This involves starting the bird in the smoker, giving it a minimum of 2 hours there, then transferring it to the oven and finishing it using the high temperature "Quick Roast" method (more on this later)
In any event here's the start-up for the whole process. You don't HAVE TO BRINE a bird before cooking it, but once you do, you'll never skip this step again!!! The bird is so moist when brined that you'll wonder why you never knew about this before.
Brine ingredients:
1 cup kosher salt
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1 gallon vegetable stock
1 tablespoon black peppercorns
1/2 tablespoon allspice berries
1/2 tablespoon candied ginger
1 gallon cold water
2 oranges, quartered and squeezed
1 lemon, quartered and squeezed
Combine all brine ingredients, except water and citrus, in a stockpot, and bring to a boil. Stir to dissolve solids, then remove from heat, cool to room temperature.
Combine the brine, water, and citrus in a clean 5-gallon PLASTIC bucket. Place thawed turkey breast side down in brine, cover, and refrigerate or set in cool area (like a basement) for at least 6 hours. Fill 2 large Ziploc bags with ice and place these on top of the bird. Turn turkey over once, half way through the brining process.
Remove bird from brine. Discard brine. Let turkey reach room temperature. Depending on the size of the turkey, this may take up to an hour.
Place a drip pan under the grates where the turkey will be cooking to catch the drippings, there is likely to be quite a few, especially if you smoke the bird all the way until it's done. Some people put the bird in a pan, I prefer to put it directly on the grates.
IMPORTANT NOTE: DO NOT STUFF A TURKEY YOU ARE SMOKING!!!!!!! #1, the stuffing tastes terrible, #2 it severely slows down the cooking time.
While the bird is coming to room temperature, begin heating up your smoker and soaking you wood. You can use whatever wood you choose for your source of smoke, but for poultry I prefer apple with a small amount f cherry mixed in. Soak a few pounds wood, because you want a nice coat of flavor to penetrate into the bird.
For a heat source, I use lump hardwood charcoal, because it burns hot and clean. Place about 5-8 pounds in the coal box and start a load of briquets in a chimney. Create a "hole" in the center of your lump charcoal and dump the briquets in to get the coal burning. YOU WILL NEED MORE LUMP COAL before you're done, so check it every 3-4 hours and see how it's doing. If you need to add coal, I suggest starting it in the chimney instead of adding it 'cold'.
Prior to smoking the bird, place the following aromatics in the body cavity:
1 red apple, sliced
1 onion, sliced
4 sprigs rosemary
6 leaves sage
Once the coal is glowing well, let the smoker rise up to about 200-220 before placing the bird inside. At this time, add in a few handfuls or 'sticks' of your smoker wood. which you will replenish every 20 minutes or so for the first hour.
Now some folks say don't open the smoker once it reaches temperature or it cools down and you have to start over. Personally, I think this is a bit extreme... I agree you shouldn't constantly open it and peek inside, it's take care of the magic all on it's own... but I don't like placing poultry into an unheated smoker. I'm okay with doing this with pork or beef, or other long cook cuts of meat, but poultry or fish, I'd rather load in once the smoker comes up to temperature and then let it rise back up after I close it.
Okay, here's where you have to make some decisions...
Smoker start to finish
IF YOU PLAN TO SMOKE THE BIRD UNTIL IT'S DONE... you will want to insert a remote read, or long cable thermometer into the deepest part of the thigh, but don't let it touch the bone! Also, if you are smoking the bird, you won't want to baste or coat the exterior of the skin with oil, because it hinders the smoke penetration and coloring of the skin.
You'll need to make sure the bird reaches at least 160 internally before removing it. A tip here for people that are afraid of 'rubbery skin' on a bird smoked all the way through. Depending on the size of the bird, this can take 4-6 hours, and if your bird is over 20 pounds, even longer. A thought here though... my personal preference if you need over 20 pounds of poultry is do two smaller birds- they're more tender and the cooking time reduces. You may want to rotate the birds in the chamber before they're done though, and you can get away with a thermometer in one bird only, because they'll cook the same.
Before removing the bird from the smoker, heat your oven to 450 degrees, and when you remove the bird, give it a light brushing of olive oil and butter, then place it in the oven for 15-20 minutes to crisp the skin. And yes, it's likely to start smoking a bit, but that doesn't bother US!!
Remove the bird, let it rest for 15-20 minutes before carving.
Smoker Start; Oven Finish
IF YOU PLAN TO FINISH IT IN THE OVEN, no need for the thermometer while it's in the smoker... you're simply 'smoke seasoning' it =)
Everything else is done the same, except the need to add more coal in intervals. Prior to removing the bird, heat your oven to 450 degrees. At the 2 hour point when you remove the wonderfully seasoned bird from the smoker, transfer it to a roasting pan with a rack and take your bird into the oven. Insert a temperature probe into the thigh, and be careful not to let it touch the bone. Place it on a low rack and cover the breast with a foil tent. Lower the temperature to 400 when you close the door.
In about an hour, turn the bird around 180 degrees in the oven, remove the foil tent, and apply a light basting of butter to the skin. IF THE BIRD STARTS GETTING TOO DARK, replace the foil. The bird should be done in another 45 minutes at most.
Remove the bird, let it rest for 15-20 minutes before carving.
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