Two Turkeys for Thanksgving

[MJSBBQ]

I need some advice for Thanksgiving dinner. I am a firm believer that my TBE cooks the best turkey. I need to do two turkeys next Thursday. I am going to do one 12 lb turkey my favorite way of a simple brine the night before and cook it in TBE. I am thinking that will be the usual 10 minutes per pound and take about 2 hours. I would like to do the other 12 lb turkey with some smoke flavor for a little variety. I have not had much luck using pellets in my TBE even with a Tommy ring. Maybe it is because I am so used to a thick smoke flavor I get with my ribs in my ECB.

I was thinking about putting the second turkey in the smoker for 3 hours like I do for my ribs and then maybe finishing it in TBE. Or the other thought was maybe smoking the second turkey with my AMAZE-N smoke tube and then finishing in TBE. Of course I will monitor with a remote digital thermometer and Thermapen.

The other part of the equation is the timing for the meal. We are having our usual Thursday morning Turkey Day golf game ad plan on eating around 4 or 5. I plan on firing up TBE around 1, so it will be done around 3 or so. I could put the second turkey in at 3 after it has been smoking for a period--or I could just let it finish in the smoker, but I really love the way TBE cooks the bird.

What are your suggestions?

[muebe]

Smoke the Turkey in the ECB for a couple of hours then finish in TBE.

[teesquare]

Why not load the Tommy ring with pellets - light it, and place the turkey in the TBE? You can cold smoke it as needed? Do you live in an area of the country that is likely to be cold on Thanksgiving?
I ask because - I am thinking of food safety issues….

T

[TentHunteR]

Why not load the Tommy ring with pellets - light it, and place the turkey in the TBE?

The "Tommy Ring"...  He he, good name...   I like it!

[Pappymn]

Spatchcock the bird to cut down the cook time. Use the back and such for gravy

[GusRobin]

I have an SRG and I use my Amaze-n smoke tube in the SRG when I cook the bird. By the way, I have never brined a bird when I use the SRG and the turkey still comes out very juicy.

[grossie]

Was planning on two myself this year, one in TBE, one in PBC. My wife decided for some reason that she wants to cook one in the oven. I may be down to one in the TBE (16 lbs) and a breast on the PBC.

[deestafford]

I think you can do like muebe says with no problem.  I'd be careful and not over smoke it.  The SRG or TBE are great for cooking the bird completely or as a finisher. I've smoke in my MES and finished off in the SRG with no problem. Since my memory is short like the Turtle's I can't remember the time.  Dee

[MJSBBQ]

I was thinking along the lines of Muebe's suggestion. I would smoke the second turkey in the ECB while cooking the first in TBE. With both turkeys weighing 12 pounds, I am thinking the cook time in TBE will be around 2 hours. That will give me about 2-2 1/2 hours of smoke in the ECB before I exchange birds and put the smoked one to finish in TBE.

I am guessing that it will take about an additional hour in TBE to finish the smoked bird. Does that sound about the right time to you guys? Of course I will monitor it with a temp probe, but just trying to plan on times before the diner.

I have talked to Tommy and tried the Tommy ring---just hasn't worked well for me for smoke wise. I do use one for elevating the bird to help with the lower dead zone.

BTW--I live in Florida so the ambient temp should be mild.

[muebe]

Your plan sounds good to me.

One other suggestion I have is you might want to salt the skin with kosher salt and then leave the bird in the open air of the fridge for an hour or two. This will draw out excess moisture in the skin. Then rinse the salt off, pat dry and season. This should help you get a more crispy skin when you finish in the TBE.

I love smoked Turkey but find that the skin becomes inedible and like leather. The salting process draws out the moisture and helps prevent that from happening.

This combination of smoking then high temp cooking should make for a fantastic and juicy bird. I used to do chickens this way and they just come out delicious

And avoid using a water pan in your ECB while smoking poultry. The extra humidity is not needed IMHO due to the higher moisture content of it.

[MJSBBQ]

One other suggestion I have is you might want to salt the skin with kosher salt and then leave the bird in the open air of the fridge for an hour or two. This will draw out excess moisture in the skin. Then rinse the salt off, pat dry and season. This should help you get a more crispy skin when you finish in the TBE.

I plan on brining both turkeys. Are you suggesting that I put the kosher salt on, after I rinse and pat dry prior to putting it into the smoker? I have had the dreaded rubber skin bird before and would like to avoid it if I can. But that was in someone else's smoker and not TBE.

I was planning on using the water pan in the smoker, since this is what I normally do. If eliminating this will make my skin crisper without dying out the bird, then that is what I will do!

[muebe]

Yes prior to putting in the smoker.

The bird will be fine for 2 hours without the water pan. Remember your main goal with the ECB is to give the bird smoke flavor.

[MJSBBQ]

Here is the results of my cook. I brined both turkeys overnight in a simple, salt, brown sugar, and water in an Igloo cooler. I smoked one turkey for 3 and 1/2 hours (had the wife plug in the smoker while I was about an hour away), and then did the first TBE turkey with the lid down for a little over 2 hours (12.8 lbs). I pulled that turkey and put in the smoked turkey in TBE. The smoked turkey temp was 135 at the end of smoking. I then fried the smoked turkey in TBE. It took 42 minutes to cook. I believe I cooked both a little too long, pulling them at 170 or so. In retrospect, I wish I had pulled them at 165. Still, they were both excellent!

Here are some pictures: Set up; first TBE turkey; smoked turkey after TBE; side by side comparison; and the final one is the meat platters--smoked on top.

The consensus from the family is that the texture and moisture was excellent on both. Although the smoked flavor was perfect, most thought that for the traditional holiday turkey, the smoke flavor was not what they would choose. Next year, I will just do the traditional TBE.

BTW--from seeing some of your presentations, my carving is definitely lacking!

Thanks you guys for all your help!!!

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[Harbah Master]

My first Turkey in the SRG was also 12lbs - 90 minutes cook time last 15 with the lid up
Then a 15 minute rest in the SRG without heat on and lid up, wrapped in foil for another 20 minutes to continue resting.

I opened the lid at 135 and killed the heat at 165


I'm in Florida too so had a fairly mild ambient temp.

Your birds looked great and if everyone enjoyed the feed, you were successful ツ