Thanksgiving is coming up, my husband’s favorite holiday. In our family, I’m in charge of Thanksgiving Turkey from start to finish and since I’m in charge I say “Let’s smoke it”. I love smoked turkey so much I’m going to convince you to smoke your turkey this Thanksgiving too. Wait, wait, don’t panic, smoking a turkey is quite easy. I’m going to walk you through it step by step. So, read on fans of smoked turkey and let’s go.
I’ve mentioned this before, but I am a huge fan of smoked foods. I like to build my own smoker and smoke whatever I can get my hands on; flour, sugar, salmon, rabbit, sausage, and of course turkeys that I raise. Someday when I find time I’d like to smoke goat cheese as well, but I digress. Back to turkey smoking.
Like I said, smoking a turkey is very easy. It adds a day or two to the process of ‘cooking’ your Thanksgiving Turkey but it is completely worth the extra work for the satisfyingly smoky turkey you get to consume. Here’s the plan of attack for you perfect Thanksgiving turkey, starting with three options depending upon when you buy your turkey and whether it’s frozen or not. Pretend like it’s a ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ book.
- Option 1: You buy your turkey unfrozen, or you butcher your turkey the weekend before Thanksgiving. You’re a genius! Go straight to Sunday (a) and start your brining.
- Option 2: You buy your turkey unfrozen way in advance of Thanksgiving. Go straight to Sunday (a) and follow the directions through Wednesday. Then freeze your Turkey until the Sunday before Thanksgiving, Sunday (b), and cook on Thanksgiving Thursday.
- Option 3: You buy your turkey frozen or you have your own turkey that is frozen. Start on Thursday below and follow the step-by-step guide.
- Thursday: Start thawing your turkey if it’s 15-20lbs. If your turkey is smaller wait until Friday to thaw it. If it’s bigger give it an extra day
- Sunday:
- a) Start brining you turkey no later than mid-morning. Your goal is to brine for at least 24 hours but ideally 48 hours. Proceed to Monday.
- b) Start thawing your turkey if it’s 15-20lbs. If your turkey is smaller wait until Monday to thaw it. If it’s bigger give it an extra day. Proceed to Thursday.
- Monday: Keep on brining.
- Tuesday: Early morning pull your turkey out of the brine and air dry your turkey at fridge temperature for 24 hours to form a pellicle for the smoke to stick to. Make sure the air can flow around your turkey on all sides.
- Wednesday: Cold Smoke your Turkey at least 8 hours.
- Thursday: Happy Thanksgiving! Stuff and cook your turkey.
Turkey Brine
Ingredients
- 1 cup bourbon
- 2 cups salt
- 6 quarts water
- 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
Instructions
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Go find a 5 gallon bucket with a lid, preferably food grade. Wash and sanitize it.
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If your turkey is much larger than 20lbs than it might not fit in a 5-gallon bucket whole. You have two choices here, you can find a bigger container like a plastic tote or cooler you can piece the turkey up and try and fit it into a 5-gallon bucket.
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Let’s assume it fits into the bucket
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Mix half of the brine solution and dump the brine into the bucket.
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Put the turkey into the bucket neck first.
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Mix the other half of the brine in a large pitcher or bowl and dump onto the turkey in the bucket.
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Depending upon the size of your turkey you might have to make another half batch of the brine and dump it into the bucket to cover the turkey.
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Once the turkey is covered put a lid on the bucket and place the bucket somewhere close to fridge temperture.
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Brine for 24-48 hours and then remove.
