00:00Smoking turkey doesn't have to be intimidating.
00:02Anyone can master it.
00:03I'll break it down for you step by step.
00:05So let's talk about all the tools that you need
00:08to set yourself up for success.
00:10We're using a green egg, a ceramic-style smoker,
00:13chimney to heat up your coals, lighter, tongs.
00:16You got your shears to break down that backbone.
00:19Two thermometers.
00:20You got a Thermapen and you got this fancy meter.
00:23Microplane for zesting your orange.
00:25Whisk, whisk up your spices.
00:27Sauce pan and a mop and a handy squeeze bottle.
00:32A 10 to 12 pound turkey feeds eight people.
00:35First, we gotta prep our turkey.
00:37The golden rule on that is to buy your turkey
00:40the weekend before Thanksgiving.
00:42Let it thaw out for three to four days.
00:44It will not go bad.
00:45Once it's thawed, take the giblets out
00:47and dry it off completely.
00:49Spatchcocking is my favorite way to smoke any poultry.
00:53It traps in smoke, flavor, and most importantly,
00:58it's even cooking, which means faster cooking.
01:00We're gonna remove the backbone.
01:02Don't be scared.
01:03You can use a knife.
01:04Don't rush this part, all right?
01:06Just follow the line.
01:08You'll see it in the backbone.
01:11Stock, baby.
01:12You see all that juice?
01:15Keep wiping it out, man.
01:17Get you a little chefy.
01:18We're just gonna go down right there
01:21and that's gonna help me pop this backbone a little bit
01:24to where I can spread it out.
01:26You hear that?
01:27Listen, I do a dry cure because for one,
01:31when you wet brine, it takes too much space.
01:34It's too much liquid.
01:35I don't like the texture it gives my meat.
01:37When it comes to my turkey, I wanna cure it.
01:39I'm trying to bring moisture up and make my skin tight.
01:45In order to get a good dry cure,
01:46in order for it to sit to it, what do you have to do?
01:48Pat that sucker dry.
01:50One cup kosher salt, half a cup granulated sugar.
01:54To give it a Thanksgiving vibe, I'm gonna go traditional.
01:56We're gonna add some orange zest to it
01:58just to brighten it up.
02:00Think Peking duck.
02:01We're gonna do two oranges.
02:03We're gonna save those oranges though
02:05because we're gonna use them for our basting.
02:09What this salt and sugar cure is gonna do to the skin
02:11is firm it up.
02:12It's gonna pull all the moisture from that meat
02:15into the skin, making it a tighter cook.
02:19High sprinkle always.
02:21That way you can see where all your seasoning goes.
02:24You feel me?
02:25You wanna hit both sides.
02:26We wanna suck all the moisture out of all that breast meat.
02:29A lot of people will cure things and pack it.
02:31Don't do that because then you have to rinse it,
02:33put more water into your protein.
02:35You want a light coverage.
02:37You want it to sit in the fridge for about an hour.
02:39You will tell a nice difference
02:41because everything kind of draws up a little bit.
02:43That's when you know it's time to rub it.
02:45This is going in the fridge for an hour or overnight.
02:48First part to setting up your smoker
02:50is setting up your chimney.
02:52Your chimney is where you're gonna heat up your coals
02:53before you add it to your smoker.
02:55All your paper, stuff in the bottom.
02:58Next up, charcoal.
02:59I use wood lump charcoal.
03:01You get more flavor.
03:03It retains more heat.
03:05I'm adding wood chips.
03:06These are oak wood chips
03:08because we're gonna use those to actually smoke.
03:10Coals we're gonna use to cook.
03:11Wood, we're smoking.
03:13Now let's light it.
03:15I'm adding about six oak chips.
03:27Those won't catch on fire immediately.
03:29They're gonna slowly sit there,
03:30heat up and give you a nice clean smoke.
03:33To get it hotter, open it wide up.
03:36To control your heat, slowly close it.
03:39Watch the temp, figure it out.
03:42This was in the fridge overnight.
03:44All moisture gone.
03:46All you can see is the zest on top.
03:48Now that it's cured, we're gonna dry it off
03:50and bring it to room temp.
03:52This rub that I'm about to make
03:54is just basically what you can buy
03:56at the grocery store called poultry seasoning.
03:59It's kind of what everyone uses on their turkey
04:01if they don't brine it.
04:02It's like what I grew up tasting.
04:04Mine will have a little bit of extra kick.
04:06I'll show you.
04:07Quarter cup onion powder.
04:08Quarter cup garlic powder.
04:10Two tablespoons dry mustard.
04:11Quarter cup sage.
04:12Quarter cup paprika.
04:14Pinch of cayenne.
04:15One tablespoon black pepper.
04:16One tablespoon salt.
04:17Quarter cup brown sugar.
04:19Mix that sucker.
04:20As you notice, we didn't put a lot of salt in it
04:22because we already put salt on our meat.
04:24This is literally just a spice blend.
04:27High sprinkle always.
04:30Look at that, look at that, look at that.
