If you aren’t sick of my Thanksgiving play-by-play yet, I wanted to let you know that the turkeys turned out great! The boys and I each tried a small bite as I sliced them up last night, and everyone agreed that they were yummy. My 11yo even said that I could win a turkey-cooking contest. Coming from an aspirant Food Network chef, that was high praise! 🙂

I was a little concerned that the meat might dry out overnight &/or during reheating, so I added the broth from the drip pans to the storage containers. The one we were taking to church went into a large, plastic click-top type of tub, but the one for family went into a new aluminum pan wrapped snugly in plastic wrap. I knew we’d be reheating that one in the oven, so I arranged large pieces of the roasted skin over the sliced meat to help insulate it and keep it moist. I just replaced the plastic wrap with foil for reheating, and it worked out great.

Even my cousin (who normally brings the turkey and is known for speaking his mind) said that I’m now nominated to do the turkey for the next, oh, 30 years. haha! 🙂  I appreciated the kind compliments, and I’m glad it turned out so yummy!

Hickory chips soaking in bourbon

The cooler worked out great for brining; the turkeys were still very cold this morning and ready to prep for the smoker.

I started the charcoal and put some hickory chips in a tub with a very inexpensive bourbon (not wasting the pricey stuff on wood chips!) to soak while I tended to the birds.

I put carrots, onion, celery and garlic in drip pans and rubbed the outside of the turkey with olive oil, sage, salt & pepper (poured into little bowls ahead of time, so I didn’t contaminate the spice jars with my fingers that had been handling raw meat). The older two boys helped chop apples to stuff inside the turkeys (one per bird), along with 2 cinnamon sticks and 6-7 cloves.

Seasoned & ready to cook!

I tried to tuck the wings under, as best I could figure out how, so they wouldn’t burn too easily. I probably should have used larger aluminum pans, because it was a tight fit. I put them in the smoker uncovered for about an hour to sear them, and yum – they look so good!

Seared & ready to cover with foil

After an hour, I covered them with foil rotated them (so the one nearest the firebox doesn’t burn) and set my alarm for another hour to rotate them again. So far, so good! 🙂

If I played my cards right, then the turkeys should be ready before I need to go pick up the younger three from their No School Fun Day program. Then, I’ll let the birds cool a bit before I slice and package them for transport: one to the church first thing in the morning and the other for our family meal at my great-aunt’s house.

Happy Thanksgiving!

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.