# Smoked Turkey



## wyogoob

It's turkey time! Everyone has a different way to prepare turkey for the Holidays and they're all great. 

Post your smoked turkey recipes, pictures, and stories here.


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## wyogoob

For over 40 years this has been my favorite way to smoke turkey:

Grandpa's Smoked Turkey

15 to 18 lb - fresh turkey
Ingredients:
6 quarts - water
2 cups - Morton's Tender Quick
2 cups - brown sugar
1 tbsp - ground white pepper
1/4 cup liquid smoke

Brine:
Mix all ingredients in a clean 5-gallon plastic pail.
The brine should float an egg, if not, stir in more Tender Quick, a little at a time, until the egg floats.
Pump legs, thighs, wings and breast.
Soak turkey in brine at 40° for 3 or 4 days. Check brine and rotate turkey after 2 days. 
Remove from brine and rinse in cold water.
While warming up the smoker, keep turkey at room temp for 1 hr, and then pat dry

Smoke:
Hang in smoker, legs up
120° - 3 hrs, no smoke, vent 100% open
140° - 5 hrs, cherry or apple smoke, vent 50% open
160° - vent 25% open, until temp in meat around knee joint is 152°

Notes:
Cherry wood is preferred.
A 20 lb turkey is the largest turkey that will fit in a 5-gallon bucket.


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## martymcfly73

Stupid question but what is the difference between tender quick and kosher salt? Also what do you mean pump the legs etc? Im smoking a turkey for turkey day si trying to put a plan together. This one is a possibility. Thanks.


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## wyogoob

First, Kosher salt is coarse-ground sodium chloride with no additives. It is "Kosher certified" like most all salts and is used to make meats Kosher. It's coarse-ground canning salt at 4 times the price.

Second, Tenderquick is a fine-ground mixture of salt, sugar, sodium nitrate and sodium nitrite, maybe an anti-caking agent also. Tenderquick is a preserving agent used to prevent botulism in meats and sausages that are cooked or smoked at lower temps, and dry-cured meats. The curing product adds color and flavor, helps bind ground meat together, and drives itself into meat cells readily.

There are substitutes for Tenderquick: pink salt, InstaCure #1, Quick Cure, DQ curing salt, others. Tenderquick is cut with salt and sugar making it easy to use. Many of the other meat curing products are pure chemicals and are only used in small quantities, not leaving much for margin of error.

"pumping" is injecting a solution into the meat to speed up curing time, make meat more moist, or enhance the flavor. The first place to spoil on a turkey is the knees and second the shoulder joints. I pay as much attention to those places as I do the breast.

A cured and smoked turkey is usually lightly smoked and will taste somewhat ham-like. Done properly they are very moist. A fresh turkey for curing is best. Most turkeys that have the temperature pop-up button have been "pumped" with a butter/saline solution to keep them moist during cooking. That type of turkey doesn't render itself to another "pump" job. If you can't pump soaking in a brine solution for a long time will do.

Here's a pic of a pork loin being injected with a brine solution. By pumping the cure in the meat it will be cured in a matter of days versus weeks:









Now, don't get me wrong, I still like a turkey smoked and cooked the conventional way. But it can be so dry, lack flavor, and the leftovers don't keep very long. And I like the deep fat fried turkeys too, anything with that much fat is good and starting a huge fire in the garage is a blast.


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## martymcfly73

So does the tender quick work as a salt substitute in a brine? I can't tell you how many fires I've responded on because of turkey fryers.


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## Gumbo

In short, Tender Quick is a curing agent. It turns your turkey into ham.


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## wyogoob

martymcfly73 said:


> So does the tender quick work as a salt substitute in a brine? Yes, and remember it is mostly salt anyway.I can't tell you how many fires I've responded on because of turkey fryers.


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## hattrick

Thanks for the recipe Goob. Put a turkey in the brine last night. Come the start of next week I will report on how it turned out.


