Just finished up a practice turkey on the smoker. I usually fry em for the
holidays but this year I want to smoke about 6 for the family gathering next
month.
12lb bird, 225 degrees, apple/hickory combo on the wood, for 4 hours was
just about right. Also used a pan of water/mango wine cooler underneath the
bird.. A pint of Evan Williams for me.
Damm thing nearly fell apart as I carefully pulled it off the grate. lol
Rubbed and injected it with my secret sauce (a mixtuire of creol butter
liquid, a raspberry bq sauce) last night and stuffed a couple of goodsize
chicken/apple sausages inside it for good measure. Anyway, the meat was
juicy and unbelieveably tasty.
(6 teenagers are napping with full bellies on my basement floor for proof
lol) BUT the skin was tough and unedible but at least pulled away from the
meat easily. Looks as though I neglected that part.
Any suggestions as to do a better job on the skin? What, when and how often
would you suggest?

Cliff

>Just finished up a practice turkey on the smoker. I usually fry em for the
>holidays but this year I want to smoke about 6 for the family gathering next
>month.
>BUT the skin was tough and inedible but at least pulled away from the
>meat easily. Looks as though I neglected that part.
>Any suggestions as to do a better job on the skin? What, when and how often
>would you suggest?
Don't know how to get the skin tender. I usually make cracklings' out
of it and use them on the salad.

"Cliff" > wrote in message
news:9fS8f.499492$_o.378290@attbi_s71...
> Just finished up a practice turkey on the smoker. I usually fry em for the
> holidays but this year I want to smoke about 6 for the family gathering
> next month.
> 12lb bird, 225 degrees, apple/hickory combo on the wood, for 4 hours was
> just about right. Also used a pan of water/mango wine cooler underneath
> the bird.. A pint of Evan Williams for me.
> Damm thing nearly fell apart as I carefully pulled it off the grate. lol
> Rubbed and injected it with my secret sauce (a mixtuire of creol butter
> liquid, a raspberry bq sauce) last night and stuffed a couple of goodsize
> chicken/apple sausages inside it for good measure. Anyway, the meat was
> juicy and unbelieveably tasty.
> (6 teenagers are napping with full bellies on my basement floor for proof
> lol) BUT the skin was tough and unedible but at least pulled away from the
> meat easily. Looks as though I neglected that part.
> Any suggestions as to do a better job on the skin? What, when and how
> often would you suggest?
>
> Cliff
>

The vulcanized skin is the trade-off for smoking it. You might get away
with ramping up the temp at the end of the cook, but it's still not that
same as cooking the bird at roasting temperature, say 350.

Jack

Cliff wrote:

> Just finished up a practice turkey on the smoker. I usually fry em for the
> holidays but this year I want to smoke about 6 for the family gathering next
> month.
> 12lb bird, 225 degrees, apple/hickory combo on the wood, for 4 hours was
> just about right. Also used a pan of water/mango wine cooler underneath the
> bird.. A pint of Evan Williams for me.
> Damm thing nearly fell apart as I carefully pulled it off the grate. lol
> Rubbed and injected it with my secret sauce (a mixtuire of creol butter
> liquid, a raspberry bq sauce) last night and stuffed a couple of goodsize
> chicken/apple sausages inside it for good measure. Anyway, the meat was
> juicy and unbelieveably tasty.
> (6 teenagers are napping with full bellies on my basement floor for proof
> lol) BUT the skin was tough and unedible but at least pulled away from the
> meat easily. Looks as though I neglected that part.
> Any suggestions as to do a better job on the skin? What, when and how often
> would you suggest?

Poultry skin doesn't end up all that good at lower temps. Turkey
even moreso because it's tougher.

You need to get the temp up above 300 F to get a good skin, IMO.
Below that, I pull the skin off after smoking, bake it in a
325 F oven till crisp, and use it for cracklins. It's a nice salad
garnish.

--
Reg email: RegForte (at) (that free MS email service) (dot) com

Sounds like you an Abe agree. Cracklins it is!


"Reg" > wrote in message
...
> Cliff wrote:
>
>> Just finished up a practice turkey on the smoker. I usually fry em for
>> the holidays but this year I want to smoke about 6 for the family
>> gathering next month.
>> 12lb bird, 225 degrees, apple/hickory combo on the wood, for 4 hours was
>> just about right. Also used a pan of water/mango wine cooler underneath
>> the bird.. A pint of Evan Williams for me.
>> Damm thing nearly fell apart as I carefully pulled it off the grate. lol
>> Rubbed and injected it with my secret sauce (a mixtuire of creol butter
>> liquid, a raspberry bq sauce) last night and stuffed a couple of goodsize
>> chicken/apple sausages inside it for good measure. Anyway, the meat was
>> juicy and unbelieveably tasty.
>> (6 teenagers are napping with full bellies on my basement floor for proof
>> lol) BUT the skin was tough and unedible but at least pulled away from
>> the meat easily. Looks as though I neglected that part.
>> Any suggestions as to do a better job on the skin? What, when and how
>> often would you suggest?
>
> Poultry skin doesn't end up all that good at lower temps. Turkey
> even moreso because it's tougher.
>
> You need to get the temp up above 300 F to get a good skin, IMO.
> Below that, I pull the skin off after smoking, bake it in a
> 325 F oven till crisp, and use it for cracklins. It's a nice salad
> garnish.
>
> --
> Reg email: RegForte (at) (that free MS email service) (dot) com
>

