How are you going to cook your Thanksgiving turkey?

The reason I bring up this question is because some folks always roast their turkey the traditional way and I thought it would be nice to list a few other options. Our family is lucky enough to cook two turkeys each year since I get a free turkey from my [day] job. It’s a little smaller (9-12 lbs.) than the huge turkey my in-law’s 20 pound roast, but it’s the perfect size for smoking. I would stick with birds 15 pounds or less just because it won’t take so long to smoke and larger turkeys greatly increase food contamination risks.

Picking Out Your Smoker
If you have never smoked a turkey before and would like to try, here are some tips: First, pick yourself up a smoker (just stating the obvious). To smoke the turkey like my freebie one, all you need is a small inexpensive smoker like a $50 Char-Broil 06701289 Charcoal Water Smoker. You might even pick up a slightly used smoker at a garage sale for $20 bucks or even less.

However, if you would like to smoke multiple turkeys, you might want to consider purchasing yourself something a bit larger. Plus, if you would like to get into smoking other meats like baby back ribs or a pork butt down the road, you’ll have room to grow! The next step up from the smaller water smokers (in my opinion) is the offset smokers. These can also be used to barbecue your food such as grilling hamburgers, hot dogs, etc. I would recommend something like the Char-Broil American Gourmet Deluxe or the Char-Broil Double-Door Smoker I reviewed back in August.

Now, you might be telling yourself, “Why does he like the Char-Broil products so much?” Let me ask you this. If you were just picking up the sport of golf (yes golf), are you going to go out and buy $2,000 in golf equipment? I doubt it. So why start out smoking with a $1,000+ smoker if you are just starting out? Personally, I started smoking using the very same water smoker I mentioned above. It didn’t take up much space on my patio, didn’t cost a whole lot and it turned out delicious smoked food. What more could I ask for? Plus, Char-Broil is the leading manufacturer of BBQ products in the world and they make well-made barbecuing equipment at a decent price.

On the other hand, if you are already an avid smoke master, by all means, go out and get yourself a custom smoker or one of the higher-end offset models. I would caution however, not to go with the hugest smoker/grill unless you’ll be feeding an army on a regular basis. You’re just wasting grill estate (as I call it).

Fuel Source
Okay, so we have a smoker now and it’s time to smoke that turkey. Right? Next we need to get some heat — I mean a fuel source like charcoal. I recommend Kingsford (as some competition barbecue chefs use), but others prefer a natural lump charcoal such as Cowboy Hardwood Lump Charcoal. Most of the time, the natural lump charcoal is going to be a little more expensive, but it is a nice, clean and slow burning product.

Wood Chips or Chunks?
If you choose to start with a small water smoker, you will most likely want to use wood chips rather than chunks of wood or even logs (obviously because of the size of smoker). You can find chips and chunks at your local hardware store, Home Depot or Lowe’s. Go ahead and soak your chips in water an hour or so before you fire up your charcoal. For a more smokier flavor, choose mesquite, and for a milder flavor choose hickory. I prefer hickory, but it does burn hotter. You can use whatever you like, even apple wood would be great to use.

Take My Temperature Please
Most of the small water smokers come with a temperature gauge however it is a good idea to get yourself a grill surface thermometer so you know exactly what the surface temperature is at the grill level. I would also recommend a probe thermometer so you can check the internal temperature of your bird (or whatever else you might smoke in the future). They even come in fancy digital models with a remote sensor. Whichever you choose, make sure you have them on hand. They are important tools of the smoking trade!

More Tooling Around
There are a few more items (not very expensive I might add) that you should have when considering either grilling, smoking or barbecuing. I will simply list them because they do not need much of an explanation at this time. BBQ tools: heavy-duty spatula, decent sized tongs, grill fork, sauce mop (we won’t need it for the turkey though), wire grill cleaning brush, charcoal chimney starter, dust pan and small brush, heat resistant gloves or heavy kitchen towel. Finally, don’t bother wearing your nice clothes when smoking, just put on an old pair of jeans and old t-shirt (unless its cool outside, then dress appropriately). You might want to also consider picking up a barbecue mat. This will save the surface of your patio from spills, sparks and whatever else might land down below.

Brine Or Not To Brine?
One option is to use a brine. This will require you to soak the turkey in the brine for a good 24 hours before you cook. Some people say it enhances flavor and tenderizes the meat and others say it makes no difference. You might want to experiment, but I say no brine because I have no experience brining a turkey. Why don’t we just start smoking, shall we?