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## martymcfly73

Thanks for the info. I always look forward to goob's and gumbo's smoking tips. I'm still new.


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## madonafly

Anyone ever put the Turkey in a smoker, then cooking in the oven?

Not to be a kill joy, but that sodium nitrate and sodium nitrite are bad stuff. Hard to avoid as they are in a lot of our foods. A preservative, but they have been linked to cancer and Alzheimer. And I love Jerky!!!! :-(


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## wyogoob

madonafly said:


> Anyone ever put the Turkey in a smoker, then cooking in the oven?
> 
> Not to be a kill joy, but that sodium nitrate and sodium nitrite are bad stuff. Hard to avoid as they are in a lot of our foods. A preservative, but they have been linked to cancer and Alzheimer. And I love Jerky!!!! :-(


That is correct. Good points. There's always been much debate on sodium nitrate, and sodium nitrate. Both are natural occurring. They are in everything, even beer. Here's an article on the subject: http://culinaryarts.about.com/od/season ... trates.htm

I throw all manner of meat or fish in a smoker and then finish in the oven, and some of my recipes here allude to that method.


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## madonafly

I had a meat packing co. smoke a Turkey once as I have never be a big fan of turkey (funny as I love Chicken).
That Turkey taste like a really good Ham! Seriously! Now that I can eat. I also like deep Fryed Turkey nice and crispy (again, I love Jerky) LOL


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## wyogoob

madonafly said:


> I had a meat packing co. smoke a Turkey once as I have never be a big fan of turkey (funny as I love Chicken).
> That Turkey taste like a really good Ham! Seriously! Now that I can eat. I also like deep Fryed Turkey nice and crispy (again, I love Jerky) LOL


That is correct. A cured and smoked turkey or chicken has a unique ham-like flavor. I prefer chicken over the turkey and often put chicken legs in with the turkey as it brines and smoke them later.

I like all smoke food, cured and uncured. Grew up on it, it was a way of life on the farm for me. As a child we learned how to preserve meat the old fashioned way. The way food was prepared before refrigeration, the way my grandfather preserved food during the Depression in order to keep his family alive, basically the same way food had been preserved for thousands of years. It was not a hobby, there were no contests, no TV shows and not enough money to buy fancy-dancy cookbooks.

So my favorite smoked turkey is the cured type, the recipe here. For us, it is a family tradition during the Holiday season. I do several turkeys this way every holiday season, saw them in half, put 'em in a vacuum bag and then give them away to family and friends as gifts.


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## gdog

wyogoob said:


> I do several turkeys this way every holiday season, saw them in half, put em in a vacuum bag and give them away to family and friends as gifts.


Ah..cough...cough...uh hum..cough...."Hey Buddy!" :EAT:


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## madonafly

gdog said:


> wyogoob said:
> 
> 
> 
> I do several turkeys this way every holiday season, saw them in half, put em in a vacuum bag and give them away to family and friends as gifts.
> 
> 
> 
> Ah..cough...cough...uh hum..cough...."Hey Buddy!" :EAT:
Click to expand...

I know! right huh :lol: :lol: :lol:


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## wyogoob

Done, I owe you both.


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## Moostickles

My mouth waters when I look at that picture... I going to try it this week! When the turkey is in the smoker, do you sit it on the rack or do you hang it in netting?


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## martymcfly73

I don't have anyway to hang mine, so im setting mine on the rack. Mine is going in the brine Monday for Thanksgiving!


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## Steveb

From a food safety point of view, I have a problem with this. The brine is fine, it's the cooking temps and time. Poultry needs to be out of the danger zone, 40-140 degrees as fast as possible. The smoker should run at least at 250 or more from the start. Smoked turkey is great, just be safe with it. A great place for ideas is http://www.smoked-meat.com/forum/index.php, the forums are great no matter your experience level.