I was wondering if that was the price of smoking. lol At least it does pull
off easy.
Thanks!
Cliff

"Jack Schidt®" > wrote in message
. ..
>
> "Cliff" > wrote in message
> news:9fS8f.499492$_o.378290@attbi_s71...
>> Just finished up a practice turkey on the smoker. I usually fry em for
>> the holidays but this year I want to smoke about 6 for the family
>> gathering next month.
>> 12lb bird, 225 degrees, apple/hickory combo on the wood, for 4 hours was
>> just about right. Also used a pan of water/mango wine cooler underneath
>> the bird.. A pint of Evan Williams for me.
>> Damm thing nearly fell apart as I carefully pulled it off the grate. lol
>> Rubbed and injected it with my secret sauce (a mixtuire of creol butter
>> liquid, a raspberry bq sauce) last night and stuffed a couple of goodsize
>> chicken/apple sausages inside it for good measure. Anyway, the meat was
>> juicy and unbelieveably tasty.
>> (6 teenagers are napping with full bellies on my basement floor for proof
>> lol) BUT the skin was tough and unedible but at least pulled away from
>> the meat easily. Looks as though I neglected that part.
>> Any suggestions as to do a better job on the skin? What, when and how
>> often would you suggest?
>>
>> Cliff
>>
>
> The vulcanized skin is the trade-off for smoking it. You might get away
> with ramping up the temp at the end of the cook, but it's still not that
> same as cooking the bird at roasting temperature, say 350.
>
> Jack
>

Cliff wrote:
> 12lb bird, 225 degrees, apple/hickory combo on the wood, for 4 hours
> was just about right. Also used a pan of water/mango wine cooler
> underneath the bird.. BUT the skin was tough and unedible but at least
> pulled
> away from the meat easily.

Crank up the heat. With poultry, no need to do it at low temperature. High
heat = crispy

--
Ed
http://pages.cthome.net/edhome/

How do you prepare the turky skin before you place it in the smoker?

I usually rub mine down with olive oil just before going into the smoker and
cook it at 250 - 265 degrees. I haven't had a bad skin. Nobody has
complained.

Burnt Food Dude

"Cliff" > wrote in message
news:9fS8f.499492$_o.378290@attbi_s71...
> Just finished up a practice turkey on the smoker. I usually fry em for the
> holidays but this year I want to smoke about 6 for the family gathering
> next month.
> 12lb bird, 225 degrees, apple/hickory combo on the wood, for 4 hours was
> just about right. Also used a pan of water/mango wine cooler underneath
> the bird.. A pint of Evan Williams for me.
> Damm thing nearly fell apart as I carefully pulled it off the grate. lol
> Rubbed and injected it with my secret sauce (a mixtuire of creol butter
> liquid, a raspberry bq sauce) last night and stuffed a couple of goodsize
> chicken/apple sausages inside it for good measure. Anyway, the meat was
> juicy and unbelieveably tasty.
> (6 teenagers are napping with full bellies on my basement floor for proof
> lol) BUT the skin was tough and unedible but at least pulled away from the
> meat easily. Looks as though I neglected that part.
> Any suggestions as to do a better job on the skin? What, when and how
> often would you suggest?
>
> Cliff
>
>

Burnt Food Dude wrote:

> How do you prepare the turky skin before you place it in the smoker?

BFD, I'm glad you joined this ng, it looks as though you'll be a good asset.
Can I ask a favor? Would you make your contributions much more readable by
NOT top-posting. Please either bottom-post with the appropriate snippage of
the text you are replying to, or interleave your response.

Thanks.
--
Dave
www.davebbq.com

"Dave Bugg" > wrote in message
...
> Burnt Food Dude wrote:
>
>> How do you prepare the turky skin before you place it in the smoker?
>
> BFD, I'm glad you joined this ng, it looks as though you'll be a good
> asset. Can I ask a favor? Would you make your contributions much more
> readable by NOT top-posting. Please either bottom-post with the
> appropriate snippage of the text you are replying to, or interleave your
> response.
>
> Thanks.
> --
> Dave
> www.davebbq.com

Okie Dokie!

Burnt Food Dude wrote:

> Okie Dokie!

Thanks.... :-) As I said, I think you'll add a lot to this ng.

--
Dave
www.davebbq.com

In article >, Burnt Food
Dude > wrote:

> How do you prepare the turky skin before you place it in the smoker?
>
> I usually rub mine down with olive oil just before going into the smoker and
> cook it at 250 - 265 degrees. I haven't had a bad skin. Nobody has
> complained.

I haven't tackled the Big Bird, but the spatchcocked chickens I've done
had olive oil and spices rubbed in, and I wrapped a strip of bacon
around the ends of the legs and the wing tips. They turned out
gorgeous, and drew raves for the flavor and texture.

Kevin