I'm surprised no one has suggested this one simple trick. Use ham instead.

Ugh, hate turkey. Doing a ham from Nueske's and a brisket and never going back to turkey!!

BUT!, that turkey by xantom might, just might, turn me back. But not this year.

quote:

Originally posted by Loswsmith:
I'm surprised no one has suggested this one simple trick. Use ham instead.

Ugh, hate turkey. Doing a ham from Nueske's and a brisket and never going back to turkey!!

BUT!, that turkey by xantom might, just might, turn me back. But not this year.

Gotta have Turkey on Thannksgiving. I did Easter this year for 16 people and only have a single oven. I needed the oven for all of the side dishes, so I did a Honey Baked ham AND a turkey outside in the Charbroil oil less turkey fryer.....EASIEST thing I ever cooked. I simply wiped it with peanut oil and a healthy dose of garlic salt and threw it in there and just checked on it every 15 mins till it hit temperature EASY PEASY and was super juicy and flavorful......

I picked up the first few pieces of the turkey day feast today.

Thinking of injecting this year (never injected SPAM before), and I got a new Charbroil Big Easy to cook her in. Since getting my Thermapen I always cook to temp.

Ordered the Chef Alarm from Thermoworks. Wife thought it unnecessary, I argued "What's the cost of your Thanksgiving guests getting overdone turkey...not just this year but next..."

Ordered the Chef Alarm and Thermo-pop and received the order in two days.
Nice products and can't wait to try them.
Received an e-mail today that the Classic Thermo-pen is on sale for $59.00.
Two days only.

Heck, I even use temp to verify when my bread is baked correctly. Although I have enough experience by now to know when it's done, I always double check.

quote:

Originally posted by sjtill:
Ordered the Chef Alarm from Thermoworks.

quote:

Originally posted by lbsid:
Ordered the Chef Alarm and Thermo-pop and received the order in two days.

Nice! I wish you both many years of perfectly cooked meat.

I just found out I don’t have to cook the turkey on Thanksgiving so I just have to bring some sides. My wife wants to do a turkey of our own on Saturday and I have decided I am going to smoke it on my BGE. It will be a nice trial as there will be no stress since it will be for just me and the wife, and I have not yet smoked a turkey. I can’t wait to try it!

quote:

Originally posted by kcl1960:
OMG yall need to try fried turkey, you will never eat a baked turkey again!!!

Finally convince the mom to fry a bird this year. I bought the Masterbuilt Butterball XL electric fryer. Only thing better would be to pick up a turkey from a local farm.

quote:

Originally posted by SigSentry:

quote:

Originally posted by kcl1960:
OMG yall need to try fried turkey, you will never eat a baked turkey again!!!

Finally convince the mom to fry a bird this year. I bought the Masterbuilt Butterball XL electric fryer. Only thing better would be to pick up a turkey from a local farm.

My friend has the masterbuilt. It's a good fryer, just make sure it is at temp for a good 20 mins before you drop the bird in it......my buddy uses peanut oil in it.

Got the PBC turkey hangars, much easier than using 4 hooks, and I can put 2 birds in at once!

https://imgur.com/a/S9x2S

Our Butterball turned out perfect. 17.5lbs in the countertop roaster for 3.5 hrs at 350. Juicy and falling off the bone. Nothing but olive oil on it. Only lifted the lid at the end.

I'm convinced Butterball is the one to get.

quote:

Originally posted by zoom6zoom:
Heck, I even use temp to verify when my bread is baked correctly. Although I have enough experience by now to know when it's done, I always double check.

Same here. I've been baking bread for years but I never have gotten the ear to judge the thump. Thermapen takes all the guesswork out of it.

I tired it today, it worked. Thanks Tatortodd.

First experience using the Thermoworks Smoke cooking the turkey yesterday. It was a real eye-opener to find out just how how much discrepancy there is between the oven setting and actual temperature. The turkey cooked faster than the “weight/cooking time” recommendation. I kept turning the oven down to slow cooking down so as to hit close to the dinner time we were shooting for. I’ll add two things. This was at our daughter’s house—not our stove/oven. All things considered, the turkey turned out pretty darn good.

Glad I bought the device.

There needs to be pics in this thread.

quote:

Originally posted by Skins2881:
There needs to be pics in this thread.

I am going to smoke a turkey tomorrow so I will take a pic.

quote:

Originally posted by xantom:
Got the PBC turkey hangars, much easier than using 4 hooks, and I can put 2 birds in at once!

https://imgur.com/a/S9x2S

That and the hinged grate are on my Christmas list now. I could stand putting the hooks in but getting the thing in and out (which I ended up doing more than once) was a PIA. I would have ordered the Turkey hanger but Amazon doesn't have them and PBC wouldn't have got them them to me on time.

I got the Maverick ET-733 thermometer upon Tatotodd's recommendation. That thing saved the day and without it we'd have been having green beans and potatoes for thanksgiving. One probe for the bird and one for the PBC internal temp.

I wish I'd have had time for a test run on the Pit Barrel Cooker. Bird still turned out very good by not without some hiccups. I had the air intake open at about 1/4-1/3rd and the internal temp shot past the 325 degree alarm I had on the thermometer reaching 425 in about an hour with the bird temp already up to 133 (ambient temp at 32). During that time I had closed off the intake (even fully closed allows for a 1/4" gap on the bottom) and it was still slowly closed moving. Meanwhile I'd removed the bird while I tried to get control of the temp. I ended up putting some magnets over the remaining gap in the intake and that eventually got it back down around 315. Put the bird back in and after about 2 hours of total cooking time (almost an hour out of the cooker as well) the 11 lb bird was done at 160. Rested for about an hour till everything else came together. Sorry, no picks.

I guess I've got no need for the draft vent. Glad I didn't install that yet.

Very tender and moist. Unfortunately I found out the hard way when you order the PBC off of Amazon it does not come with the 2 pit rubs they promote. Direct orders come with them. I picked up a couple at a local meat shop, one of them Big John's East Texas Country Chicken Rub. Far to spicy for my new sate with turkey, enough so that my lips went numb after eating some skin. I think next time I'll try a more traditional type of homemade rub with rosemary, sage, time and garlic.

6 1/2 lb pork butt going on today while the ladies are shopping. The new thermometer will have another chance to earn its keep. Thanks again for the recommendation.

Used my new Thermo Chef yesterday but clearly did not set it up correctly. The unit was in quick climb mode at about 2-3 degrees per minute starting at around 105. It registered 157 degrees in about fifteen minutes. I tried re-inserting the probe and making sure the wire didn't touch the pan or heating elements.
Ended up cooking close to time and checking with the instant read ThermoPop.

I have the Chef Alarm, Thermapen Classic, and the Thermapen Mk IV. I don't cook roasts and turkeys without them. This year I injected the turkey with chicken broth and butter, stuffed it, bagged it, and put it in for a long bake at 250°. Took it out a few degrees before 165 and it came out juicy and with wonderful flavor.