AZ Barbeque.com
BBQ Related Topics => BBQ Recipes => Thanksgiving Meal & Turkey Recipes => Topic started by: bearbonez on October 20, 2009, 12:23:06 am
-
I have done smoked turkey for many thanksgivings now...in fact it was how I started bbq. I have tried many experiments with flavor combos. The last 2 turkeydays however have been my favorite by far and is now tradition for me.
In a 20 qt cooler
1 turkey..weight doesn't really matter for this. Have done 2 turkeys each year from 12-20 lbs
Place in a stock pot 1/2 bottle decent pinot grigio
10 garlic cloves
1 large onion rough chopped
2 large carrots large chopped
2 stalks celery large chopped
a bouquet garni (few sprigs each of thyme, rosemary and oregano)
4 navel oranges halved
2 lemons halved
1/2 cup whole black peppercorn
2 tbsp ground cloves
2 c brown sugar
1 c kosher salt
1 gal h2o
bring to a boil, reduce and simmer 1 hour. Let cool to room temp. Place bird in cooler and pour liquid mixture and add a 8 or 10 lbs bag of ice. Let brine for 48 hours.
remove bird and rinse well. Stuff the cavities with garlic cloves, whole cloves (just a few), onion, and rosemary sprigs. Rub the bird with your favorite bbq rub. Melt 2 lbs of butter and soak all the butter with a cheesecloth. Wrap the turkey with the cheesecloth like a mummy. Cook at 250-275 till breast meat hits 165. Rest for 30 minutes...good time to make that gravy...carve and serve.
I have used oak and apple for this by the way.
-
Bear, I am so trying this recipe this year. Sounds great.
Make sure to take it to TX with you, but we'd rather you kept it here in AZ.
-
That does sound mighty tasty, Bear! :P This Thanksgiving, I'm thinking of trying a "beer can" turkey using a big can of apple juice.
-
Mark,
Use a big can of Fosters. Works great on the 12-16 lb turkeys.
-
I gotta try that. Thanks!
-
It looks like it should be a keeper. Nice
-
Bumping for the holidays!
-
Thanks for the bump Dean. And thanks for the recipe Bear. Sounds very good. Again with the buttered cheesecloth... hmm... Me thinks we're on to something here.
-
Out of about 20 turkeys on the smoker and almost as many recipes and techniques. This is by far my favorite. The cajun flavored I tried and posted a few years back is a distant second. The buttered cheesecloth trick I got from another bbq forum I have been part of for quite a spell. I have to say the person responsible for inventing the idea makes Steven Hawkings look like Forrest Gump. The texture of the skin and the color is totally ridiculous...like something on the cover of a food magazine or a cookbook.
The rest is just the flavor profiles I like best for enhancing the flavor of the turkey. It compliments the meat in a way where the flavor of the turkey becomes more profound. Where as before I made recipes with the idea of introducing flavor to a bland protein. Turkey really isn't bland given the right accoutrements.
-
wow that sounds fantastic!
-
This might be a dumb question, but where do you pick up a cheesecloth? Is is something Fry's or Safeway sells? Never bought sone so I thought I'd ask.
-
Smart and Final is one place. It's not easy to find. But I have seen it at Smart and Final.
-
Cheesecloth is usually readily available at any grocery store. It can be with the baking goods, or the aluminum pans, or the kitchenware, etc. Best to ask someone who looks like they have a clue where it might be. Usually hangs from a hook in flat plastic bags, rather than being placed on a shelf.
I do have a question for Bear though...Does the cheesecloth REALLY soak up a whole 2 pounds of melted butter???? And how much cheesecloth do you need? Do you wrap it single file and just keep going around and around until it is all used up? I imagine it is quite a messy process right? We were actually going to do a local buffet since all family and friends are gone this year...BUT after reading this recipe, how can we pass it up with turkey at 29 cents a pound??!! Any enlightening on this recipe is greatly appreciated!
-
Alexa and Vince did some and posted some great pics. I don't remember what year, but you'll see. She noted it took 11/4 lbs of butter to saturate the cheesecloth.
http://www.azbarbeque.com/forums/bbq-recently-post-pictures-and-tell-us-what-you-cooked/casa-di-divq-is-a-bevy-of-excitement-this-morning/
-
I get my cheesecloth at home depot. Yup after bout 30 seconds or so of sitting in the butter it soaks up the whole 2 lbs.
