Smoked drunken turkey!

Yesterday morning I brined a turkey, then injected it with Drambuie just before popping it on the smoker today, it was an 18lb bird, not fresh one but frozen, bought after thanksgiving real cheap (I have 4 more in the freezer as I love smoked turkey) I also smoked a batch of jalapenos from the garden because a frost the other night killed off my 4 plants, they will keep nicely in the deep freeze now that they are smoked. This bird is slap-your-mama-good! it took 10 hours at 225 degrees in my offset smoker, fired by white oak and mesquite wood, no charcoal on this one. it has a nice smokey flavor, but not too smokey, and the meat has a nice sweetness from the drambuie that is offset by fresh rosemary, and the bite of crushed garlic and black pepper that went into the brine. next up...a christmas goose and a batch of my favorite: Smoked Scotch eggs! I may wrap a few of these gems in bacon to see if they can be improved upon.

Smoked scotch eggs?!?!?

And possibly bacon wrapped!?!?!?!?!?!

I think I may love you now.

My father started the Scotch eggs on the smoker christmas tradition, and I continue this family oddity. I think the bacon will really add another level to them, he would have approved of this addition I think!

azscoob said:

My father started the Scotch eggs on the smoker christmas tradition, and I continue this family oddity. I think the bacon will really add another level to them, he would have approved of this addition I think!

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You should do a thread with pics just on the smoked scotch eggs....I've only ever done the oven method, never the deep fried way...my experience has been so-so....But bacon wrapped and smoked, jeez.

I will do a full on how-to on the smoked , bacon wrapped, scotch eggs as soon as I can get free time, I lucked out at work with holidays and scheduled days off so I will have 3 weekends in a row off, I will do the scotch eggs on the smoker, as well as doing a few other favorite recipes too, I will take pics along the way for later how-tos if people like the ideas...

That great of a description and you couldn't post a single picture? Probably better you did not as I'd be licking my monitor right now.

I have a couple pics in my gallery of the bird in question!

Beautiful bird...... MMM!

today for lunch it was....LEFTOVERS! I made a nice turkey sandwich, with mayo, a chunk of stuffing and cranberry sauce all on toasted wheat. if you have never tried a "thanksgiving sandwich" I recommend it! Tonights dinner is turkey salad on toasted french bread slices, topped with a few capers, a splash of Jalapeno tobasco sauce and served open face. man I love turkey, its so versatile!!

hey azscoob...could you post your turkey brine recipe, and how long you let your bird soak? I'd love to smoke this up for Christmas!! Sounds good.

flyweed said:

hey azscoob...could you post your turkey brine recipe, and how long you let your bird soak? I'd love to smoke this up for Christmas!! Sounds good.

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Here ya go! this is for a 2 gallon batch, you may need to scale up or down to completely submerge your bird:
2 gallons of water
1-1/2 cups of coarse sea salt or kosher salt, or 1 cup of table salt
1/3 cup of brown sugar
3-5 cloves of fresh garlic, finely crushed (I turn mine into a paste with the flat of a knife)
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 Tbsp fresh ground black pepper
2 Tbsp dijon mustard
2 Tbsp fresh minced rosemary or 1 Tbsp dried, crushed

submerge the turkey in the brine for about 24 hours for a 15-20 pounder, remove from brine and rinse well, completely dry before roasting, smoking or frying.

I usually dont measure much after the sugar, salt and water I just eyeball it, sometimes I add some old bay, or other spices that strike my fancy.

have fun with this recipe, the two important things are to keep the water to salt ratio about the same (1 gal to 1 cup is where most brines are), and make sure that you dissolve the salt and sugar before the bird goes in, I use the hottest tap water I can, dissolve it in like 1 or 2 cups of water then add it to ice cold water and submerge the bird.

I have a home depot bucket and lid I use just for brining turkeys, chickens, ect. move the shelves in your fridge to fit it in, or put it in a cooler full of ice water ala fermentation chiller style to keep it cold if you have no room in the fridge.

sweet...I am going to give this a try this weekend. Sounds great. I have a smoker, so after brining for 24 hours..I'll be smoking it with applewood. 225F and how long depends on the size of bird I pick up. I may do a couple ducks or maybe a goose or two as well.

Dan

at 225° I figure between 30 and 45 minutes per pound depending on how full the smoker is. let me know how you like the brined turkey! you may never do poultry any other way after trying it once!

Ok, just an update...I just got an 18.5 pound turkey submerged in my brine today at 1:30pm.....The brine smelled wonderful!! I can't wait to taste this baby. My mouth is already watering. YUM!!