Smoked Turkey: Why your next Thanksgiving bird should be smoked and how to do it! Have you always wanted to make your own Smoked Turkey? This tutorial will how to smoke a turkey you how to smoke a turkey of your very own.
Why does smoked food taste so good? Is it the slow, low, deliberate application of something that might otherwise ruin it? Wouldn’t you love to have a video of the first time someone smoked meat and realized it actually tasted good? Smoked Turkeys have something of a mystique surrounding them.
We have a store nearby where people flock eight weeks before Thanksgiving to order smoked turkeys for their Thanksgiving feast. Everyone in these parts agrees that smoked turkeys are where it’s at flavour and texture-wise. I’m not sure why very few people take on the process of smoking it themselves because it’s such an easy and forgiving cooking method. The truth is that you’re far, FAR more likely to render a turkey inedibly dry when roasting it. Remember how that thing was turkey jerky? Do I need to brine a turkey to smoke it?
That said, you can certainly brine your turkey if you prefer it that way. The longer version is that I don’t find brining to the worth the effort and mess it creates. Some people swear by it, but I think it’s extra effort for something that doesn’t need it. If you’re interested in the effect of brining without the mess, you can dry-brine the turkey using the instructions found in my smoked whole chicken post.
Just follow the instructions there, but size up in proportion to the weight of your turkey. The Smoked Turkey, on the other hand, cooks at such a low temperature for such a long time -basting itself continuously- that it doesn’t have a chance to get dry and boring. The smoke delivers incredible flavour making any seasoning beyond salt, pepper, and a touch of granulated garlic and onion superfluous and unnecessary. Like I do in my Five-Spice Roasted Turkey, I stuff the cavity of the bird with aromatics that provide the added help of being full of moisture. Thereby, you’re basting the turkey from the inside out as it absorbs all that gorgeous smoke. While I know perfectly well that it’s not convenient to leave a big old turkey in a bigger old pan in the refrigerator overnight, it’s kind of crucial. You can blot a turkey’s skin with paper towels all.