Whole turkey on a Traeger Jr.

[MTate37]

In order to save money by not buying peanut oil to fry a turkey and also free up the oven to try to eat early on T-day I have been asked to smoke the turkey for our Thanksgiving meal. I've done turkey breasts on my Junior with great results, but I've never attempted a 15 lb bird before.

My biggest concern here is the outside temp. The low Wednesday night is forecasted to be 27 and the high on Thursday 47. I saw an article last night that said for every 5 degrees below 45 you should add 20 minutes per pound of food to be cooked. If I'm calculating this correctly that equals an extra 5 hours for every five degrees below 45.

Does this sound at all accurate? Most of the recipes I've read give total cook times of 6-8 hours, including smoke time, so I was thinking if I got started around 5 AM on Thursday that I would be good to for a 2 PM meal.

If there are any Traeger users out there can you provide any advice? We are also having ham, so all won't be lost if this doesn't work out or takes longer than anticipated but I would love to get this right on my first try. I also want to be sure to not make anyone sick.

 

[adiochiro3]

I haven't heard about the 45 degree-add-20-minutes rule, and I've spent a lot of time researching and practicing the art of smoking & BBQ. What I do know -- and recommend -- is this: it's all about your cooking temp in your unit, not the ambient temps around your smoker/BBQ.

Cooler ambient temps just means that you will need more fuel to maintain your cooking temps. Your biggest enemy would be the wind. Wind makes holding steady temps difficult, so you need to protect your rig from it.

I've smoked dozens of turkeys from 12 - 22+ lbs. This is one of the easiest things to smoke, IMHO, and they are FANTASTIC! This will take no more than about 4.5 hours for a 20+ lb. bird. Here's my method:

1. Fully thaw the bird.
2. Do NOT stuff the bird (I occasionally throw a few aromatics in the bottom of the cavity -- onions, apples, celery, etc., but do not pack it). Stuffed birds can be salmonella breeding grounds!
3. Rub skin with butter or olive oil and season to taste.
4. Set the bird in your smoker breast side down so the juices will run into the breast meat. Make sure you have a pan underneath to catch the drippings.
5. Run your smoker around 300F the entire time.
6. Keep the smoke to a minimum. If you can smell it, you're smoking. Too much smoke and you will cover your bird in foul creosote. A thin, blue-looking trail of smoke coming out is what you want to see.
7. Around the 3-3.5 hour mark, flip the bird onto its back to properly brown the breast skin.
8. Your turkey is done when the deepest part of the breast hits an internal temp of 165F -- however long that takes. Always cook to temp, not time!
9. Let stand and rest for 10-15 min. (just enough time to turn those wonderful drippings into the best gravy you will ever have!)
10. Carve and serve.

The worst part is that your house will not smell like roasting turkey until you bring it in the house. Then it will make up for lost time! LOL!

And don't forget to save the carcass for the best turkey soup you will ever taste. Let me know if you want that recipe.

 

[MTate37]

I haven't heard about the 45 degree-add-20-minutes rule, and I've spent a lot of time researching and practicing the art of smoking & BBQ. What I do know -- and recommend -- is this: it's all about your cooking temp in your unit, not the ambient temps around your smoker/BBQ.

Cooler ambient temps just means that you will need more fuel to maintain your cooking temps. Your biggest enemy would be the wind. Wind makes holding steady temps difficult, so you need to protect your rig from it.

I've smoked dozens of turkeys from 12 - 22+ lbs. This is one of the easiest things to smoke, IMHO, and they are FANTASTIC! This will take no more than about 4.5 hours for a 20+ lb. bird. Here's my method:

1. Fully thaw the bird.
2. Do NOT stuff the bird (I occasionally throw a few aromatics in the bottom of the cavity -- onions, apples, celery, etc., but do not pack it). Stuffed birds can be salmonella breeding grounds!
3. Rub skin with butter or olive oil and season to taste.
4. Set the bird in your smoker breast side down so the juices will run into the breast meat. Make sure you have a pan underneath to catch the drippings.
5. Run your smoker around 300F the entire time.
6. Keep the smoke to a minimum. If you can smell it, you're smoking. Too much smoke and you will cover your bird in foul creosote. A thin, blue-looking trail of smoke coming out is what you want to see.
7. Around the 3-3.5 hour mark, flip the bird onto its back to properly brown the breast skin.
8. Your turkey is done when the deepest part of the breast hits an internal temp of 165F -- however long that takes. Always cook to temp, not time!
9. Let stand and rest for 10-15 min. (just enough time to turn those wonderful drippings into the best gravy you will ever have!)
10. Carve and serve.

The worst part is that your house will not smell like roasting turkey until you bring it in the house. Then it will make up for lost time! LOL!

And don't forget to save the carcass for the best turkey soup you will ever taste. Let me know if you want that recipe.

Thanks for the tips! If I can get the bird thawed quickly enough using the cold water method would you recommend brining?

And I would love to have the turkey soup recipe.

 

[headbanger]

Agree with all that! You may also consider cutting the backbone out and butterflying the bird. My pellet grill cooks awesome chicken and turkey between 350-375, I use a tube smoker to crank up the smoke a bit for the shorter cook time.

Happy Thanksgiving in advance!

 

[MTate37]

Agree with all that! You may also consider cutting the backbone out and butterflying the bird. My pellet grill cooks awesome chicken and turkey between 350-375, I use a tube smoker to crank up the smoke a bit for the shorter cook time.

Happy Thanksgiving in advance!

This thought crossed my mind as well. Not as nice from a presentation standpoint, but it does seem like a more efficient cooking method.

 

[adiochiro3]

Thanks for the tips! If I can get the bird thawed quickly enough using the cold water method would you recommend brining?

And I would love to have the turkey soup recipe.

I got a 20 lb. bird defrosted in about 7-8 hours with the water method. Start now and keep refrigerated until cooking time.

Most frozen turkeys are already brined by the company, so it may be a bit redundant and may make things pretty salty if the brine solution is over ~4%. Many folks do it anyway. I generally don't brine my frozen birds, and they come out moist and tasty using the method above.

You could spatchcock as suggested above (de-bone), but it is not necessary unless your making a turducken or brick-flattened grilled chicken or something.

 

[MTate37]

I got a 20 lb. bird defrosted in about 7-8 hours with the water method. Start now and keep refrigerated until cooking time.

Most frozen turkeys are already brined by the company, so it may be a bit redundant and may make things pretty salty if the brine solution is over ~4%. Many folks do it anyway. I generally don't brine my frozen birds, and they come out moist and tasty using the method above.

You could spatchcock as suggested above (de-bone), but it is not necessary unless your making a turducken or brick-flattened grilled chicken or something.

The mother-in-law picked up a fresh turkey so no worries about thawing, but it is injected with a 4% solution so I guess I'll be passing on the brining. It's only a 13 lb bird so I'm thinking an 8 - 9 AM start should put me in good shape for a 2 PM meal.

The high today is only 38 in Birmingham, so I'll play with the Traeger for a bit tonight to make sure I can maintain a good temp and then we'll see what happens tomorrow.

If you don't mind, send me that turkey soup recipe when you have a minute.

Thanks!