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## wyogoob

Steveb said:


> From a food safety point of view, I have a problem with this. The brine is fine, it's the cooking temps and time. Poultry needs to be out of the danger zone, 40-140 degrees as fast as possible. The smoker should run at least at 250 or more from the start. Smoked turkey is great, just be safe with it. A great place for ideas is http://www.smoked-meat.com/forum/index.php, the forums are great no matter your experience level.


Thanks for the reply and the links. I have my share of recipes on that forum and others. You are spot on for a smoked turkey, but if you read my recipe it is for a cured and then smoked turkey. Like Gumbo so affectionately said, it's ham.

The way I'm doing it if the meat is cured properly, smoking to an internal temp of 152° is fine. 130° for 5 or 6 hours then 140° for 3 or 4 hours is the norm. (I double checked those numbers in the "_Great Sausage Recipes and Meat Curing_" book by Rytek Kutas which just happens to be opened at my side for sausage Sunday.  ) Maybe I should add more info about the smoking temperatures.

There has been much debate about internal temps for smoking cured poultry and lately I see internal temps as high as 160° for cured turkeys. That's fine. I've been eating cured poultry at 152° for over 50 years, haven't been sick yet. As a matter of fact I would say most of the smoked turkeys I ate didn't have the temperature checked. The old Morton Salt Company primer: _A Complete Guide to Home Meat Curing"_ has a big section on smoking cured turkeys and they don't even mention smoking temperatures or meat temperatutres. On the other hand I wouldn't cold smoke and cook to 152° with a turkey that wasn't cured.

Lastly, most people test a turkey's temp in the breast. Wrong, check it in the knee, that's the last place to cook. A turkey with at 160° breast could only be 150° in the knee or shoulder. Kind of a moot point anyway, home meat thermometers aren't very accurate.

Thanks again, the last thing I want to do is get someone sick.


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## hattrick

After a good soak in the brine I decided that my turkey was ready for the smoke. I started Yesterday morning and got 3 hours of smoking in before the wife informed me we were going to the in-laws. This cut my smoking time short and I finished it in the oven to get it up to temp. It was moist and tender. A different flavor all together than the traditional turkey, but in my opinion so much better. I forgot to take pictures of the process but got one of the sliced breast meat.
[attachment=0:2x77ckzf]IMG_0835.JPG[/attachment:2x77ckzf]


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## wyogoob

WAY2GO hattrick!!


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## Gumbo

wyogoob said:


> Steveb said:
> 
> 
> 
> From a food safety point of view, I have a problem with this. The brine is fine, it's the cooking temps and time. Poultry needs to be out of the danger zone, 40-140 degrees as fast as possible. The smoker should run at least at 250 or more from the start.
> 
> 
> 
> ...if you read my recipe it is for a cured and then smoked turkey. Like Gumbo so affectionately said, it's ham.
Click to expand...

Goob is spot on. You can manipulate any of multiple variables to achieve a good end product. Goob cures his, you can cook hotter, or you can use a smaller bird. Even if you're cooking at 250, a 20-pound bird will have meat in the danger zone too long. Most people who smoke at 250 won't use a bird larger than 12-15 pounds.

Lots of options and you can choose the method that yields the results you like.


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## Huge29

I did a little Thanksgiving rehearsal dinner Saturday.
[attachment=0:3ppcgwkl]turk.jpg[/attachment:3ppcgwkl]
I brine mine with salt, brown sugar, worchestershire, lint, ash and dirt from the ground and Uncle Si's secret ingredient, Kerosene. I brine for about 12 hours is all.
I cook at 240 for about 5 hours or until we hit at least 165, never using a turkey over 15 lbs, which can be difficult to find in the off season. I have tried it breast up and breast down and both work well in keeping the juices, but theoretically breast down should be better, I think. Our guest's little two year old was even sucking the bones dry, better than finger licking good! I really don't care for turkey normally, but when it is smoked there isn't anything better IMHO. I use lump mesquite charcoal with cherry wood; the mesquite seems to overwhelm the wood; it likely would not matter if there was any wood in there I think, but that is how I have always (a whopping five times now) done it and always had good results, so if it aint broke...


