Andrea's Kitchen
Smoked Barbeque Turkey Recipe
The picture above is a turkey breast that we did for the holiday. The recipe applys to a whole turkey, legs, or breast.
Ingredients for Brine:
- 1 Tablespoon red pepper flakes
- 1 gallon water, 2cups
- 1 gallon apple cider, plus 1 cup
- ½ cup kosher salt
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 ½ tablespoons peppercorns
- ¼ cup onion powder
- 2 teaspoon poultry seasoning
- 1 teaspoon chipotle ground chili powder
Ingredients for Spice Blend:
- 1 ½ Tablespoons season salt
- 2 Tablespoons garlic salt
- 1 ½ tablespoons chili powder
- 2 ¼ Tablespoons course ground pepper
- 1 stick room temperature butter
Directions:
- Mix dry spices together and set aside.
- In a large pot, boil the water dissolving the salt and sugar.
- Combine the all the other brine ingredients into the pot. Turn off heat and let the mixture come to room temperature.
- Half fill an ice chest with ice. Then line the ice chest with a large clean plastic garbage bag. Put the turkey in the bag and pour the cooled brine over the turkey.
- Squeeze out the excess air and seal the bag with a plastic tie. Place more ice over the sealed bag and close the ice chest.
- Marinate the turkey for at least 8 hours or up to 16 hours.
- Using a smoker, ceramic cooker, or prepare your grill for indirect grilling (with a drip pan). I use a combination of charcoal and pecan shells to cook the meat.
- The optimal temperature is 270 - 280 degrees.
- Remove the turkey from the brine and rinse. Pat the turkey dry.
- Inject some of the brine into the breast, thighs and drumsticks of the turkey.
- Brush ½ of the butter all over the turkey and place some butter under the turkey skin.
- Fill the water pan with 1 cup of cider and 2 cups water.
- Place the turkey in the cooker over the water pan and cook according to your smoker's directions.
- In 3 ½ to 4 hours the turkey is about half done at this point; brush the turkey with more butter and sprinkle with the spice blend.
- Add more liquid to the drip pan and cook turkey about 3-4 more hours (or until the internal temperature of the breast meat 165 degrees or 175 degrees for thigh meat).
- Total cooking time 8 to 9 hours.
- Allow the turkey to rest 15 minutes before carving.
Enjoy!
Andrea
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