Thanksgiving Turkey. A heavenly repeat.

[DerHusker]

I started dinner prepping on Wednesday morning by making up the brine. Here it is cooking.


Basically this is Alton Brown’s Brine with a few tweaks.

Ingredients:
1 gal. Vegetable stock.
1 cup salt
½ cup brown sugar
1 tbsp. Peppercorns
1 ½ tsp. allspice
1 ½ tsp. ginger
8 cloves
2 Bay leaves
Peel from 1 orange

Combine and then bring to a boil stirring occasionally. Then remove and cool to room temp and then chill in fridge. After it chilled I poured into a food safe 4 gal bucket. I then placed it into an ice chest surrounded by ice.

I placed my cleaned turkey (without innards) into the brine solution.








And place the lid on it and let it rest overnight.

Now I load the kamado with charcoal & some Peach chunks and setup it up indirect cooking.

Thursday Morning starts out with making up some seasoned butter rub.

Ingredients:
1 ¼ sticks of butter
2 tbsp. Montreal Chicken seasoning
½ tsp. Sage powder
½ tsp. Rosemary flakes

(Here’s a pic from last year)


Also some aromatic items to place inside the bird. (Tweaked from last year)

Ingredients:
1 Apple sliced into 1/8th’s
½ sliced onion
1 Cinnamon stick
4 sprigs of fresh Rosemary (from my garden)
6 sprigs of fresh Thyme (from my garden)
3 sprigs of fresh Sage (from my garden)
2 sprigs of fresh Oregano (from my garden)

(Here’s a pic from last year)


And finally make up some Cranberry, Apple & Walnut Dressing.


Ingredients:
2 6 oz. Packages of Mrs. Cubbinson’s Seasoned Dressing mix
2 sticks of butter
1 cup of dried Cranberries
1 cup of finely chopped Walnuts
1 cup of minced Onion
1 cup of diced Celery
2 cups of diced Apple
1 ½ cups of Chicken stock
½ cup of Apple Cider

Combine the Dressing, Cranberries, Apple & Walnuts in a large bowl. Melt the Butter in a large skillet and then add the Celery & Onion. Once this has wilted add the Chicken stock & Apple Cider and then turn the heat to low and let simmer of 10 minutes. Now add this wet mixture to the bowl and stir. Scoop this out into a dish and cover with aluminum foil. Bake for 45 minutes @ 350 degrees removing foil for the last 25 minutes.

Now take the turkey out of the brine and place it on a prep tray.


Create some pockets under the skin for the seasoned butter.
(Here’s a pic from last year)


Slide the seasoned butter in under the skin.
(Here’s a pic from last year)


Now in go the aromatics.
(Here’s a pic from last year)


Slather what’s left of the seasoned butter rub all over the bird.


Light up the kamado and let it heat up to 250 and then put the turkey on. (This lets the bird absorb some smoke)


Now ramp up the temp to 500 for 30 minutes. (To crisp up the skin) Then ramp down the temp to 325 to 350 to finish off the cook. (Mine took an additional 2 hours for the breast temp to reach 164)

And this is what she looks like.


My wife made up the table.


Here are my plated shots. (My MIL - not wife)






Here’s my “Money Shot” Below


Aside from looking great this bird tasted ever better than last years which everyone thought couldn’t happen.. Everything was so moist with a nice smoky flavor to go along with the Sage / Rosemary / Montreal Seasoned butter. Everyone at the table said they wish they had a second stomach so they could eat more. I love smoked turkey.

[Delaware Smoker]

DerHusker,looks like you out done yourself.from last year.Great job.I tried your method,cooking at 2225,than at 500,back down to 350.The wind was blowing hard here,& for some reason I couldn't get the Acorn to 500.The best that I could do was 400,but still had crispy skin,& meat was moist.

[DerHusker]

DerHusker,looks like you out done yourself.from last year.Great job.I tried your method,cooking at 2225,than at 500,back down to 350.The wind was blowing hard here,& for some reason I couldn't get the Acorn to 500.The best that I could do was 400,but still had crispy skin,& meat was moist.

Thanks Bill. Glad you liked it but sorry your kamado didn't perform as you wanted. I ended up chasing temperatures as well. My Primo didn't want to cool down after ramping it up but the Turkey still amazed us.

I'm not sure why this one tasted better than last years. I did tweak a few things this year (added Orange peel to the brine. Added fresh Thyme, Sage & Oregano) and the flavor was near perfect.

[Jack.]

Outstanding, DerHusker, as always. Is that pool table in the background a Connelly? If so, I think I may have the same one.

[DerHusker]

Outstanding, DerHusker, as always. Is that pool table in the background a Connelly? If so, I think I may have the same one.

Thanks Jack. Very observant to notice the pool table but it's an Olhausen.

[Jack.]

Very nice. Mine doesn't get used much these days.

[DerHusker]

Very nice. Mine doesn't get used much these days.

I thought we would use it after dinner but we ended up watching Elf on DVD instead.

[Jack.]

Currently, mine does double duty as a dining table. Lol.

[jrow17]

Great looking bird DerHusker and the money looks delicious!

[DerHusker]

Currently, mine does double duty as a dining table. Lol.

Know exactly what you mean. My wife uses ours as a laundry and gift wrapping table.

[DerHusker]

Great looking bird DerHusker and the money looks delicious!

Thanks jrow.

[Jack.]

Just so long as whatever use they put it to does not throw off the level or tear the felt,  I guess I cannot complain.  It took a lot of persuading for me to convince the CFO to allow me to buy this one.  It's an old Connelly Pinnacle w/ 2" slate, with the bronze medallion and mother of pearl inlay.  I think it weighs a ton.  Connelly, an old Arizona-based manufacturer,  is no longer in business so I guess I can always justify it as a rarity.  If it needs to double as a dining table, and if the guests don't stain the felt, I can live with it.  No choice.

[DerHusker]

Just so long as whatever use they put it to does not throw off the level or tear the felt,  I guess I cannot complain.  It took a lot of persuading for me to convince the CFO to allow me to buy this one.  It's an old Connelly Pinnacle w/ 2" slate, with the bronze medallion and mother of pearl inlay.  I think it weighs a ton.  Connelly, an old Arizona-based manufacturer,  is no longer in business so I guess I can always justify it as a rarity.  If it needs to double as a dining table, and if the guests don't stain the felt, I can live with it.  No choice.

We've never used it as a dining table yet. How is it t eat at height wise?

[Jack.]

Poor, and the blinds block people from getting close to table--they hit their knees.  Chairs with arms are out of the question, as is using it as a changing table.  It really does not work as a dining table.  With the pads that bring the table surface level with the rails, and with appropriate moisture-proof coverings, though, it makes a helluva buffet table.

[DerHusker]

Poor, and the blinds block people from getting close to table--they hit their knees. Chairs with arms are out of the question, as is using it as a changing table. It really does not work as a dining table. With the pads that bring the table surface level with the rails, and with appropriate moisture-proof coverings, though, it makes a helluva buffet table.

Kind of what I thought but the buffet table idea is worth looking into. Thanks.