Thanksgiving Cooking Thread

Wunder.Noid said:
Do you worry about getting the dark meat to a certain temp or just focus on getting the breast up to 165?
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if you are smoking. A lot of the skin color will be controlled by wood selection. A lot of people like using oak or hickory on turkey. Or they go heavy on cherry. And all of those are almost to rough. I use a couple pieces of cherry and a couple pieces of apple. At most. And that is on a 20 lbs bird.

If you do feel you are getting too much color though you can always tent with foil when you get to the color you want.

As far as prep. Even though I love solid smoke taste turkey. I do try to stay somewhat traditional for the holiday factor. So prep for me is a good 12 to 24 hour wet brine. Nothing overly special. Salt, brown sugar, pepper corns, whole all spice and some solid cloves of garlic.

I usually make herb butter that morning mainly just so it is still soft and easier to smear on the bird. I butter above and below the skin on the breasts. And then just all over the rest of the surface. I little rosemary flavored olive oil and on to the smoker. About every 45 minutes to an hour I baste with additional butter. Literally by just putting some on a brush and letting it run off the brush onto the bird. So I don’t mess or move any of the crust or seasoning on the bird.

And most importantly when done it rests under loose foil on the cutting board for at least an hour. The one I made today was done at just after 10am and we didn’t eat until almost 1. Was still plenty hot
 
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