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## wyogoob

Wow that looks good. Can I have the skin?

Kerosene


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## Huge29

How can a fellar from Evingston not be familiar with that ancient cooking secret? Are you afraid of a little heat in your food? Ok, not really, it was just on an episode of Duck Dynasty where the boys were trying to win a turkey cook off and Uncle Si wanted to add his secret ingredient/


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## Gumbo

Looks great, Huge! I think you'd beat Mrs. Kay with that one! Is that your drum cooker?

I forgot to mention you can also spatch**** a bird to get it to cook faster, allowing you to cook a big 20 pounder at lower temps. Lots of options.


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## wyogoob

"spatch****"? 

Can we say that here?


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## Huge29

Yes, that is my UDS inspired by Gumbo.


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## martymcfly73

I put mine in the brine yesterday. I tried to look at smoking meat.com but landed in the chief's office for looking at porn:shock:


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## Moostickles

martymcfly73 said:


> I put mine in the brine yesterday. I tried to look at smoking meat.com but landed in the chief's office for looking at porn:shock:


 I'll bet that was a fun one to explain... -_O-


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## Moostickles

You're a hit around my house Goob! The smoked turkey knocked this year's Thanksgiving out of the park!


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## JiveTurkey

Sorry to necro this old thread, but i have not found any recipes for cured smoked turkeys using TQ with what i think is a reasonalble amount of water (6 QT) vs Mortons 1 QT to 1 cup TQ, which i think is insane.

Anyway, if the OP is still around, why use liquid smoke if using real cherry smoke? Also, if your highest smoke temp was 160F, why is the skin so dark in color? 

I am aiming for a 3 hour cook and thinking around 225F till it reaches 155F inside the thigh joint. Then a quick crisp up in the turkey fryer till breast reaches 165F.

My main concern is if the skin is going to burn using OP's amount of brown sugar, and if i should reduce or swap for refined white sugar?

Any suggestions would be great.

Thanks


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## hunting777

JiveTurkey said:


> Sorry to necro this old thread,


No thanks for bringing this back up. I was just thinking on how to cook my turkey this year. Definitely going to try this one.


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## wyogoob

JiveTurkey said:


> Sorry to necro this old thread, but i have not found any recipes for cured smoked turkeys using TQ with what i think is a reasonalble amount of water (6 QT) vs Mortons 1 QT to 1 cup TQ, which i think is insane.
> 
> Anyway, if the OP is still around, why use liquid smoke if using real cherry smoke? Also, if your highest smoke temp was 160F, why is the skin so dark in color?
> 
> I am aiming for a 3 hour cook and thinking around 225F till it reaches 155F inside the thigh joint. Then a quick crisp up in the turkey fryer till breast reaches 165F.
> 
> My main concern is if the skin is going to burn using OP's amount of brown sugar, and if i should reduce or swap for refined white sugar?
> 
> Any suggestions would be great.
> 
> Thanks


My Dad give me this recipe in 1969 and have used it almost every year, and a number of times each year, since then. I think he used the recipe since Morton's Tenderquick first come out, whenever that was.

Basically I add enough salt (Morton's TQ) to water to just float an egg. The brine is injected until the meat, especially around the joints, is saturated. Then the bird is submerged in cold brine for 4 or 5 days, heck, 15 days if you want, it wont make it any saltier using the "float an egg" method.

Looks like the turkey in this thread had 2 pans of sawdust and it was smoked in my small smoker so the breast was close to the sawdust pan. Here's a pic of a turkey smoked with one pan of sawdust:


My turkeys are smoked overnight, for 8 to 12 hours, depends on the size.

Sometimes I smoke a turkey at 180° or "finish" at 180°, as long as NO juice drips out of the bird onto the bottom of the smoker...none....nada

That's all I have. I'm not going to argue about a recipe that's worked for over 50 years. Gonna do a couple turkeys with this recipe this week.

