I've been smoking a turkey for thanksgiving for the last 20 years, and it's always been awesome. Back in the day we were broke, and I had a $40 Home Depot smoker that I'd have to feed coals to every two hours and it still could barely keep temperature.

So when I got an egg a couple years back I just stuck with the low temp method. Get up, set the egg at 250, and it's done 6-8 hour later.

The interwebs seems to think that 350 in the smoker for 4 hours is the way to go. Have I been wasting my thanksgiving mornings all these years?

If it's been good, than, no, you aren't wasting your mornings.

That being said, turkey doesn't have any tough fibers you're trying to break down with a low and slow method. I've done Aaron Franklin's method, 325 for 2-2 1/2 hours, wrapping around an hour in. Seems 350 for 4 hours would be a way overdone and dry bird.

So may be worth trying just to see if you do like it and can save a few hours.

Edit: When ive smoked turkeys they've been in the 14 lb range. Obviously will go longer if 24+ lbs.

Dry brine and spatchcock and cook hot. No advantages to low and slow with poultry and really doesn't need much smoke. Higher heat crisps the skin, which really is the best part. Dry brine helps with that.

No advantage to doing poultry low and slow. You're not breaking down a lot of fat and connective tissue, you're just flavoring it.

ORAggieFan said:

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Dry brine and spatchcock and cook hot. No advantages to low and slow with poultry and really doesn't need much smoke. Higher heat crisps the skin, which really is the best part. Dry brine helps with that.

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This is what I have done the last few year and turned out great. Spatchcocking won't give you the traditional bird look but makes for great eating.

Average 12 min per lb at 325 degrees. Hot enough to crisp the skin but not dry out the breast.

300 degrees worked for me last year

Waking up at 4 to have turkey for breakfast?!?!

I got a Recteq recently and have been pleased with a lot of the cooks it's churned out. Going to try and smoke the turkey this year at 350F like the Interwebs as you call it say. One other thing I'm going to try is to place a bag of ice to cool the breast meat before I put it in. Saw that little piece of advice in a few spots. We'll see how it goes.

Trying this recipe for the smoked bird this year.

https://www.meatchurch.com/blogs/recipes/spatchcock-turkey

Would your rig have maintained 350 that well? Love the graph.

Ornlu said:

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Would your rig have maintained 350 that well? Love the graph.

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Yep. Hardest part is keeping the temp down not up

Doing two breast this year not the whole turkey.
I have a BGE. Thoughts on time and temp for just Breasts?

Btron said:

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Doing two breast this year not the whole turkey.
I have a BGE. Thoughts on time and temp for just Breasts?

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I'm guessing 300-350 and until the internal temp is 160+

What do you use for your brine? Smoking my first turkey this year.

Thanks for the responses.

What's a dry brine? I'm guessing somewhat less water than I usually use for the giant pot of salt water that I put the turkey in overnight?

amercer said:

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Thanks for the responses.

What's a dry brine? I'm guessing somewhat less water than I usually use for the giant pot of salt water that I put the turkey in overnight?

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From Amazing Ribs Smoked Turkey.

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Dry brining is a better way to get the benefits of salt without the fuss and waste. The night before just sprinkle the skin with salt, about 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt per pound or less, but only if it has not been injected or koshered before you bought it. Moisture in the skin melts the salt and it travels into the meat. It will help season the meat, amplify flavor, and denature the proteins so they hold water better. This also helps the skin crisp during cooking because it breaks down the structure of the skin and dries it out. Don't cover the bird with plastic wrap. We want the skin to dry out a bit. This will help you get skin as crisp as potato chips. Click here to learn more about dry brining.

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texagco2003 said:

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What do you use for your brine? Smoking my first turkey this year.

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I use the dry brine here. Basically salt with some baking powder, which helps to crisper the skin. I'll start mine today.
https://www.seriouseats.com/2014/11/quick-and-dirty-guide-to-brining-turkey-chicken-thanksgiving.html#dry

Bocephus said:

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Btron said:

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Doing two breast this year not the whole turkey.
I have a BGE. Thoughts on time and temp for just Breasts?

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I'm guessing 300-350 and until the internal temp is 160+

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150 is all you need. Seriouseats has the science around why.

Yeah for breasts I try to pull 155 max. Im not a scientist though

Heres the link: https://www.seriouseats.com/2016/11/how-to-take-the-temperature-of-your-turkey-video.html

ALso maybe a meat science guy can explain... I would assume MOST of the bacterial contamination start on the surface so as long as the most exterior layers of the meat get to the temperature needed to kill microbes you *should* be good.

