Dave’s Blog

…so now that its almost Christmas (thanks babe for the reminder)

After removing the turkey from the brine we added a little olive oil, a garlic herb rub, and salt and pepper. This made the the skin very flavorful and it came out golden brown.

I think the meat was good as well, lightly smoked and good flavor from the brine. I’ll let those whom consumed it speak to it. But I think I’m tired of the turkey talk and need to get on to more diverse subjects.

Check it out:

My coworker gave me a couple choice cuts of a 100 year old* apricot tree that had been dead for awhile and he had to cut down last weekend. Tonight I chopped it up and got some good wood chucks and wood chips for tomorrows smoking. Apricot is a good mild wood for smoking poultry.

Also, I added the turkey to the brine tonight, I’ll be putting it on the bbq in the morning.

*unverifiable but sounds good and thats what he said

Ok some maybe you are thinking this is going to be a cooking blog. Well maybe it is, especially during this time of year. The beauity of a blog is I don’t have to care, I can go on about thanksgiving recipes all I want.

So I’m going to invovle you in the process of smoking my turkey this year, like it or not.

He is where I am so far. I’ve take a few recipes and some experience and come up with this (it will probably change some but I will update):

Smoked Turkey

• 1 9 to 12 pound turkey (neck and giblets removed)
• 2 gallons water (8 quarts)
• 1 ½ cup coarse sea salt
• ¼ cup sugar
• 4 bay leaves
• 1 lemon, sliced
• 2 oranges, sliced
• 1 large sweet onion, thinly sliced
• 1 ½ tablespoons whole coriander seeds
• 1 tablespoon dried juniper berries (if available)
• 1 tablespoon whole black peppercorns
• 3 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 bunch fresh thyme
• 1 bunch fresh rosemary
• 1 stick butter
• 1 pound mild wood chips (apple, cherry, peach, apricot)

Simmer salt, sugar, bay leaves in 1 quart of water. Remove from heat, add to remaining 5 quarts of water. Add lemon, oranges, onion, coriander seeds, juniper berries, peppercorns, garlic, thyme, and rosemary. Cover and refrigerate at least 6 hours or overnight. Add turkey, cover and refrigerate 12-24 hours.

Soak half of the wood chips in water (or wine, beer, or juice if you prefer) at least 20 minutes.

Remove turkey from brine and transfer to roasting rack/pan . Coat turkey in butter.

Preheat bbq to 325º. Use a mixture of wet and dry chips to get early and sustained smoke without lifting the lid too often (Dry = fast intense smoke, Wet = less intense sustained smoke).

Cook turkey to internal temperature of 180º-185º basting turkey as chips are added.

Please fell free to comment if you have any suggestions, check back for updates on how it goes, I’m going to start the brine tonight.