[VisionQuest220]

Because we're smoking turkeys!!!

Diva bought a couple of 12-14 lb. fresh birds at the Sunflower market earlier this week and we started brining them on Friday night.  After a 24 hour soak, we drained them and then stored them overnight inside plastic bags in the refrigerator.  This morning they got a healthy dose of Diva's Special Poultry Rub (I'm not qualified to know the ingredients) and they are now, as I type, being wrapped in cheesecloth and will then be basted in butter.  (Mmmmmm, butter.)  After that, it's off to the smoker for what should be a 6-8 hour cook under a thin haze of pistachio smoke.

We'll have some pictures to post as the day wears on so join us for a day of turkey smoking fun.

[Mike (AZBarbeque)]

WOW that does sound tasty... Can't wait to see the pictures... 

[VisionQuest220]

Wait no longer!

Here are the birds being wrapped in cheesecloth.



This is what they look like after being completely wrapped and then basted in butter.  (It took 1-1/4 lbs. of butter to completely saturate the cheesecloth.)



The pit is almost ready so they'll be going in soon.

[Mike (AZBarbeque)]

Vince, looks fantastic... Are you going to smoke them directly on the grill, or in the pan, or on a Turkey rack?   Just curious...

[VisionQuest220]

We decided to put them directly on the cast iron cooking grates.  As you can see in the pictures below, the birds pretty much fill up the cooking chamber and so putting them on another rack in a tray would just make things even tighter. 





I'm thinking that the cheesecloth will go a long way towards holding the birds together during the cook and I only plan to lift them by inserting tongs into the cavity and lifting.  We'll see how it goes.

[VisionQuest220]

Here are a couple of pictures taken at the 3 hour mark.

[Mike (AZBarbeque)]

Wow, that is looking good...

[VisionQuest220]

I can't help but feel like we're slowly cooking mummified turkeys.

Five hours of cooking and we're getting 138∞F readings from the thighs.  We're guessing that it will be another 2 hours or so before they're done.

[DivaHerself]

I am watching the fire while Himself is off doing some work.

Temp is at 149.

The power is mine, mine, MINE!!!!!      

[Mike (AZBarbeque)]

OH no..... The Power is an addictive thing...  Be wary of it's affect...   

149 is not too bad since the last time, seems like it is over the plateu...

What's you plan for pulling it?  What temp??

[DivaHerself]

I like my poultry superwelldone, so maybe 170?  I have a feeling I'm going to be overruled on that one if the tiebreaker gets home in time.

The current plan is to yank the cheesecloth at ten degrees before done, then crank up the heat.

[DivaHerself]

158! 

The second pie is in the oven, so now I can pay some attention in the backyard!

[Mike (AZBarbeque)]

Time to take the cheesecloth off and crank up the heat... 

I'm hungry now...

[DivaHerself]

ACK!!  VQ's not back!  I had to do it myself!   

New chimney lit and loaded, turkeys unwrapped, rotated, doused with hot chicken broth and re-probed.

[Mike (AZBarbeque)]

Wow, those do look almost perfect...  Now, how do they taste???