Disclaimer: I say *should* as in, its probably not best practice to bank on this or follow this method all the time.... BUT if you happen to eat a little meat where the most inside portion didn't quite get the desired temp, then the odds of getting food borne illness is less if the exterior portions of the meat hit temp?

Here's something that supports this: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC170872/#:~:text=Bacteria%20are%20confined%20to%20the,bacteria%20to%20penetrate%20the%20meat.

For meats that don't contain any human infectious parasites or bacteria, I think your point is right. That means beef, lamb, and fish that's been frozen are fine because any potential contamination can only be on the outside.

But turkey chicken and pork contain human infections agents (salmonella for turkey and chicken, and trichinosis for pork) that are mixed way down in the meat because those things live ~symbiotically in healthy animals. You have to cook the whole piece of meat to a temperature which will kill the organism.

Does anyone know which category duck falls into?

Ornlu said:

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For meats that don't contain any human infectious parasites or bacteria, I think your point is right. That means beef, lamb, and fish that's been frozen are fine because any potential contamination can only be on the outside.

But turkey chicken and pork contain human infections agents (salmonella for turkey and chicken, and trichinosis for pork) that are mixed way down in the meat because those things live ~symbiotically in healthy animals. You have to cook the whole piece of meat to a temperature which will kill the organism.

Does anyone know which category duck falls into?

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Makes sense

Hope it's the first bc I eat my duck medium rare.

I need advice.

I moved 2 frozen turkeys from the freezer to the fridge in the garage to defrost. I went to check on them this morning and the turkeys were gone.

My wife moved them on the floor of the garage to "help them thaw out."

I have moved the turkeys back into the fridge. The exterior of both birds is a little soft but there is still a frozen center.

I have read the internet recommendations now and to my wife to inform her of the proper way to defrost turkeys.

But, I need TexAgs opinions: Continue with my plan to fry one and smoke the other or throw them out and buy new ones?

Are you worried they got too warm, or that they won't thaw fast enough?

If the former, they're still frozen so they're fine. Cook them like normal.

If the later, use a cold water bath.

I am worried that they sat out for 12 hours in 50+ degree garage in the bacteria danger zone.

Yeah that would be my concern as well. Advice is to upgrade wives.
Jk

Man If it was 12 hrs I'd rather be safe than sorry and go buy a fresh turkey at this point as it's a bit late to thaw a frozen one

I'm about 90+% sure my mom thawed every turkey she ever made outside the fridge and we never had any issues.

Yeah, I'd probably use it, especially if the inside was still frozen.

Hmm, that's a tough one. Even though the inside is still frozen the very outside could still have warmed up enough to the danger zone before the heat could conduct to the middle of the bird. Still, that's also the part of the bird that will be cooked the most. I know that doesn't remove all health issues, but with this being cooked shortly I'd go with it. Not the first turkey that hasn't had an ideal thaw.

And politically, there is little risk to you. If everything is fine, you don't spark a fight over a turkey. If the small chance occurs that someone gets sick from this, you aren't getting the blame. You just say, "Who knows what went wrong?" But one person will know it's something they did. Just make sure there isn't someone immuno-compromised at dinner, but who would do that in 2020?

I did two bone in turkey breast on the BGE today. Temp was 325. Birds hit 160 at two hours. Pulled them and wrapped them for 20 minutes. Sliced a sample at that point. Very tasty and moist. Used the recipe I saw on YouTube "Swine Life BBQ".

Troy91 said:

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I am worried that they sat out for 12 hours in 50+ degree garage in the bacteria danger zone.

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I have thawed my turkeys in a bucket of water for 24 hours for probably 10 years in a row. I imagine that by the time 24 hours are up, the water temp is around 50 degrees. I have never had a single issue.

SeaHoss said:

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I did two bone in turkey breast on the BGE today. Temp was 325. Birds hit 160 at two hours. Pulled them and wrapped them for 20 minutes. Sliced a sample at that point. Very tasty and moist. Used the recipe I saw on YouTube "Swine Life BBQ".

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Put the 20 pound Turkey on the BGE at 9:27 at 300 degrees. The turkey passed the magical 160 degree temp at 12:30 AM and my brother pulled it off the BGE and wrapped it in foil since I'm at work. 1.5 hours quicker than last year. It's actually 10 degrees colder out at my house this year too.

Before it was wrapped

160 is overcooked

I sous vide 3 hrs at 138 then ice bath and in the fridge. Will smoke to 150 max then wrap until serving. We