pizza joint lol
Update: It was a win. Even my mother in law said it was great.
Nice job, MILs are hard to please.
Late to the party but I’ve been smoking turkeys for years and honestly, there’s no other way to do it. I’ll inject the birds the night before and then inject with Irish butter a few times during the cook. A Cajun rub after slathering it in jalapeño mustard. I now use a rec tec but for many years did them in a smoker we made on a 4x8 trailer. 275 till it’s done using apple and a little bit of hickory, but not to much. I have more family than I knew I had show up for the turkey alone. This year was 60 lbs and not hardly enough to fill a large ziplock afterwards.
275? Yes that should be done.
Smoker temp.
Just looked up.....
225*F - 275*F Spatchcocked
275*F - 375*F Whole
225*F - 275*F Spatchcocked
275*F - 375*F Whole
