Help with a smoked Christmas Turkey

CHICKEN, DUCK, PIDGEON, QUAIL, TURKEY ETC
Post Reply
jazzyj
Posts: 8
Joined: Mon Sep 01, 2014 4:53 pm

Help with a smoked Christmas Turkey

Post by jazzyj »

Hi All,

After brilliant success with the the new smoker and the brined roast chook, I have put my hand up to do the turkey this year.

I am planning to do a beer brined turkey as per the home brew chef instructions, using some applewood chips
http://www.homebrewchef.com/BeerBrinedTurkey.html

When cooking a bird like this that is known for drying out, is the brine enough to keep it moist. Should I use the water pan in my Frontier ProQ, or go sans waterpan and just protect the bottom of the turkey with some foil on the trivett.

I won't be able to do a test cook before christmas so any advice would be great

thanks

Josh
Angryman65
Posts: 397
Joined: Fri Mar 22, 2013 3:47 pm
Location: Batemans Bay

Re: Help with a smoked Christmas Turkey

Post by Angryman65 »

I'd definitely use the water pan to help keep it moist. Check the brining time by searching "brining 101"

Both the water pan and brine will contribute.

Dry is horrible. Juicy is a celebration.
Vegetarian is an old Indian word for bad hunter.
zzkazu
Posts: 4
Joined: Sat Oct 12, 2013 4:51 pm
Location: Canberra ACT

Re: Help with a smoked Christmas Turkey

Post by zzkazu »

I have a related question, planning to brine a large Turkey (its a 8.5kg bird) and cook it in a Weber Genesis E330. Do I need to have a water pan or will the brining ensure it remains moist? I did a chicken the other day without water and it was great, but not sure with such a large bird.

This is the recipe I aim to follow.
http://www.weber.com/recipes/poultry/br ... -pan-gravy
paulr
Forum Administrator
Posts: 746
Joined: Mon Jun 11, 2007 9:46 pm
Location: Sunshine Coast
Contact:

Re: Help with a smoked Christmas Turkey

Post by paulr »

In my experience the brining really helps (just be careful not too overdo the brining, as a juicy salty turkey may not appeal to most!). :lol:
Good luck with your cook and post piccies!

Merry Xmas Paul
http://aussiebbq.info/wp - my blog
https://lifesafeast.com.au/cookingclass ... criptions/ - great cooking classes
See Me, Feel Me, Touch Me, Beer Me.
Davo
Forum Administrator
Posts: 5330
Joined: Sun Jun 15, 2008 2:44 am
Location: Albury NSW on the mighty Murray River

Re: Help with a smoked Christmas Turkey

Post by Davo »

The first question by JazzyJ,

Certainly mate, one of the things about a water smoker is that not only helps the moisture content as charcoal cooking is dry heat, secondly the water in the pan acts as a heat sink so that it makes it easier to keep the smoker's temperature at bay because water's boiling point is 100C (212F) so it will create steam but keep the temp spikes from happening. as with any water evaporation, the pan needs to be replenished maybe every 2-3 hours with hot to boiling water so that the temps won't dive on you. It takes a lot of heat energy to heat up water.
Thirdly, because of evaporation and steam, this helps to carry the smoke up to the food and makes it stick.....steam and smoke seem to work well together.
I have a WSM which uses the same principle as the Pro-Qs.

Other question by zzkazu, with a Weber E330, I'm assuming you are using LPG gas. Whilst I've never cooked on one of those genesis bbqs, most gas cooking covered grills such as Webers create outstanding results and has a lot to do with the way they are ventilated and the way it allows the heat to circle the food. LPG unlike charcoal is a more moist fuel as in Liquid petroleum Gas and so it doesn't have the drying qualities as charcoal so seems to keep the moisture in a lot more. However some dishes are good to have a water tray under but it doesn't seem to be required for roasting.

I hope I've answered these enough for guys....Happy cooking.....I better go outside now and prep my WSM for some nice porky ribs.

Cheers

Davo
Moderator/ Admin

Weber Q320
Weber Performer Kettle
Weber WSM 18.5
jazzyj
Posts: 8
Joined: Mon Sep 01, 2014 4:53 pm

Re: Help with a smoked Christmas Turkey

Post by jazzyj »

Turkey turned out perfect
Brined overnight and dried for a couple of hours
smoked for about 6 hours at 120c rested for 2 hours.
I did use the waterbath also

the results were so good, I am on permanent christmas turkey duty.
Thanks for the advice

Image
Post Reply