Turkey Smoking question...


Recommended Posts

For those that smoke the breast or the whole bird - are you smoke cooking it or smoke flavoring it then finishing it off someother way? I've got a Luhr-Jensen "Big Chief" electric smoker but it won't reach cooking temperatures (to my knowledge). Theoretically it will heat upto 165 deg. but in order to "cook" something of that size it would take 24 hours or more. I have a larger gas grill (couldn't talk my wife into letting me buy a charcoal grill of similar size even though it was nearly $100 cheaper and would result in better food, etc ;) ) but haven't figured out how to get a good smoke going on that as of yet. That would solve the cooking problem. Just curious and suggestions welcome.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Used to use a charcoal smoker here from brinkman for turkeys, and they would always turn out great. Have an electric now, and it reaches 255 degrees I think. I slow cook our turkeys at 225 as per the instructions on the manual from the smoker, and recently bought a wired thermometer that stays inside the bird while it cooks with the smoker door shut. When it is done, it is done, but I do occasionally cook birds in advance on the smoker, and later warm them in the oven, but never heat them past serving temps and always add a little water to the pan and keep it wrapped tightly in foil to preserve the moisture and retain the best flavor possible. For turkeys and most poultry if I am not mistaken you want the inside temp to reach 180, if your smoker will only get to 165, the turkey will never reach that temp, and it might be a waste of time to even try to smoke them with a smoker that will not get hot enough. I was not aware that those smokers only got to 165. For best results with cooking any foods in a smoker, you will want to cook at an even consistent temperature.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On your gas grill..just get a foil cooking bag, I use the large ones (from walmart) fill it with wood chips and set it right ontop the burner grid under your rack. Poke some small holes in it, and set the heat to at 150 to 180 after the smoking process is done, I remove the foil bag and then finish the cooking process at the desired temp., a gas grill with a temp guage is a must.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.