-
OK so 3 of us are now doing this recipe for Thanksgiving, one of my teamies is about an hour ahead of us so is probably at the brining stage. We are waiting for the brine to cool right now. Smells awesome and we are taking pics along the way. Still Bear, a couple of questions about wrapping the bird. Do you just use one package of cheesecloth? Do you just wad it up in the melted butter or try to place it in folded upon itself? Once the butter has soaked in, does it just drip all over the place while wrapping? Or does the butter pretty much stay adhered to the cloth? Do you wrap the bird say one direction and then twist it and go the opposite direction, so that all four exposed areas of the bird are covered like a mummy?
Thanks!
-
Got my cheesecloth at Walmart in the paint department. 2 square yards should be enough. Soak it in butter and wrap ... this is gonna be my best one yet... yums.
-
Do you take the Cheesecloth off at any point or leave it on until the Turkey is done?
-
well i have never done this cheesecloth turkey either. so i went a looking for some info. seems that everything points to just laying the cheesecloth on the turkey as opposed to wrapping the turkey completely. also, the recipes i read state that removing the cloth is a good thing for the last 1/2 hr or so.
[attachment deleted by admin]
-
Got 2 turkeys today. Doing the brine tonight. I cant wait to do this.
-
I use one pack of cheesecloth. Once the butter is soaked up, let it cool. this way the butter stays on the cloth better. It will drip and be a bit messy...not too bad. I just take straight out of the pack and plop it in the butter..wadded, folded, shouldn't matter as long as it is well soaked. When wrapping, I just start with the end over the head side cavity, wrap under a wing and go back on a diagonal so the cloth doesn't slide off the top. Then just wrap from one end to the other overlapping a lil bit, till the whole thing is covered. Will see if cindy has pics saved on her puter or disk and post em for ya. My hard drive that had the pics fried...may have em posted somewhere..will look.
I take off the cloth for the last hour.
-
Thanks Bear... ;)
-
Last year I did the cheesecloth method as Bear describes, but I also basted it with herb butter every hour or so to remoisten the cheesecloth. Wondering now if that has any effect on the browning of the skin, mine was a ittle lighter than I like it. I did remove the cheesecloth the last hour...
-
Thanks for all the info. We have pics of our brine and the bird in the brine. Will take some during smoking and finished product, then will post post-Thanksgiving! Can't wait! The house was filled with a wonderful aroma during the simmering of the brine, really makes it feel like the holidays with the cloves and all the herbs and citrus...
-
I can't wait to see all the pictures! Yum!! ;D ;D
-
Yes, pictures, pictures, and more pictures.
-
I have a twenty pounder that I will wrap in cheese cloth and then smoke. Using the turkey cannon any idea how may minutes per pound estimated????? Just need something to guesstimate when to put it on.
-
What's a turkey cannon and what temp are you planning on keeping the smoker?
-
It's kind of like beer in the butt chicken holder except it holds the turkey horizontal. I am going to try 250 to 275 until it hits 150 then take off the cheese cloth an run it up to 300 degrees until the turkey hits 160 to brown skin. :-\
-
Your smoking temps seem just right, we are planning to do exactly the same thing...not really a time per pound, but figure about 6 hours for our 18 ponder, that's about 20 min per pound. First time doing the 48 hour brine thing so we'll see how it goes...
-
Your smoking temps seem just right, we are planning to do exactly the same thing...not really a time per pound, but figure about 6 hours for our 18 ponder, that's about 20 min per pound. First time doing the 48 hour brine thing so we'll see how it goes...
Thanks! ;)
-
ROBIN, is that gloss or semigloss cheesecloth??
-
All I found was regular cheesecloth. I was hoping to find some monterrey jack.
-
All I found was regular cheesecloth. I was hoping to find some monterrey jack. DANIELS?????
-
I am gonna do this again this year. It worked so well last year that I would be shot if I didnt do so again this year. LOL.
-
All I found was regular cheesecloth. I was hoping to find some monterrey jack.
