Smoked Turkey

Well folks, it's that time of the year again. Thanksgiving it right around the corner and if you haven't smoked a turkey for the holiday, you are doing yourself and your family a disservice!

After teaching barbecue classes for almost 8 years, I stand by my stance that poultry (chicken, turkey, wild game, etc) is one of the most difficult to smoke. Why, you ask? Unlike beef and pork, poultry usually has skin on it. Not only that, but it has TWO types of meat; white and dark and both cook differently.

The biggest challenge with smoking poultry is the skin. When you cook turkey low and slow as you do when you smoke it, the skin can come out "rubbery".  The skin on poultry needs higher heat to crisp up. So, how do you smoke turkey at a lower temp but still get crispy skin? I am here to tell you!

First of all, let's talk about what kind of turkey to get. There are two types you will find in the store; organic and pre-injected. Organic turkeys are just that; they are basically just a turkey that has not had anything added to it such as injections, etc. They do tend to be a bit more expensive and may require a bit more work but are usually worth the effort.  The pre-injected birds are the ones you typically see in any grocery store. They are usually injected with steroids, etc to keep the bird fresh and plumped up for better store presentation. Most often than not, the pre-injected birds are also frozen when purchased. Here is a great article by the LA Times explaining the difference between the two: Organic versus pre-injected turkey

If you want to experience everything possible to do to a turkey, buy an organic one. You will typically brine an organic turkey whereas you don't have to with pre-injected birds. Just depends on how lazy you are and/or how much you want to spend!

If you purchase a frozen turkey, make sure you allow enough time to SAFELY thaw the bird out. Thaw time takes about 24 hours for every 5 lbs the turkey is overall in the refrigerator. I am not going to talk about other ways to thaw because you should ONLY thaw a bird in the fridge. Period.

Once your bird is thawed, it's time to decide if you want to brine the bird or not. This means soaking it in a salt solution. We brine for moisture, not so much flavor. You are going to wash off most of the brine anyway. Doesn't mean you can't add flavor to your brine.  The Briner Buckets or brining bags are popular. Here in Colorado the temp may or may not get low enough to put your turkey in a food grade (yes, don't use any old one) bucket in the garage. It MUST be 40 degrees or lower so as not to spoil your meat.  The Briner buckets come in 8 qt sizes that are perfect for the fridge!

How long you brine is up to you. Some do it for days and others do it for hours.

After you brine (or not) it's time to prepare the turkey for smoking. Once you rinse off the brine if you choose to do that, you can now inject your bird if you so choose. This simply means pumping a liquid into the meat for added flavor. The most simplest is to melt butter and inject it. There are many injectables on the market that really take your turkey to the next level. (Hint: I have a bunch at the store!) Injecting is not a requirement by any means but sure helps with flavoring the meat.

Before you brine, see that plastic thermometer that comes with the bird? Take it out and THROW IT AWAY! They are garbage and will pop out when the bird is WAY OVERCOOKED. Always, always, always use a good digital thermometer to check your meat temps instead.

Now it is time to put a rub on your turkey. A rub can be as simple as some rosemary and sage or an over the counter rub designed to enhance the flavor of the turkey. I have a ton of rubs at the store that do just that! If you are going to use a rub, make sure you put it up under the skin between the skin and the meat. Otherwise you will just flavor the skin and that is it. Pull the skin up with your finger or the end of a wooden spoon and separate it from the meat. Stuff the rub up under the skin all over the meat and then place the skin back down over it. Lastly, sprinkle some of your rub over the skin.

Here are some dos and donts when it comes to turkey:

• Spraying the outside of the skin with butter spray or vegetable spray such as Pam will help crisp up the skin as well. 
• Cover the wings and drumsticks with foil to keep them from burning during the cook.
• Do not place your bird inside a roasting pan. Make sure to get it up elevated for better heat and smoke penetration. We don't want our bird sitting in all those juices making the bottom soggy. Place the giblets, turkey neck, etc into the pan with some water which we will make our gravy from after it is done cooking. 
• Do not cook the bird breast side down. 
• Do not "tent" the bird with foil after you pull it off the smoker. This will just make the skin soggy. 
• Do NOT stuff your turkey if you decide to cook it whole. We want the heat to get inside and help cook the bird more evenly. 

Now it's time to cook your turkey. I HIGHLY recommend spatchcocking (I know, it's a funny word. Some call it butterflying, or splaying) the turkey. This simply means to cut the backbone out using poultry shears, turning it over and pressing down on the breast bone until it "pops" and spreading your bird out. There are so many advantages to cooking it this way. First of all, it will cook faster. Secondly it will smoke and cook more evenly. When we cook a bird whole, the heat penetrates from the outside in. So to get the middle of the bird to the required 165F, the outside (breast white meat) is usually overcooked by that time. Trust me on this everyone, spatchcock your turkey. Period. 

                                        Example of a spatchcocked turkey. 

Now that you have your bird dressed, you have to decide how you want to smoke it. By that I mean, you can smoke it at a lower temp and then turn up the temp towards the end. This is my preferred method.  I smoke the turkey around 225F until it reaches an internal temp of around 145 to 150F. Then I crank up the heat to 325 or 350F until it reaches 165F. Do NOT go much above 165F as you drastically increase your chances of drying out the white meat. When your digital thermometer reads 165F in the breast, thigh and armpit, it's ready to come off. 

Finally, what type of wood is best for smoking a turkey? The answer to that is really any kind that you like. I can tell you that the most popular wood by far is Apple but you can use whatever you like. 

One of my favorite ways to smoke turkey is using the Urban Accents Gourmet Gobbler kit. Here is a video on how to do so (I would of course recommend spatchcocking it):

Smoked Turkey Recipe

Have a safe and awesome Thanksgiving holiday! If you need any clarification or more steps, please stop by the store and feel free to ask me anything you like!