First off, let's get one thing out of the way: The only reason I am writing this blog post is to burn enough calories to make room for dessert. MMmmm...desseeeeert.
Did my first turkey in the Weber Smoky Mountain, for Thanksgiving today. In years past, I've done them on the Traeger, and I was "OK" with them. I wasn't over the moon, but I've done some reading on The Virtual Weber Bullet this weekend that leads me to believe I know why. I used to do the bird low and slow, and I think I just ended up drying the poor thing out.
I planned on using the WSM with a water pan to hydrate the bird, so I hit The Virtual Weber Bullet to read up! Then I read how a turkey doesn't benefit from low & slow:
"Turkey is naturally tender and does not benefit from "low and slow" cooking the way a tough old brisket does. I've cooked turkeys from 225°F all the way up to 350°F and I'm convinced that 325-350°F is the way to go. This temperature gets the fat under the skin hot enough so that it sautés the skin. At lower temps, the fat just renders out without crisping anything, and the result is rubbery skin.
Another benefit of cooking at 325-350°F is that the turkey will cook as quickly as if you did it in the oven. Don't worry, the turkey will have plenty of time to pick up whatever smoke flavor you choose to impart to it.
If you insist on cooking at a traditional barbecue temp of 225-250°F, Butterball says that to assure food safety the turkey must reach an internal temperature of 140° within the first 4 hours of cooking. A turkey weighing 12-15 pounds should be fine, but a turkey over this weight should either be cooked at 325-350° or flavor brined in a solution that includes a curing agent like Morton Tender Quick to slow the growth of bacteria.
Why gamble? Just smoke that turkey at 325-350°F. You'll be glad you did."
Then I read:
"To achieve a temperature of 325-350°F, you'll have to cook with an empty water pan. Methods for running the Weber Bullet at 325-350°F can be found on the Firing Up Your Weber Bullet page."
Oh. So there goes my anticipated benefit of a water pan...I was tempted to just try the Traeger again, but I wanted to play with the WSM without water anyways, so opportunity was knocking.
Using 2 chimney's worth of lump, I got the WSM up to 350 without problem. I took my prepped bird, put it on a roast rack, and then put it in a big foil pan. (Thank goodness I got the 22.5" WSM!!) Added the bird to the top shelf and let it go for about 4 hours. 3 hours in, I added 4 acorn squash halves to the lower rack. I will surely do that again! They were fantastic!!
I ended up using 4 cookers for this meal: WSM for the Turkey and squash, 1 Traeger for the stuffing, 1 Traeger for dessert, and another for the dinner rolls. I love the flexibility of being able to cook so many different dishes at different temps!
The turkey rested for 30 minutes and then we gorged! The dripping were exceptionally dark and the gravy I made ended up looking like a beef gravy. The taste was outstanding!!
And now, I'm getting a little peckish...I bet that Brown Betty is still warm, but not too warm as to melt the Cool Whip. OK, I gotta go.
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By the way, I know the skin looks dark, but that is a result of the smoking. It tastes fine, and has a nice texture to it. The wing tips are burnt, but who cares about those? Not me!! MWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! That THAT, Wing Tips!!
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