re: Smoked Turkey

BRINE BRINE BRINE


Brine it for 18-24 hours before you cook.

I use a 5 gallon bucket do do mine.

Gallon of Apple cider over medium heat, dissolve a cup of kosher salt and a cup of dark brown sugar in the apple cider. Only takes a couple of minutes.

Smash up about 10 cloves of garlic, slice up a handful or so of fresh ginger, quarter up 4-5 oranges, cut up some fresh rosemary, sage, and thyme. Once all that is done, dump the apple cider with the dissolved kosher salt and brown sugar into the bucket. Add the rest of the ingredients to the mixture (you can squeeze the oranges if you want). Add about a third of a cup of apple cider vinegar to the mix. Give it a little stir to mix it up. At this point I go ahead and put the turkey into the bucket. Add some cold water to the bucket just so the turkey is covered. Helps to add some ice to the bucket as well just to go ahead and cool it off from the warm apple cider mixture. Cover the bucket and let it sit for 18-24 hours before you smoke it.

I normally dry it off once I take it out of the brine and coat it with a little olive oil. Use whatever seasoning or rub you would like. Get that good stuff under the skin too!

Put it on for about 30 minutes or so per pound at 225°-250°. Just make sure you have a good temp probe or thermometer.

This will make it damn near impossible to dry your bird out. Adds a LOT of really good flavor. This is how I do ours every year and they are always spot on.