Get Your Grill On

Another new voice joins Get Your Grill On, Neil Strawder - the legendary BigMista of Big Mista’s Barbecue, The Survival Gourmet, and the Four Q BBQ team.

Welcome Mista!

The one thing that I have always loved about the holidays is the food.

There always these wonderful dishes that you never get any other time of the year. Ambrosia, Brandied Sweet Potato Casserole, Copper Pennies, Dressing…I could probably go through the whole alphabet!

The one thing, however, that always makes the holiday special is the Turkey. I’ve had a lot of great turkeys over the years and a few bad ones too. But it wasn’t until recently that I learned how to make a truly awesome turkey. Some friends of mine of at the BBQ Brethren taught me how to smoke a turkey and I have never looked back!

Smoking turkey is a long process and it requires a lot of love but in the end you are rewarded with a juicy bird that your family will rave about until the next holiday season.

Find out how Neil does it after the break

Here’s how I do it:

First I make sure the turkey is thawed out the day before I smoke it. Then I brine it overnight. Brining isn’t hard but it does take a little preparation. The first thing you will need is a cooler. Get one that is plastic on the inside, not metal. Nobody likes metallic poultry. Make sure it is big enough to hold the turkey with extra space left over.

Put the turkey in the cooler while it is still in the package. Add enough water to the cooler to cover the turkey. Remove the turkey and make a mark to note how much water is in the cooler. Dump this water and add fresh water up to the mark you made.

Now add kosher salt to the water. How much? Impossible for me to say because I don’t know the size of your cooler but here’s a trick a learned to tell when there is enough salt. Mix the salt and water well. Slowly add a raw egg, still in the shell, ( I know somebody was ready to crack one open!) to the water. If the egg starts to float off of the bottom, you have enough salt. If it sits on the bottom, add more salt. Simple.

Add 1 cup of brown sugar, 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar, some garlic powder and a little allspice to the water and mix well. Remove the turkey from the package and remove the liver, gizzards and neck from inside the cavity. Save them for your gravy or cornbread dressing. Put the turkey in the cooler and add about 4 lbs. of ice. Close the cooler and store overnight.

The next morning go outside and start a fire in your smoker or grill. There are articles here already about starting a fire and maintaining it so I won’t go into details about that. Just make sure you can maintain a temperature of between 250 and 275 degrees.

While your fire is starting, remove the turkey from the brine and rinse it well in your sink. Next you want to rub it well with olive oil. Make sure you rub under the skin.

Add a few chunks of wood to your coals (I like hickory or apple) when they are gray and put the turkey on the grates. For an extra boost, sprinkle some dried rosemary on the coals occasionally. Count on smoking the turkey 4 to 5 hours for a 15 lb bird. The key is to cook it until it reaches 160 degrees at the thigh and the top of the breast. When it reaches temp, remove it from the smoker, and put it in an aluminum roasting pan and cover it with foil. Let it rest for at least half an hour. You should get some thing resembling this…

Smoking is one of the best ways to prepare your holiday bird and it’s how I will do it from now on!

Enjoy!