My dad gave me a smoker for Christmas last year, so I’ve been practicing with chickens & brisket. The boys were complimentary of my grilled ribs, steak & asparagus, too. Lest I sound too braggadocios, I must admit that not all of my efforts have been successful; I scorched a chicken and destroyed some eggplant, but for the most part, nearly everything has turned out pretty good.

So, I decided to try my hand at smoking a turkey. Our church is doing Thanksgiving meals at our inner-city mission community, so I signed up to make a turkey for that. I figured while I had the smoker fired up, I might as well make another turkey for our family meal. No pressure, ha!! 🙂

Brining, Step 1: The spices smell wonderful!

I found a couple of great recipes for smoking and seasoning turkeys on my favorite grocery store website, so I devised a combination of the two. This morning, I started the brining process. I wasn’t sure if my cooler would be large enough, but it worked out fine. Since I’m doing two turkeys, I didn’t quite double the brining recipe, but I did use more than the original recipe called for.

I started out with about a gallon and a half of water in my largest stockpot (the recipe called for 2 gal, but my pot wasn’t big enough). Some of the adaptations I used include ice cream salt instead of kosher salt (Alton Brown might cringe, but good grief – the price difference was atrocious!) and dried spices instead of fresh sprigs (due to price/availability).

Brining, Step 2: Turkeys chilling out before their big debut

The brine solution included 4 c. of rock salt, 4 c. of sugar and 2 Tbsp each of rosemary, sage & thyme. I also used about 1.5 c. peppercorns and 2 garlic bulbs. The recipe also called for apple cider to add to the cooler in the next step, but it was more expensive than plain ol’ apple juice, so I threw in 1 Tbsp each of cinnamon & nutmeg to compromise. I heated the spice/water mixture to a low boil and stirred till the salt & sugar dissolved. The kitchen smelled heavenly! I took it off the heat and let it sit a bit to cool down while I prepped the cooler.

I tossed 8 small oranges (halved) and 6 apples (halved) into the cooler, then put the turkeys breast-side-down and poured 2 gal apple juice over them. I added the saucy solution and 2 bags of ice. I will check it throughout the day and add more ice, as needed. It’s supposed to stay at 40 degrees for 24 hours.

Tomorrow morning, I will pat the turkeys dry and proceed with the next steps: soaking the hickory chunks in bourbon, firing up the smoker, seasoning the birds, rotating the birds in the smoker every hour for even cooking for about 7 hours and drinking some bourbon & diet. 😉  Should be yummy (the turkeys, too)! I’ll keep you posted.