I just had a BBQ smoker welded and now i want to find a recipe or suggestions on how to SMOKE A TURKEY????

Answer 1

Apple Brined And Hickory Smoked Turkey Recipe

Ready in: > 5 hrs Serves: 8

Ingredients:
2 quarts apple juice
1 pound brown sugar
1 cup kosher salt
3 oranges -- quartered
4 ounces fresh ginger -- thinly sliced
15 whole cloves
6 bay leaves
6 cloves garlic -- crushed
14 pounds turkey
vegetable oil -- for brushing turkey
cotton string -- for trussing turkey
roasting pan
heavy-gauge foil pan
hickory chips -- soaked in water (for at least 30 minutes)


Directions:

In a large saucepan over high heat, bring apple juice, brown sugar, and salt to a boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar and salt. Cook for 1 minute, remove from heat, and skim off the foam. Allow the mixture to cool to room temperature.

In a 5 gallon plastic bucket or other container large enough to easily hold the turkey, combine 3 quarts of water, the oranges, ginger, cloves, bay leaves, and garlic. Add the apple juice mixture and stir.

Remove and discard the fat from the turkey cavity. Reserve the neck and giblets for another use. Rinse the turkey inside and out, drain, and submerge the turkey in the brine. If necessary, top with a heavy weight to be sure it is completely immersed. Refrigerate for 24 hours.

Follow the grill's instructions for using wood chips. Set up the grill for indirect cooking over medium heat.

Remove the turkey from the brine and pat with paper towels until very dry. Tie the legs together with cotton string. Lightly brush the turkey with vegetable oil, and place on a roasting rack set inside a heavy-gauge foil pan. Cook indirectly over medium heat. When the wings are golden brown, about 40 minutes, wrap them in aluminum foil to prevent them from burning. Brush the rest of the turkey with vegetable oil. When the turkey breasts are golden brown, about one hour, cover the turkey with aluminum foil to prevent the skin from getting too brown. The turkey is done when its juices run clear, the internal temperature is bout 180d F, and the internal temperature of the breast is about 165d F. Figure 12 to 14 minutes per pound.

Transfer the turkey to a cutting board or platter, cover loosely with aluminum foil and let rest 20 minutes before carving. The pan drippings may be used to make gravy.

http://bbq.about.com/od/turkeyrecipes/Turkey_Recipes_Grilling_and_Smoking_Turkey_Recipes.htm
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Ingredients:
1 turkey (12-15 lbs)
3 onions, quartered
2 stalks celery,cut into chunks
1 lemon, sliced

CURE:
1 cup pickling salt
1/4 c brown sugar
1 t dried sage
1 t dried thyme

LIQUID FOR WATER PAN:
1/2 C BUTTER
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1/4 c lemon juice
2 c white wine or chicken stock
(i use 1/2 wine 1/2 stock).

Directions:
rinse turkey w/ cold water and pat dry. In a small bowl combine the "CURE" ingredients, rub this over turkey and into cavity. Wrap turkey in large plastic bag (not foil) refrigerate for 6-8 hrs or overnight. after the 6-8 hours or overnight rinse turkey under cold water dry well. PLace onions celery and lemon inside cavity.

in a small saucepan, melt butter,stir in garlic and lemon juice. Soak double thickness of cheesecloth in butter mix and drape over turkey. add wine to remaining butter mix heat to boiling. Pour into water pan set over hot coals and soaked wood chips.

Place turkey on rack above water pan; cover smoker and smoke for about 8 hours, or until leg joint moves easily and meat thermometer in thigh registers 180'. Remove cheesecloth for last hour of cooking. makes 15 large servings. I've also cooked this with the breast side down.

Answer 2

If you’ve never smoked a turkey before, I urge you to try it. Oven roasted turkey is what most of us have eaten all our lives. Turkey and dressing with gravy is an American tradition and we wouldn’t want to change that. Keep the dressing and gravy the same, but let’s see if we can liven up that ole turkey!

First step is buying a turkey. Buy a bird that is 13 lbs or less. A large smoked turkey will take too long to get out of the temperature danger zone (40 to 140 degrees F) when using lower smoking temperatures. We prefer Butterball turkeys because the breast meat has been deep basted to increase moisture and flavor. Butterball turkeys that are Fresh, not Frozen, are not basted. So we prefer the frozen ones because of this. Also, a frozen turkey can be bought well ahead of the time needed to cook, not so with fresh turkey.

A frozen turkey needs to be thawed in the refrigerator, not the kitchen sink or counter top. Thawing a 10-13 pound turkey may take up to 3 or 4 days in the refrigerator. Check the temperature setting on your appliance and raise the temp setting if needed, but remember the turkey should always be kept well below 40 degrees to avoid spoiling.

Alright, besides the turkey, you will need a sweet onion, an orange, two red apples, and three stalks of celery. We will also use extra virgin olive oil to help the skin brown and cook evenly. The oil will also act as a binder for the rub applied.

After removing the neck and giblets from the bird, wash with cold water. Then use paper towels to dry the turkey skin. Drying the skin will help the olive oil coat evenly and this will make the smoked turkey’s skin more evenly colored when done. Now we can coat the turkey with the olive oil. Rub the olive oil into the skin and make sure to apply some inside the cavity of the bird.

