Smoked Turkey- Brinkman briquet Smoker

[6mm Remington]

Just to make you all drool a little, my turkey is done cooking and ready to be pulled off the smoker and eaten! I did not look at the package, but I would guess it's about a 14-16 pound bird. It was about 32 Degrees F. here today so it wasn't very cold. It only took 4 hours to smoke it. Here's what I did.

I take the turkey and rinse it very well, and then dry it with a clean dish towel. I melt some butter and pour it on the turkey and make sure and spread it all over with my hands. Today I used some blackened seasoning to sprinkle on the bird after it was buttered, but usually I just lay long strips of smoky bacon across it. Usually 4 or 5 pieces.

Once the briquets are nice and grey and the water container is about half full with hot water ( I pour in hot water so the water does not take so long to get hot), I set the bird right on the grill and put the lid on. I then open the side door and throw in a LOT of moistened apple wood chips or pieces. I put a temperature gauge in the breast of the bird, but I don't know if that's really even necessary. When the outside is nice and golden brown and you can pull on a leg and it wants to pull off, you know you are done.

I take it out and keep the bacon to eat with the bird. Why throw it away :?: I then peel the skin off before I cut it up. It pulls off very easy and you want to do this because it gets tougher than shoe leather. I love to eat the skin on an oven cooked bird, but this is different. It tastes good, but you could chew on it until tomorrow before you can swallow it.

I used apple wood today, but alder wood works very well. There are many woods you can use that work great. I have done a couple of birds using a mixture of apple wood and Maple wood. (A friend had a dead maple tree to cut down) I used large chunks of wood say 1" thick by 3 inches long, or chips, it doesn't matter. I like to let the larger pieces if I use them, to soak in water for about an hour or so before I put them in the smoker so they don't burn up so fast and smoke like crazy. The combination of these two woods turned out exceptionally good!! :shock: It really gave the bird a different flavor and the meat had a sweet taste to it which I believe came from the maple wood. (maple syrup) It would stand to reason anyway that it might impart some sweet flavor. It sure did but was very good.

I better get off of here and take the bird off to cut it up. Oh by the way. You do this in your back yard, and the smoke just fills the neighborhood. ALL OF MY NEIGHBORS know when I am smoking a turkey and you should see them begging for a little hand-out!! :lol:

 

[nodak7mm]

6mm,

I got a west wind and I'm your neighbor, I dont smell a dang thing.... I think your trying to make us all hungry.

As Pop would say, "This post is worthless without Pix!!!" :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

Me, I hoping it crawls above 0* someday so I can grill & smoke decently. Wifey gets a little concerned when I clear out the garge and fire up the grill... (rest easy, I dont leave the grill unattended, fire ext on walls and I dont drink anymore, so its safe. Tho it did take me a while to figure out how to grill sober.... :lol: )

 

[6mm Remington]

Nodak I thought for sure that smoke would reach you. After all it's just a skip and a hop from Western Montana to the wilds of the Dakota's. :lol:

To be honest, I never even thought about taking a picture of the bird on the grill before I took it off to bring in the house. :idea: That might have been considered cruel and unusual punishment! :twisted:

You think using the BBQ in the garage is bad. You should have seen the reaction when I was going to use a camp stove and heat a large metal bucket of water to boil a skull in the garage!! Let's just say the skull never got boiled. At least not in my garage anyway. :shock:

 

[DrMike]

It's just a skip and a hop from Western Montana to the wilds of the Dakota's.

I had no idea that the prevailing winds of Montana were that strong! I can only surmise that my studies of geology and meteorology were seriously deficient. I am gravely deprived. 6mm Remmy, I see that you are a natural gourmand.

 

[6mm Remington]

Dr. Mike, now that was funny! We do have winds here, but nothing like they do east of the divide from the continental divide to the Dakota's. Now that is wind!

Gourmand: Lover of good food, Gluttonous eater. I would say I fall under the former and not the latter although..........Thanksgiving and Christmas would be my downfall. I do love good recipes and good food, especially if it's shared with good friends! You are welcome at my table anytime. :wink:

You list yourself as from Northern British Columbia. How far north exactly would that be? How many hours of daylight versus dark are you having right now? :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: I haven't spent a lot of time in British Columbia, but I did make a trip through Calgary to the parks and then into British Columbia and back down to Montana on the British Columbia side. It was beautiful country and the people were nice.

We went to Cranbrook and bought a Norwegian Elkhound from a breeder there about 12 years ago. He is no longer with us, but he sure was a great dog. Beautiful, friendly, smart, but boy was he stubborn too. Wait, I have a lot of Norwegian in me too!

 

[DrMike]

I certainly meant that from your recent postings it is obvious that you love good food. I have seldom heard the term applied to gluttonous eaters. When I cook, I tend to be a gourmet cook, especially when I can leave clean-up to someone else.

We are fourteen hours north of Vancouver. I live in Dawson Creek (Mile Zero of the Alaska Highway). On December 21, it grew dark by 4 in the afternoon and light about 9:00 in the morning. Certainly not as short as the day further north, but short days to be certain. Mid-June, it is light at 3:30 and dark at 11:30.

You made one of the most beautiful trips in the world if you travelled through Waterton, Banff and Jasper and down through Glacier in Montana. I pastored for two years in Jasper. It was a beautiful place for sure.

Of course, I'd count it a privilege to host the people from the forum here in Dawson Creek should they ever decide to travel to Alaska and come through our fair community.

 

[6mm Remington]

It's all good Doctor MIke. I knew you were just giving me some grief. That's a part that makes this forum so much fun. I'm going to have to pull up Dawson Creek on GEO Earth and take a look.

As I alluded to in a different post about a persons dream hunt, Northern B.C., Alaska, the Yukon, or the N.W. Territories for moose, grizzly, and sheep would be the ultimate. I would need a wolf tag in my pocket too!

 

[DrMike]

I can't speak for Alaska or the Yukon, but I can tell you that around here the grizzly population is reasonably healthy. I frequently see the big, brown bears when I go afield. Moose are recovering nicely from the devastating winter of '05, and sheep populations are healthy. The wolves are thriving at the present, with numerous large packs travelling the valleys. Hey, we even smoke turkey up here once in a while! Though, it is more likely that we will be smoking moose or elk roasts.