04:32It's all gonna shake off.
04:34Take that.
04:35That's what you want.
04:37Don't rub it in.
04:38If you rub it in, all the flavor just sits in one spot.
04:41So if you high sprinkle, every time you bite,
04:43you're just like, what?
04:45What was that, sugar?
04:46What is that, what is that?
04:47Chase the bite, dude.
04:49Let's get it on the smoker.
04:50We got perfect temp.
04:51I'm at 400 because as soon as I open this up,
04:53it's gonna go down 50 degrees.
04:55That's fine by me because I wanna smoke it at 325 to 350.
04:58You wanna put it bone side down.
05:01Close it down.
05:0245 minutes till you open this, all right?
05:04We're gonna baste it every 30 to 45 minutes,
05:06but don't touch a damn thing.
05:08Open it up.
05:09Remember, air pushes fire, pushes smoke.
05:13Circulation of air, dude.
05:15We're keeping heat retention at the bottom.
05:18We're gonna open everything up so more smoke comes out.
05:20Let's make some baste, baby.
05:23You wanna add moisture to your bird.
05:26We're using butter.
05:27I use vinegar because that helps break down the muscles,
05:31makes it chill, adds more moisture,
05:33it pulls out more water.
05:34Pint container.
05:36How many cups are in a pint?
05:37Y'all don't know?
05:38Wow, dude, two.
05:40Come on, Sha.
05:41Two cups chicken stock.
05:42The juice of those two oranges.
05:45Two tablespoons of brown sugar.
05:4710 sprigs of fresh thyme.
05:49I dare you to count them out.
05:51And three bay leaves.
05:52We wanna reduce this,
05:53so you have four cups of liquid in there.
05:56We wanna bring it down to two cups.
05:57And then we're gonna add fat, and that becomes your base.
05:59Your reduction line.
06:01You can see the liquid's right there, and it went down.
06:05This sauce that I'm making, though it is a base,
06:09it's actually a traditional French sauce
06:10called a beurre monte.
06:11It's where you add butter to a hot liquid.
06:13Normally you would cube it up.
06:14I'm just gonna throw it in.
06:17Because that's how I roll.
06:19And we're just gonna stir it up.
06:21It'll naturally thicken on its own.
06:23I don't have to do much.
06:25This will keep your meat glistening,
06:27and it'll boost all that flavor breakdown.
06:31And the vinegar's gonna help break down
06:33all that toughness in the dark meat.
06:36Once everything's mixed together,
06:37and all that butter's melted,
06:38we're gonna shut it down, shut down the heat.
06:40We're gonna cool it down,
06:41and then we're gonna pour it in a spray bottle,
06:43then we're gonna baste our turkey.
06:44Always use a funnel,
06:46because I have this trusty cork container here
06:49that you can pinch.
06:50You can just get this at Walgreens, any grocery store.
06:54Oh, shut up, I'm so sorry.
06:58All right, it's been 45 minutes.
06:59This is our first peak, and our first baste.
07:02Oh, buddy, look at him.
07:05Go ahead.
07:07Meter has a probe pin
07:09that tracks straight from an app to your phone,
07:12so you really don't have to worry about anything.
07:14Basically, I can leave this in my turkey on the smoker,
07:17and I can look at my temp on an app on my phone,
07:20or I can use my thermo pin.
07:23Wait till I baste it, test my meat every time.
07:27You would stick this probe right in the collar
07:30between the breast and where the neck was,
07:32or you can go right here in between the leg and the thigh.
07:39We're at 110.
07:41Our target is for 156.
07:44Our ambient heat is at 96 degrees.
07:47We're gonna close it down.
07:49This lets me know when it's done.
07:50I don't have to do much.
07:52All right, we're at temp.
07:53Let's pull it off.
07:54Can't wait to see this.
07:56Oh!
07:59That's how you know.
08:00We don't want it falling off the bone.
08:03Let's hit it one more time with some juice
08:05before we bring it over.
08:07I prefer to let it sit out.
08:08The more it sits, all those juices run back in.
08:11You'll find that that skin gets naturally crispy as it rests.
08:16We call it carry-over cooking.
08:27Let this rest for 30 minutes.
08:30Everything will come out fine.
08:31Look at those legs.
08:33Don't touch anything.
08:34I'm gonna break it down into all of its sections
08:36because everyone likes different cuts of meat.
08:38You feel me?
08:39So we're going straight down.
08:41Separate the breast.
08:42Look at that, look at that.
08:44When you spatchcock your turkey,
08:46it's so much easier to break it down
08:50and pull apart your pieces and get exact cuts.
08:53See my mouth?
08:54See my teeth?
08:57Oh, damn.
08:58Look at the cook on that.
09:00The smoke flavor on this puppy.
09:03You can still taste the orange.
09:05I told you that cure ain't no joke.
09:07That is fire.
09:08This is the best smoked turkey I've ever made.
09:10I believe in you guys.
09:12You can do it too.
09:13Happy holidays.
09:14Peace.
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