Let’s Start Smoking!
So now you have your smoker, the fuel source and wood chips, let’s get that bird on the smoker! Just for argument sake, I will assume you [the reader] are using the smaller water smoker I mentioned earlier. Next thing you do is take your turkey and season it. You can use a poultry rub for a more robust flavor or you can simply use salt and pepper. I recommend you season inside and outside the bird and don’t forget the bottom of the turkey as well. Make sure you do not stuff your bird that is destined for the smoker. Your unfeathered friend will take way too long to cook at 225 – 250 degrees, secondly, it is unsafe and the stuffing will absorb too much smoke flavor and will be unpleasant to the pallet.

Go ahead and put a few briquettes into the lower bowl in your water smoker. I would not recommend using lighter fluid as it will change the flavor of your meat and taste a bit on the petroleum side. So get yourself a charcoal chimney starter (as listed in tools above) which cost less than $20 bucks, put a little bit of newspaper on the bottom and a few (4 to 5) briquettes on top of the newspaper and light it up below (refer to the directions of your charcoal chimney starter when in doubt).

In about 10 minutes, transfer the hot briquettes into the bowl of unlit briquettes you already have in your smoker. Leave the lid off the top of the smoker and the air vent on the side to the open position, fill your upper bowl (the water bowl) with hot water. The reason for the hot water is because you want to get that moisture in the air in your smoker right away. You don’t want to have to wait an hour for the moisture to start swirling around your turkey.

To summarize your smoker elements so far: You should have the bowl on the bottom level filled with unlit charcoal (not overly packed in there, but a good amount. You just dumped the hot briquettes you heated up in your charcoal chimney smoker on top of the unlit charcoal and… Your hot water is ready to put above the charcoal and the clean cooking grate is ready to go on top of the water bowl.

You don’t want your fire to be a raging inferno. We are looking for slow cooking here. Once you have placed the hot briquettes in the bottom charcoal bowl, put your hot water above it in your smoker, then place the clean cooking rack on top of the water bowl. Break out your grill surface thermometer and put it on the grill (we haven’t put our turkey on yet). Place the lid on your smoker and look for a temperature around 200-250 degrees — 225 degrees being optimum. When your smoker has reached the desired temperature (give it about 15-20 minutes or so), go ahead and place your seasoned bird on the clean cooking grate breast side up. You’ll probably notice a little steam coming from the water underneath. That’s what you want, so this is good!

Next, place the lid back on top of the smoker. This is when the other fun part comes into play. With your briquettes burning a nice steady slow burn, grab a handful of the soaked wood chips on top of the briquettes so they smolder and make the smoke that will permeate your poultry. You can even wrap a handful or so chips into a piece of aluminum foil, poke some holes in it and throw it on the fire if you prefer. I have tried this, but the smoke intensity just isn’t the same. I would stick to throwing it directly onto the charcoal.

As a rule of thumb, smoke your meat at 225-250 degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hour per pound of meat. So if you have a nine pound turkey, this will take around 7 hours to cook. You can give or take an hour if you are constantly opening the top (which you do not need to do unless you are checking the surface temp of the cooking grate) or if the temperature outside is either very hot or very cold. The only thing you need to open on the smoker is the side door to add more charcoal and chips until your bird is nearly or completely done (or again if you need to check the surface temperature)! Speaking of adding… Add charcoal and wood chips every hour (I sometimes add wood chips every half-hour depending on how smoky I want my food). Again, you want to add more charcoal to maintain the temperature of 225-250 degrees.

When you are getting close to the time your turkey is done, take an internal temperature in two places (don’t get too close to a bone as it will read higher and give you a false reading), and when you get an internal temperature of 165 degrees, your bird is done. It’s now time to take the bird off the smoker by using your tongs and/or your bbq fork (be careful not to stab the turkey and lose natural juices). Bring your bird inside and let rest 15 minutes to a half-an-hour, (I like to loosely cover my turkey with aluminum foil to keep in the heat) then carve and enjoy! Giving the turkey time to rest will allow the meat to relax, the juices to flow and the temperature to come up a little and even out. This is one of the secrets to a great bird. Don’t rush to carve or your turkey will be dry.

Help, My Turkey Appears Pink!
Smoked turkey has a different color and texture than oven roasted turkey. The meat may appear pink and have a smoother texture. This is normal. The smoking process causes a chemical change in turkey that causes this color change. As long as the turkey registers a temperature of 165 degrees F. it is safe to eat no matter the color.

Worth The Wait
I know it seems like a lot of work, but in the end having patience is very much worth it. You’ll have a nice juicy smoked turkey and I think your guests will enjoy the smoky flavor of the meat — possibly more so than a traditional oven roasted turkey.

Other Methods Of Cooking Your Turkey
Other methods of cooking a turkey for Thanksgiving include: deep frying, grilling and barbecuing (not smoking) which I will touch upon on a later date, and infrared cooking which I have already written about in this entry. Good luck happy smoking and happy Thanksgiving!