Tuesday, December 8, 2009

I Smoked a Turkey (now my lungs are charred)

At first glance, cooking a Thanksgiving turkey for eleven people sounds like a daunting task. And I suppose it could be if I were fighting for space in the kitchen and oven. This holiday was one of those days that I’m really glad that we have a propane smoker.
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I set things up the night before as I had to get things going pretty early on Thursday morning. Cherry wood chips were soaking and the water bowl that produces all of that nice smoky steam was in position.
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Some of the appetizer-eating crowd


We took the thawed 15 pound bird out of the refrigerator at around 6 am and slapped it with some olive oil, followed by a generous amount of Emeril’s Turkey Rub.
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The rule of thumb is that it takes ½ hour per pound to smoke at an in-smoker temperature of between 225 and 250 degrees Fahrenheit. We were looking at around 7-8 hours of elapsed time (followed by ½ hour of setting time) with the goal of having the meat thermometer register 165 degrees at the end.
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By gosh, everything worked out as planned and judging by the comments we heard from our consumers, it was a major success. Hmmm….I just might have to toss a ham in the smoker for Christmas.
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BowlingJoe and the cooked bird: which is the real turkey?

4 comments:

  1. I think I know which one is the real turkey, but it sounds like a trick question so I'm hesitant to announce my guess publicly. Can you give us a hint?

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  2. Joe, I'm hesitant to give away the answer but will hint that the real turkey is the one who lacks a deep suntan but does have opposable thumbs.

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  3. Looks good. But I've always wondered what you do with the butt after you smoke your turkey!

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  4. What a cute post! Sounds like and looks like a great time :)

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