"Charly Horse" <no.com> wrote in message
...
>
> Getting an early start I know, but I am going to do a couple of trial runs
> before the "BIG" one
>
> I want to do a smoked turkey for T-day this year. I have done them
> in
> the past on my old offset but I got really varied results raw to over
> done,
> and cajun style, black on outside raw in middle. The flavor lacked, I
> attribute that to lack of heat control and my lack of prep.. I'm a cheap
> sort so yeah I'll be buying the routine frozen bird hopefully at 40
> cents a pound. In the 12-18 range with an "enhanced" solution in it. I am
> dubious brining works on these. I've read low temps for 10 plus hours
> but
> It's not brisket why slow? I am leaning to apple if I can find some
> good chunks
>
>
I've smoked a number of turkeys in the past with very good results. I use a
Luhr Jensen Little Chief smoker. The Technique is different than the usual
250F low and slow smoker used for brisket .
http://prostores4.carrierzone.com/se...e-Chief/Detail

I brine the turkey, overnight at least. Luhr Jensen says to brine with a
very strong salt solution[1/2 cup salt to 1 quart water]. I think I've done
that once and then reverted to the less salty brines.

Then the turkey goes into the smoker for 4-6 hours at about 145F, more or
less depending on the outside temp. During that time it's smoked, not
cooked. After that it goes into anything you want to use to bake the turkey
at 350F. Since the turkey is smoked, you can bake in your indoor oven and
not lose anything. I use the Weber kettle, though, on a rainy day there
isn't any reason to not cook inside.

What's needed with fowl and fish is to separate the smoking from the
cooking. You can smoke turkey as above, and then put it in the frig for
several days and then roast it. Almost all commercial home smokers bake at
about 225-250F, which slowly brings the meat, after 8-10 hours, to the temp.
you want. As you point out, this doesn't work with turkey or seafood. You
have to separate the smoking from the cooking.

I use the Luhr Jensen Little Chief which lets me smoke low. I think it'd be
pretty tricky to pull this off with a bullet smoker. With an offset you
might be able to smoke at 145F. The important thing is that you're smoking
first, and roasting after. With brisket you're very slowly smoking and
roasting over 8-10 hours. I don't think that works with larger fowl.

As a certified tightwad I do the above routinely with low priced supermarket
turkey. To brine, use a 2.5 gallon Hefty Ziploc bag. It will hold a turkey
up to about 14lb.

Cheers,

Kent