Smoked Turkey
The first step is buying a turkey. Buy a turkey that is 13 lbs or less. A large smoked turkey will take
too long to get out of the temperature danger zone (40 to 140 degrees F) when using lower smoking temperatures. We prefer a
Butterball turkey because the breast meat has been deep basted to increase moisture and flavor. Butterball turkeys that are Fresh, not Frozen, are not basted. So we prefer
the frozen ones because of this. Also, a frozen turkey can be bought well ahead of the time needed to cook, not so with fresh turkey.A frozen turkey needs to be thawed in the refrigerator, not the kitchen sink or counter top. Thawing a 10-13 pound turkey may take up to 3 or 4 days in the refrigerator. Check the temperature setting on your appliance and raise the temp setting if needed, but remember the turkey should always be kept well below 40 degrees to avoid spoiling.
Besides the turkey, you will need a sweet onion, an orange, two red apples, and three stalks of celery. We will also use extra virgin olive oil to help the skin brown and cook evenly. The oil will also act as a binder for the rub applied.
After removing the neck and giblets from the bird, wash with cold water. Then use paper towels to dry the turkey skin. Drying the skin will help the olive oil coat evenly and this will make the smoked turkey's skin more evenly colored when done. Now we can coat the turkey with the olive oil. Rub the olive oil into the skin and make sure to apply some inside the cavity of the bird.
Next we cut up the onion, apples, orange, and celery. Stuff the cavity with
these ingredients with as much as you can fit into the turkey. This is not a stuffing that you would want to eat. The purpose of this stuffing is to help
add moisture and flavor to the turkey. You could go a step further and pour a can of Coke into the cavity. This adds a unique flavor and can further help in the moisture level of the turkey.Now it's time to rub the turkey. I used Paula Deen's Spices for my rub. It was 2 teaspoons of each of these seasonings: Butt Massage, Seasoned Salt, and House Seasoning. The 6 teaspoons of seasoning were added to one cup of brown sugar for the finished rub. The rub is applied first under the skin of the breast. Work your fingers under the skin and then pull it back far enough to coat the breast meat well. Then cover the entire bird with the rub, gently rubbing it into the olive oil on the skin.
You could cook the smoked turkey directly on the smoker's cooking grate, but with any poultry cooked on a smoker or a grill, the fat rendering out can cause some mighty big flare ups. We used a wire rack inside of a large disposable aluminum pan. The pan catches all of the juices cooking from the turkey which can be used to baste the turkey. And the wire rack keeps the bird from sitting in the meat juices. The turkey is placed on the wire rack with the breast side facing up during the entire smoking process.
Most slow cooked barbeque is cooked at 250 degrees F or less. But for smoked turkey we jump the
smoker
temperature up to 325 degrees F. Cooking at higher temps will help to conserve moisture in the meat and also gets the turkey out of the danger zone more quickly. A 10-13 pound bird should take no more than 4 to 4.5 hours at 325
degrees F. The turkey will be done when the temp in the thigh reaches 180 degrees F. The temp probe should be placed in the thickest part of the thigh, making sure not to touch any bones. Another doneness test is to grab the
drumstick and give it a wiggle. If it feels like it will pull loose easily from the body of the turkey, then the bird is probably done. Also check that the meat juices flow clear when piercing the thigh with a fork.After about an hour of smoking the turkey with a combination of hickory and apple wood pellets, check to see how the skin looks. If any area appears to be getting too brown, covering that area loosely with foil will help to prevent burning. About the two hour mark of cooking, loosely cover the breasts to keep them from cooking faster than the leg and thigh meat. After the three hour mark you can baste the turkey with melted butter every half hour until done. This will help to keep the skin from drying out and make the turkey a more go
lden brown color.Now you may be asking why didn't you brine the turkey or at least inject the turkey? I just find with the Butterball turkey you don't have to do all of that to get a great finished product. The turkey will be moist and flavorful without injections and brines. It's real easy to get carried away with flavors on turkey. This recipe keeps it fairly simple and you don't have to start prepping the turkey days before cooking.
One last thing about carving turkey and this applies to all turkey no matter how it is cooked. A cold turkey carves much better than a hot turkey, so it is better to cook the turkey the day before you plan to serve it (this tip came from my wife's mother who is an outstanding cook). Refrigerate it overnight and slice away the next day. The slices can be easily warmed in a foiled pan in the oven.
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Howdy! my name is Alan smith.I am cheif cook on the Pit Crew BBQ cook off team in Buda Texas-thats close to austin texas. In march of 2006 a friend let me read a bbq book that he had just recieved as a gift.One week later the town of Buda had a lions club cook off . Me and my wife and my 13yr old son and 10 yr old son borrowed a small pipe pit. We all loved every thing about cooking and the compition. There was 84 entered in brisket-pork ribs - chicken .Well we placed 3rd in ribs 4th in chicken 7th in brisket. No money but a real nice 3rd place trophey in ribs . I will have saythanks! because it was your bbq book .So now i have built my own pit its 7ft long i put it on 20ft trailer 3ft wall around it with a top and stainless tables Every things bigger in texas wright well its2nd cook off time.We went to the buda fire fest.58 teams was there.We took first place in pork ribs first place in open pork and 3rd place in texas red chilly .Well we are hooked thanks for all the pictures web site and great tips .thanks again ! pit crew bbq
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