Good luck.


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## wyogoob

This is the same recipe I use for smoked chickens.


Or a bucket of chicken legs:


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## JiveTurkey

wyogoob said:


> My Dad give me this recipe in 1969 and have used it almost every year, and a number of times each year, since then. I think he used the recipe since Morton's Tenderquick first come out, whenever that was.
> 
> Basically I add enough salt (Morton's TQ) to water to just float an egg. The brine is injected until the meat, especially around the joints, is saturated. Then the bird is submerged in cold brine for 4 or 5 days, heck, 15 days if you want, it wont make it any saltier using the "float an egg" method.
> 
> Looks like the turkey in this thread had 2 pans of sawdust and it was smoked in my small smoker so the breast was close to the sawdust pan. Here's a pic of a turkey smoked with one pan of sawdust:
> 
> 
> My turkeys are smoked overnight, for 8 to 12 hours, depends on the size.
> 
> Sometimes I smoke a turkey at 180° or "finish" at 180°, as long as NO juice drips out of the bird onto the bottom of the smoker...none....nada
> 
> That's all I have. I'm not going to argue about a recipe that's worked for over 50 years. Gonna do a couple turkeys with this recipe this week.
> 
> Good luck.


Thanks for the clarification. That turkey looks great. I was just concerned that the original post pic was very carmelized due to the brown sugar. Clearly in your recent pics, this is not the case. I just got done injecting a good 2 Quarts following your recipe and the cure/brine was just enough to completely submerge a 14lb turkey in a 5 gallon bucket. Didn't even need to weight it down. I got a good feeling about this one, and i think its a keeper. 
Thank you, and have a happy thanksgiving.


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## wyogoob

JiveTurkey said:


> Thanks for the clarification. That turkey looks great. I was just concerned that the original post pic was very carmelized due to the brown sugar. Clearly in your recent pics, this is not the case. I just got done injecting a good 2 Quarts following your recipe and the cure/brine was just enough to completely submerge a 14lb turkey in a 5 gallon bucket. Didn't even need to weight it down. I got a good feeling about this one, and i think its a keeper.
> Thank you, and have a happy thanksgiving.


Good luck


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## Vanilla

I’ve always worried about low and slow with turkeys. It seems it would dry out the breast too much, but clearly that is t an issue with yours.


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## Vanilla

Did a turkey today. Here is a pic about half way through. Didn’t get one of the finished product, but was my juiciest outcome I’ve had yet. It was a hit.


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## alaska

wyogoob said:


> For over 40 years this has been my favorite way to smoke turkey:
> 
> Grandpa's Smoked Turkey
> 
> 15 to 18 lb - fresh turkey
> Ingredients:
> 6 quarts - water
> 2 cups - Morton's Tender Quick
> 2 cups - brown sugar
> 1 tbsp - ground white pepper
> 1/4 cup liquid smoke
> 
> Brine:
> Mix all ingredients in a clean 5-gallon plastic pail.
> The brine should float an egg, if not, stir in more Tender Quick, a little at a time, until the egg floats.
> Pump legs, thighs, wings and breast.
> Soak turkey in brine at 40° for 3 or 4 days. Check brine and rotate turkey after 2 days.
> Remove from brine and rinse in cold water.
> While warming up the smoker, keep turkey at room temp for 1 hr, and then pat dry
> 
> Smoke:
> Hang in smoker, legs up
> 120° - 3 hrs, no smoke, vent 100% open
> 140° - 5 hrs, cherry or apple smoke, vent 50% open
> 160° - vent 25% open, until temp in meat around knee joint is 152°
> 
> Notes:
> Cherry wood is preferred.
> A 20 lb turkey is the largest turkey that will fit in a 5-gallon bucket.


I love the color...perfect! Thanks for sharing the recipe...i have to try it!


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