Smoked turkey

1 Bird

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
1 Method
From: Michelle Bass
Fidonet COOKING echo

Directions

Basically what we do is remove the giblets and neck and wash the turkey thoroughly, inside and out. I usually make a paste with salt, pepper, thyme (dried okay) and liquid smoke. Then I loosen the skin on the breast with my hands and try to get the paste rubbed over the breast as best I can. I do the same thing to the outside of the turkey as well with the paste. If you're not up to this, just salt, pepper and thyme the inside and out AFTER rubbing with liquid smoke.

We put a quartered onion, a few stalks of celery and a bay leaf inside the turkey. In the water pan we put some water, cheap white wine, a lemon cut in half, a quartered onion, a stalk of celery, a few bay leaves and some peppercorns.

We soak our wood blocks (the chips don't seem to give it the flavor we like) at least an hour before starting. We use a lot of the hickory blocks during the smoking process, adding them every couple hours when we check the liquid in the water pan.

We have a Weber smoker (no, not the Weber grill used as a smoker) which is pretty large and also a lot more air tight than our last smoker. It cooks a lot quicker than our old smoker. Brian has pretty much decided that he cooks them approximately ½ hour per pound, though we usually use the following method: Pierce the dark meat with a fork and if the juice runs clear, it's time to take that baby off. If pink juice, leave it on. Another way that works is when it's done, the leg will move pretty easily. Just remember it continues to cook for a while when you take it off.

We tried using the liquid from the water pan once and it was too strong in smoked flavor for our liking... MUCH too strong. Taste it before you use it, by all means.

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