Hey Johnny, You remember writing this joke? Probably not cause it's LAME!!!! You're better than that... haha! :D
-
I have the brine on the stove as I type! And does it smell great in this house! Question for Bear or anyone else that has done the cheesecloth tech.
What are the advantages/ disadvantages other than mess, to lay the soaked cloth flat on top of tin foil ( for easy clean up) then set the bird in the middle then just wrap it up?? Any tips would be appreciated
Have a great day everyone!
Dave
-
I did the cheesecloth method, and I gotta say its well worth it. Yes its messy, but in the end I would recommend that. The cheesecloth holds the butter in place during the cook keeping it just where you want it. I wrap mine like a mummy and place it on the grill for the smoke. I didnt use the foil though. But keep an eye on the temps, too long and it gets dry. I pull mine off at no more than 170 in the breast area.
-
My bad, I wasnt clear..... I wasnt gonna use the foil during the cook, just to cover the counter top, to lay the cloth on, then wrap the bird up and toss the foil.
-
I followed this recipe for Thanksgiving and it turned out great. Since I had an enhanced turkey, I only let it brine for about 18 hours. I admit I was a little worried that there was too much clove for my taste, but it turned out perfect. I smoked it using apple wood. I planned on smoking it at 275, but I had a hard time getting my smoker above 250 (a cool breezy day). Luckily it finished cooking just in time for dinner. Again it was great. Thanks for the recipe. Here's a picture of the turkey right after I pulled off the cheese cloth, about 15 minutes before I pulled it off the smoker.
(http://i866.photobucket.com/albums/ab228/glecheminant/mobile%20uploads/IMG_20101125_132751.jpg)
-
This to good of a recipe not to be back up top this season
-
Here's a little trick to keeping the mess to a minimum.. The first thing I do once the butter is melted is I open up the cheese cloth on the counter to get all the folds out. Then I start fishing one end into the pot. Once the cheesecloth is all in the pot. I then press and turn the cheesecloth till none of the cheesecloth is dry and have all the butter soaked up. Then I put the pot in the fridge and let the butter firm up. About 10 minutes is all that is needed. Now you can wrap the turkey without the butter dripping all over the place.
-
Here's a little trick to keeping the mess to a minimum.. The first thing I do once the butter is melted is I open up the cheese cloth on the counter to get all the folds out. Then I start fishing one end into the pot. Once the cheesecloth is all in the pot. I then press and turn the cheesecloth till none of the cheesecloth is dry and have all the butter soaked up. Then I put the pot in the fridge and let the butter firm up. About 10 minutes is all that is needed. Now you can wrap the turkey without the butter dripping all over the place.
Thanks, nice trick. ;D
-
We wrap the cheesecloth around the bird and tie it off with string. Then we don't even melted the butter just get it a little soft and put the bird on a cooking sheet use our hands to spread the butter all over the bird add the rub, and then put it in the fridge over night.
Here are some photos of the birds I did yeaterday for a office lunch turned out awesome.
-
Looks mighty tasty....Nice job :P
-
guys I made this recipe this holiday and family loved it.
(http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii157/mikeincg/Picture044.jpg)
(http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii157/mikeincg/Picture046.jpg)
(http://i263.photobucket.com/albums/ii157/mikeincg/Picture047.jpg)
-
Looks good.....who got the plastic handle?
-
???
-
Did the turkey hobo style this year: 20 lb turkey + 20 lbs of charcoal + 20 gal trash can for 2 hours. The results were pretty amazing. Great tasting, moist turkey, perfectly cooked in 2 hours. No crispy skin, though.
-
I picked up a Foster Farms fresh young turkey at Costco last week (.89/lb)and decided to attempt my first brined bird. Altered the recipe just a little, used sparkling cider instead if the Pinot Grigio, and left out the cloves. Result were fantastic! Thanks David for your original post and thanks to whoever it was that posted the easier way to work the butter into the cheesecloth.
Jim
-
Bumping this thread for the Holiday. Post up pictures of your meals.
-
I usually smoke 2 turkeys for thanksgiving every year. One following this recipe and I like to try a new recipe each year. After 4 or 5 years this is still my go-to smoked turkey recipe.