Next we cut up the onion, apples, orange, and celery. Stuff the cavity with these ingredients with as much as you can fit into the turkey. This is not a stuffing that you would want to eat. The purpose of this stuffing is to help add moisture and flavor to the turkey. You could go a step further and pour a can of Coke into the cavity. This adds a unique flavor and can further help in the moisture level of the turkey.

Now it’s time to rub the turkey. I used Paula Deen’s Spices for my rub. It was 2 teaspoons of each of these seasonings: Butt Massage, Seasoned Salt, and House Seasoning. The 6 teaspoons of seasoning were added to one cup of brown sugar for the finished rub. If you can't find Paula Deen's spices, just use 6 teaspoons your favorite rib or butt rub. The rub is applied first under the skin on the breast. Work your fingers under the skin and then pull it back far enough to coat the breast meat well. Then cover the entire bird with the rub, gently rubbing it into the olive oil on the skin.

You could cook the smoked turkey directly on the smoker’s cooking grate, but with any poultry cooked on a smoker or a grill, the fat rendering out can cause some mighty big flare ups. We used a wire rack inside of a large disposable aluminum pan. The pan catches all of the juices cooking from the turkey which can be used to baste the turkey. And the wire rack keeps the bird from sitting in the meat juices. The turkey is placed on the wire rack with the breast side facing up during the entire smoking process.

Most slow cooked barbeque is cooked at 250 degrees F or less. But for smoked turkey we jump the smoker temperature up to 325 degrees F. Cooking at higher temps will help to conserve moisture in the meat and also gets the turkey out of the danger zone more quickly. A 10-13 pound bird should take no more than 4 to 4.5 hours at 325 degrees F. The turkey will be done when the temp in the thigh reaches 180 degrees F. The temp probe should be placed in the thickest part of the thigh, making sure not to touch any bones. Another doneness test is to grab the drumstick and give it a wiggle. If it feels like it will pull loose easily from the body of the turkey, then the bird is probably done. Also check that the meat juices flow clear when piercing the thigh with a fork.

After about an hour of smoking the turkey with a combination of hickory and apple wood, check to see how the skin looks. If any area appears to be getting too brown, covering that area loosely with foil will help to prevent burning. About the two hour mark of cooking, loosely cover the breasts to keep them from cooking faster than the leg and thigh meat. After the three hour mark you can baste the turkey with melted butter every half hour until done. This will help to keep the skin from drying out and make the turkey a more golden brown color.

Now you may be asking why didn’t you brine the turkey or at least inject the turkey? I just find with the Butterball turkey you don’t have to do all of that to get a great finished product. The turkey will be moist and flavorful without injections and brines. It’s real easy to get carried away with flavors on turkey. This recipe keeps it fairly simple and you don’t have to start prepping the turkey days before cooking.

One last thing about carving turkey and this applies to all turkey no matter how it is cooked. A cold turkey carves much better than a hot turkey, so it is better to cook the turkey the day before you plan to serve it (this tip came from my wife’s mother who is an outstanding cook). Refrigerate it overnight and slice away the next day. The slices can be easily warmed in a foiled pan in the oven.

Answer 3

I generally put it in the smoker for only 6-8 hours(depending on weight) and finish cooking in the oven-it gets too smoky otherwise. My preference is apple or cherry for wood but hickory is good too. Some people brine the turkey but with the/smoker/oven technique I haven't found it gets too dry. As long as you are paying attention it's hard to mess smoking up since it's such a slow process-but you do need to check things every hour or two. Have fun with it!

Answer 4

Honey and Apple Smoked Turkey

1 turkey (10 to 12 lbs.)

16 cups of water - approximately
4 cups hot water
3 cups pickling salt
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon garlic powder
2 tablespoons onion powder
2 tablespoons pickling spice
1 teaspoon saltpetre (optional)

2 tablespoons paprika
1 teaspoon Old Bay seasoning
4 teaspoons kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1 cup maple syrup
2 apples, quartered

Pre-soaked apple and/or maple chunks
apples, about 3 medium, quartered

Fill a large, non reactive container such as a large stock pot with
16 cups of water. In another bowl, stir the four cups of hot water
with the salt, sugar, onion powder, garlic powder, pickling spice
and saltpetre (if desired). Stir into cold water in stock pot to
dissolve salt and sugar.

Immerse turkey in salted, spiced water and weigh down to keep
submerged. Refrigerate overnight or at least 4-6 hours. Turn
turkey over occasionally.

Soak about 12-20 medium large chunks of maple and apple hardwood
in water overnight.

Remove turkey from brine. Pat dry with paper towels. Mix dry rub
seasonings together: paprika, Old Bay, salt, pepper, and garlic
powder. Rub over turkey.

Fill turkey cavity with quartered apple sections.

Prepare smoker according to manufacturer's instructions. Add apple
pieces to water tray.

Once briquettes are hot, place 4-6 wet wood chunks on top.

Place turkey on cooking grate and close lid. Baste with maple syrup
during the last three hours (every 45 minutes or so).

Smoke cook, about 4 1/2 - 6 1/2 hours, until turkey temperature
reads 160-165 F. Technically, turkey is thoroughly done when a meat
thermometer inserted into the thigh reads l80 F.

Remove turkey from smoker, drain inside cavity. Cool to warm before
placing in fridge to mature. (24 hours is best. Overnight is okay).

Answer 5

Go to smoker-cooking.com they have recipes for about anything.