Christmas Turkey

[tripple1zero]

Hi everyone,

First of all I would just like to say how helpful this forum was when I was looking to buy a BBQ. I ended up going with a Mosport Supreme Plus. So far so good.

So anyway, this year I have been given the resposibility of cooking the turkey, and plan to do it on my BBQ. Having never done this before, I was hoping to get some good advise (the advise I have got so far may not be good). The turkey is 7.2kg, and will be about 8kg with stuffing (about 16lb).

1. So I plan to remove the hot plate from the BBQ, leaving the grill, which will be positioned in the middle. Is it okay to put the turkey in a roasting pan onto the grill? Or is it better to lift the turkey from any surfaces?
2. What is the recommended cooking times and temperature for a turkey this size? Wingmmans post in the 'Christmas cook up....Turkey?' thread concerned me a little (seems to know what he is talking about), but 7.2kg is not that big for a turkey!
3. What are the recommendations to stop the turkey drying out? I read about the herbed butter in Wingman's post. Is this enough? I wont be doing the brine thing (mayne next time).
4. Is a smoker box a good idea? I will be super happy if my turkey looks like the mahogany red turkey Wingman posted.

Thanks in advance!

[shayneh2006]

Hi tripple1zero.

As you are going to be cooking this Turkey using Gas, i will wait for the other members (i never use gas these days) here to jump in and advise you on methods best suited .

I wont be doing the brine thing (mayne next time).

Advice i will give though is if you have the time, brine that bird. The result always out weighs the effort to do so. Follow the Captains gormuet Chicken in the poultry section. If BBqed right after brinning, you will be eating a Turkey unlike any you have eaten before.

Heres a few pics of one i did a few weeks ago.




Shayne

[Livewire]

Tripple, welcome to the forum

I'm not a big gas user either since converting to a Kamado and charcoal, but fully agree with Shayne with the brining if you can do it. It makes a world of difference in your success rate with getting a moist bird and as such a bit more leyway should you over cook it a little which and you always want Turkey to be cooked right thru

Shayne

Just a dry run for Xmas heh Shayne

Not that you need any practice, you could do that with your eyes closed

Great colour you got from the roti

Glenn

[Amfibius]

I think i'm one of the small handful here who advocates lower cooking temperatures for poultry. For your Christmas turkey, I would suggest:

- brine. You MUST brine. As I experiment more and more with brine concentration, I have settled on lower salt. A 4% brine means - 4% salt, 2% sugar, other flavourings (e.g. bay leaf, peppercorn, parsley, lemon, thyme, etc). I'm not going to go into the science of brining here, but trust me - it results in a juicier bird. I have found that higher salt concentrations season the bird better, but results in a "cured" flavour. A lower salt concentration gives a juicier bird, but you need to add seasoning before eating.

- Cook to temperature. 65C for the breast, and 75C for the legs. This is nearly impossible to achieve, see discussion below.

- slow cooking, meaning you supply heat of about 100C or so. The thermodynamics of how heat penetrates meat strongly favours slow cooking to achieve a more even result, and avoids overshoot. The problem is that slow cooking does not crisp up the skin. See below.

- DO NOT STUFF YOUR TURKEY. The stuffing cooks last, and heat penetration to the stuffing is retarded by the turkey. As a result, your stuffing spends hours in the "danger zone" for bacterial multiplication, particularly if you use a slow cook method as I suggest. Besides - stuffing in the turkey always turns out oily and soggy. If you want stuffing, I suggest cooking it separately.

Now, on to my suggested method.

You may not like this method because I have stopped serving my turkey whole. The breasts need to be cooked to 65C, and the dark meat to 75C. It is almost impossible to do this without sacrificing one for the other. The alternative is to roast the whole bird to 65C, but only serve the breast. Keep the legs aside and warm them to 75C before eating. You could also try to retard cooking of the breast by covering it in foil, but this results in different coloured breast and leg skin.

This is my method:

- 4% brine for 24 hours.
- dry in the fridge for 24 hours, occasionally turning the bird and wiping the moisture off the bottom.
- (optional) seperate the thighs and wings from the crown.
- (optional) rub the turkey skin with a rub of your choice, or put flavoured butter between the skin and the meat. Be careful not to tear.
- preheat oven or Kamado to 150C, then immediately drop temperature to 100C when the turkey goes in. The initial blast of heat kills the bugs and makes the slow roast process safe. Slow roast until the breast crown is 65C (approximately 4 hours). If cooking separately, remove the crown at 65C and continue roasting until the thighs are 75C.
- Set up an oil ladling station - metal grate over a roasting tray, plenty of newspaper to catch splatters, long sleeve shirt and eye protection for yourself.
- Heat up a pot of oil to 200C. Place the turkey on the metal grate and ladle the hot oil over. It might splatter and spit oil everywhere. Recycle the oil and repeat as necessary.
- Keep the turkey warm in the oven at 60C until ready for service.

Good luck with your turkey.

[paulr]

Agree with the boys...

Turkey: Gotta brine!!
Just make sure you don't overdo it as it can become very salty! Otherwise brining will give you the best tasting/moist turkey ever!