Looks really good! @jdoogie Hoosier- What are you cooking them on? I've done a few on my Egg and if I add wood chips/chunks, it's pretty easy to over smoke it. It also depends on the palate of your family. My wife doesn't really like smoked meat (I know, I know) so it's rare that she likes any poultry off the Egg
Yeah, did an overnight wet brine with salt, sugar, onion, lemon, whole peppercorn, fresh thyme, rosemary, and bay leaf, then patted them all dry and put on a general BBQ poultry rub I had lying around from Costco. On the smoker at between 275-300 until the breast came up to around 155, pulled them off and rested for about 30 minutes, then carved them up and vacuum sealed for delivery. If you're planning on doing them ahead of time and then just reheating for service, you don't have to get all the way up to 165*. The whole thing about killing salmonella thing is way overblown. Everybody only focuses on temperature instead of time AT temperature. At 165 all pathogens are killed almost instantly; HOWEVER, even at lower temperatures, as long as it's maintained for a long enough timeline, you're still eliminating almost all risk. (For 150-155 range, I believe it's like 4 minutes or so...)
I was off by a bit; but here's the info from Amazing Ribs (by the way, I highly recommend this site for just about any questions you might have about smoking anything, not just turkeys): USDA wants to keep things simple for us in order to keep us safe. Admirable! What USDA doesn’t tell you is that microbes start croaking at about 130°F (54.4°C). The hotter the food gets, the faster the pathogens die. You can pasteurize your turkey at 130°F (54.4°C) in 2 hours or at 165°F (74°C) in 2 seconds, hence the USDA recommended minimum of 165°F (74°C). What the USDA doesn’t tell you is that you can kill them all if you heat the bird to 160°F (71.1°C) for 7 seconds, 155°F (68.3°C) for 23 seconds, or 145°F (62.8°C) for about 4 minutes.
That is basically how i did my chicken. Except i did my chicken at 250. I think i am going to try smoking a turkey for Christmas dinner. I did another few chickens this weekend. I tried to get a pork butt but there was none in town so i just did chickens again.
I did 2 turkeys for TG this year, one of them was smoked on the Egg. It was by far the favourite, despite the oven-baked turkey being one of the best I've ever made. I didn't brine it or anything... just slathered it in butter that I'd mixed some blackened seasoning into, and threw it into "vents wide open" Egg and let it cook. About an hour into it I threw in a handful of mesquite chips and that was it. Pulled it out when the thermometer said it was time, and the skin was super crisp without being burnt.
I have a Prairie Fire smoker (not sure they make them anymore). But it will be charcoal and wood chunks, it has a Pit master IQ 130 controller that controls air flow in to keep at desired temperature. It's pretty fool proof but I've never smoked turkey or chicken so I'm a bit apprehensive. I appreciate the responses, I'm trying to figure out what time to put them on Wednesday night so that I'm sure they will be done but still give me time to get up and drive the 30 minutes to my brother's house. I would guess they are 12-15 lb birds that should be thawed out by today/tomorrow latest. Pics of the smoker for reference/thoughts.
Reading back through, it looks like most have said they smoked it at 250-275/300. I'm used to running several hours at 180 and setting the controller to crank up the temp to 250+ once the meat hits 145 or so. At higher temps it looks like I'll have a different time frame than I was thinking. Not good or bad, but I think I'll be changing my start time. They can always come off early and go into coolers and get warmed back up later.
I was late getting the turkey on the Egg this year so cranked it up to 400+ and it came out amazing. I think it was nice and hot so you don't get that cold smoke flavour, and because the smoke that was there was so short lived it added more of an overtone of smoke than a deep smoke. I was quite happy with the fast/short turkey... but I'm not sure I'd consider it a properly smoked turkey. Just a fast BBQ'd turkey with a bit of smoke thrown in. Still, I'll be doing another one just like it for xmas, at the request of family.
Turkey has a lot less connective tissue to break down compared to your typical BBQ dishes like pork or brisket, so you can run it at a higher temperature and not worry about it still being tough. Plus, if you want to have the traditional crispy skin, you won't get that with a low temp. For a 12-15lb bird, at between 275-300 I'd say it averaged around 3 1/2 - 4 hours. But there's also so many factors that could affect your time; just have a temp probe on hand and once you get into the 140-145 range, keep an eye on it because it will finish quickly at that point.
I did a 10 lbs bird at 400 in the Egg in what I think was 1.5 hours. It cooked way faster than I was expecting it to, compared to oven times. I had to baste it a bit to keep the skin from burning, and tented it in tinfoil, but it was done FAST. It rested for 45 mins waiting for the other bird in the oven to catch up.
I just read through that link (thanks for that) and I guess that makes sense with a lower fat content meat. I have four probes, I'm thinking I'll use two per bird in different spots to be sure. This is awesome, I may go buy a couple more birds for later.
That's super quick. I'm glad I asked because I was worried I would have rubbery skin after an all night cook. Turns out I had the absolute wrong idea, clearly I don't smoke much poultry but I may do more of this if it turns out great. You guys are an awesome resource, thanks for helping a guy out.
If you have 4, I'd recommend one in the breast and another in the thigh of each bird, that way you can monitor both the white and dark meat of each.
I am going to do some pulled pork this weekend. Ever recipe say to spray with apple cider vinegar. I hate vinegar, do you take the vinegar at the end or can i used something else?
Never heard of that. I’ve smoked until the internals were 200 and finished in a slow cooker with a little chicken stock.
You can also just do a mix of plain apple juice and something acidic like a citrus juice. It's more about getting an acidic element onto the meat which helps cut down on the richness of meat/rendered fat. Or just do what Kubla says. It is by no means a requirement at all.
I would also say that what comes out at the end does not taste anything like vinegar. If you hate it raw, you may not even notice it if you use it as a basting spray.
I don’t usually spray pork shoulder, but other than that I do 3 equal parts of water, apple juice, and ACV.