BBQ/Smoking Meat

[GangsterOfLove]

Wow. How many people are you feeding?

And please tell me about the hams. Arent they already smoked when you get them?

 

[97BlackAckCL]

Okay, I have smoked a pretty large (22-24 lbs)turkey the last 3 years with excellent results. My smoking method is exactly the same as I would do for a pork shoulder or brisket, but just tweaking the temperature a little higher. I just use my old trusty Weber 22" kettle. I make a ring of charcoal on the bottom grate similar to the "minion" / modified minion / snake method with a liberal sprinkling of hickory chips/chunks arranged in the first few inches of coals. I want a pretty subtle smoked flavor to the bird so I am pretty careful about how much wood chips I use, you can certainly adjust that to your taste. I start a few coals in the Weber chimney and once they are nice and hot add them to one end of the circle. I adjust the temperature to around 350-375 degrees using the vents on the bottom mostly then add the bird. Once the temp gets back up to around 350 I let it go for the usual 3-4 hours to roast and it turns out fantastic.

As far as the bird itself, I have tried both a fresh turkey that I brined myself as well as a frozen Butterball that was well thawed out and didn't see very much difference in the flavor or quality of the meat. The taste and texture seemed very comparable so I have a hard time spending the money on a fresh bird. For the cooking method I just use the same old tried and true method from Martha Stewart where you get a big bowl and melt like a pound of butter and mix it with a bottle of white wine (I prefer an unoaked Chardonnay) then soak a few sheets of cheesecloth in that mix. Prep the bird, pat it dry, give it a good rub down with some butter a little salt and pepper and the herbs of your choice and set it breast side up in a disposable aluminum roasting pan, preferably with a few carrots and onions underneath to raise it up off the bottom of the pan. Apply the cheesecloth across the top of the bird, completely covering the breast and down around where the wings and thighs attach as well. Then simply set it up in the grill on the side away from the hottest part of the coals. Rotate it and baste it about every 30 minutes until it is a good 165-170 internal temp then let it rest for 15-20 and you are set to go. This results in a bird that is insanely juicy and flavorful with a great crispy skin and always impresses the guests and family.

I'm going to try this method, I'm just curious what I could use instead of cheese cloth since I don't have any on hand. Or should I just baste and forego the cheese cloth all together?

 

[Ol'Blue]

Wow. How many people are you feeding?

And please tell me about the hams. Arent they already smoked when you get them?

So we have a connection to our local meat market so we can get some pretty good stuff. They are smoked yes but not like you get ready to warm up and eat. We pretty much finish them off our self's with a apple wood smoke and some cherry wood mix.

The turkeys we hot a hot smoke and cook them at the same time. If I was to really smoke a turkey hell I think it is a hour for every two pounds, Play aint got time for that so we speed it up a bit. It comes out really good either way.

We are feeding I think almost 40 family's (ish i think) from our church. We also take orders from people in our town also and that way all they have to do is come buy and pick it up and serve it on the table. BOOM done. Our Catholic church is pretty tied to our community I feel because it's so mellow and welcoming (or so I have been told anyhow). We do a lot of stuff together for people and I sit on the board so I stay busy none the less with all that also.

All the money raised goes back into the community in the end so everyone is happy that and they get a good deal on a bird also with no clean up.

 

[Ol'Blue]

OMG boys and girls.... this came out better than I thought......


Blue

 

[bigbillyt]

I'm going to try this method, I'm just curious what I could use instead of cheese cloth since I don't have any on hand. Or should I just baste and forego the cheese cloth all together?

I am not sure what else would give you that exact effect. The porous nature of the cheesecloth allows enough air in to crisp up the skin and yet holds enough moisture in to keep the meat really juicy. A good second choice might be just a thin kitchen towel if you have one you are willing to sacrifice. The cheesecloth ends up like a burnt, soaked shroud that you just pitch at the end.

This is how it turned out last time.

 

[Ralphman]

12lb brisket is going to be my turkey tomorrow, starting the pit around 430ish hoping to have this one by 6 along with some chicken thighs im planing for lunch. Hope all turns out well with this cooler temps out and a recently modified pit.

 

[Ralphman]

Cleaning the smoker for turkeys. Going to smoke 35 birds and 14 hams. Should be good....More to come.

Blue

How many gallons are your chambers? Love your ket up! Are you doing all of this in one cook or a few cooks? Thats alot of meat! Beautiful boxer by the way!

 

[Ol'Blue]

How many gallons are your chambers? Love your ket up! Are you doing all of this in one cook or a few cooks? Thats alot of meat! Beautiful boxer by the way!

