Thanksgiving Bird...
Every year my employer provides us with a voucher for a 10-12# turkey, which I am very grateful for. This year I decided to do something different. Something besides the dry and boring oven roasted turkey. You can throw pineapples or cherries on it, slather it with a way too sweet glaze, or stuff it. At the end of the day it's usually dry and not very special to me. This year I cured it by injecting a pickle solution then smoked it on a kettle smoker and I have to say, it came out better than even I expected. First we start with the curing process.
This pickle solution can be changed up using different quantities and different products and certainly produce a great bird. This is what I used:
- 3/4 cup Morton Tender Quick - a combination of mainly salt, sugar, nitrite, and nitrate
- 3/4 cup honey - I used Bernard's
- 3 cups water - filtered water
I injected the meat with this solution on Thursday evening and smoked the bird Friday starting around 11:30. I feel that a longer duration of soak would have yielded a much too salty bird. You can certainly decrease the amount of Tender Quick if you would prefer a less "hammy" flavor.
On Friday I lit the smoker around 11:00 and proceeded to wash down my turkey. I trimmed the extra skin from the butt and neck region and saved that for the gravy. After a wash down with water I rubbed it down with olive oil and seasoned with garlic powder and fresh crack black pepper. Be careful NOT to salt the outside. There is plenty of salt already in the meat from the pickle solution. My smoker can only hold a really consistent temperature around 225 F, which is why I used the Tender Quick. When cooking at low temps the meat is often in the "danger zone" for prolonged periods. This turkey took me around 6 hours to cook and you don't want any bacteria to grow out of control during that time. You can also use pink salt #1 instead of Tender Quick if you would like to regulate how salty the flavor will be. Trying to maintain a temp around 225-240 and using a hickory and cherry mix I began to smoke the turkey around 11:30. I inserted a temperature probe into the thickest part of the breast being careful not to rest the probe against a bone. Make sure and put some kind of pan under your turkey to collect your drippings, those will make a great gravy.
While the turkey was getting up to temp I started on a few other things.
The gravy - I browned the neck, butt, neck skin, heart, gizzard, and a small piece of liver in a saucepan. I added chopped garlic and onion for about 5 minutes. I then deglazed with chicken stock and added a couple Rosemary sprigs. I simmered this for the entirety of the turkey cook. After the turkey was cooked I made a roux using the turkey drippings from a dripping pan and flour. Combined the roux and hot broth and added lots of crack black pepper for a delicious light brown gravy.
The mulled wine - Mulled wine is a warm mixture of red wine, brandy, citrus, and spices. This can be made several different ways, but here is what I did.
- 2 bottles red wine
- 1/2 cup brandy
- 1/2 cup honey
- cloves
- anise
- nutmeg
- cinnamon sticks
- 2 sliced oranges
Add all ingredients to a stock pot and bring it up to a simmer for several minutes then keep it warm on the burner serve. I found it helpful to put all the spices into a cheesecloth to keep small pieces out of the serving glasses.
You really have to resist the urge to check the turkey too frequently. Remember, if you're lookin' then you ain't cookin'. Around this point I loosely wrapped the wings and legs with foil to prevent them from turning too black by the end of the cook.
Of course, at times like this the food isn't the most important thing. Sharing with friends and family is by far the highlight of the holidays. Some good beer and bourbon were definitely shared as well.
Finally, after a cure time of 18 hours and smoke time of around 6 hours at 225 it reached 160 internal temp. I removed the turkey at 160 and let it rest for around 1 hour with foil tented over the top. After removing the IT still climbed a few degrees to approx. 165. Here is the final product carved up. It was one of the best turkeys that I have every had - juicy and just the right amount of salt. The two most important things to nail are the internal temp and brine or cure time.
I hope the you have enjoyed the latest addition of Coonass Cuisine. Be on the lookout for the next post - Homemade Bacon. Until next time, keep your guns clean and dogs fed!!
