How to Smoke a Turkey

All Recipes

Ready to smoke a turkey for the first time? Whether it's for Thanksgiving, a holiday feast, or any special occasion, Roscoe is here to guide you through every step to achieve the perfect smoky, tender bird. From prepping and seasoning to smoking and carving, this video covers everything you need to know.

Transcript

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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