I honestly do not know. It's big. We're going to build a baffle in it this winter and repaint it. The vertical one dosent get hot that fast at all. Even getting it to 300 can be a challange at times.

We normally load it up and cook it all then keep rotating food onto it.

The boxers are crazy but good dogs. We try and keep them healthy as possible. Lots of walks and good food.

Blue

 

[Ol'Blue]

Pretty good stuff...

 

[Ralphman]

I honestly do not know. It's big. We're going to build a baffle in it this winter and repaint it. The vertical one dosent get hot that fast at all. Even getting it to 300 can be a challange at times.

We normally load it up and cook it all then keep rotating food onto it.

The boxers are crazy but good dogs. We try and keep them healthy as possible. Lots of walks and good food.

Blue

Ive been thinking about putting tunning plates in now i put a vertical section on mine because like you said its hard to get it up to temp, the horizontal section has no problem tho

 

[00Sebby]

Got a late start but should be done in time for dinner. [emoji884]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[GangsterOfLove]

My smoked whole turkey was a hit! Brined, stuffed with lemon, onion and herbs, tied, 7 hours at about 250. Cherry wood chunks for the first couple of hours. Not even enough left over for a sandwich.

The downside was that it wasn't much to look at when it took it off the smoker. The skin was very dark, nearly black. It didn't taste burned though, so that was OK.

 

[Ol'Blue]

My smoked whole turkey was a hit! Brined, stuffed with lemon, onion and herbs, tied, 7 hours at about 250. Cherry wood chunks for the first couple of hours. Not even enough left over for a sandwich.

The downside was that it wasn't much to look at when it took it off the smoker. The skin was very dark, nearly black. It didn't taste burned though, so that was OK.

That is how it should be. That is about right at 250. You should try it next time with Apple wood. I'm telling you its good and mix it with a little hickory also that as all been soaked in water over night. It's good.

Blue

 

[Ol'Blue]

Hope im happy with my decision to cut something perfectly good apart and modify it

Looking at that smoker your having the same issue I am. The heat dosent really get all the way over att imes unless you really get it going good. I make a small fire in the bottom of it just to keep it warm just a few briquets really nothing real big.

Blue

 

[97BlackAckCL]

My first smoked turkey came out absolutely perfect, my gf said my ribs are still her favorite, but the turkey definitely is a close second. It was a lot of work, and I was nervous since I never smoked something this big before, but it came out wonderfully. I started with a frozen 14 lb bird.

Thawed it out and got it ready for a dry rub

As usual, I made my own rub

I used a lot of herbs in this rub as well, I looked up what was in poultry spice and incorporated all but nutmeg into my rub

Rubbed that girl down and let it sit in the fridge and dry brine over night

I went back and forth about injecting, but since I didn't want to use a water pan I decided to inject instead. I melted butter and mixed it with chardonnay and injected all over the breasts and legs, this added a TON of flavor and moisture to the meat and I definitely will do this again in the future

All injected with flavor and ready to smoke

I then filled the cavity with fresh chopped onions and garlic for some aromatics*

I used bigbillyt's method for the basting, I melted more butter with some chardonnay and soaked some cheesecloth in the butter/wine mix and laid it over the bird

I smoked over hardwood lump charcoal with apple wood chips, this was my first time using apple, but it was the perfect choice for this. An hour in, you can see the cheesecloth on top and the coloring, I basted and rotated every half hour

After a couple hours I wrapped the leg bones and the wings to prevent burning

And here she is all done, I smoked for 4 hours until the breasts read over 165

And here's the finished product!

The flavor was incredible, and you kept getting different hints of spices, herbs and smokey flavor, the drumsticks were the first to go in the kitchen

Absolutely amazing!

And as was my other goal, I used the smoked turkey to make homemade turkey noodle soup as well which turned out incredible!
​​​​​​​

 

[ericthirdrow]

Man, I love that cheesecloth idea for the basting during a smoke. Definitely going to steal that... looks like the bird turned out delicious.

 

[97BlackAckCL]

Man, I love that cheesecloth idea for the basting during a smoke. Definitely going to steal that... looks like the bird turned out delicious.

It was definitely a great addition, I made the gf take a special trip to target to get me some and we both were glad that I used it

 

[GangsterOfLove]

Looks terrific! :thumb:

 

[97BlackAckCL]

Almost forgot, in addition to the smoked turkey, I also made smoked deviled eggs. Smoked for about a half hour with cherry wood. Great smokey flavor, both the eggs and yolks. So good!

 

[Ralphman]

Relocated the stack hoping to better temperature flow across the vertical chamber