This recipe was originally published in Weber’s Grill Out Times in the 1990’s and I found it on the Virtual Weber Bulletin Board.  My philosophy on smoking and grilling is that I prefer to use published recipes or tried and true recipes and adapt them for my own use.  You can spend a lot of money on supplies and meat by experimenting and formulating your own recipes, so I choose simplicity by using proven recipes.  I would rather use a proven recipe and hit the ball out of the park each time than to strike out by making my own.  That is just my personal preference.  This recipe is very simple to follow and if you have basic smoking experience, you will have great results.

Choosing a Turkey

You want to make sure that you choose a Natural Turkey and not an Enhanced Turkey.  Turkey’s are required by law to state whether it is enhanced right on the label.  Usually you will find this information on the front near the weight or at the bottom of the label.  It will say something like this turkey is enhanced or injected with 6% salt solution.  Self-basting turkey’s are enhanced, so stay away from them.  You want a natural turkey that has no enhancing but its label will say contains up to 6% of water.  The Turkey I chose was 12.9 lbs.

The Brine Solution

Now that you have your non-enhanced turkey, it’s time to work wonders on it and amaze your friends and family with your culinary skills.  If your turkey is frozen, then you will want to make sure that you give yourself plenty of time to thaw out your turkey.    It can take up to 4 days for your turkey is completely thaw out in the refrigerator. 

Two days before your Turkey Meal, you will need to place your turkey in the brine solution.  You want your turkey in the brine for a full 24 hours to ensure proper flavor from this recipe.    Important Note:  Make sure the container you use to brine your turkey in is a non-reactive, food grade container.  I chose to use an insulated cooler.  Also make sure that your solution doesn’t warm above 40F which will allow bacteria to infest your turkey.  You will need to keep your brine in the refrigerator or use ice cubes to keep the water temperature below 40F.

Here is the list of ingredients that you will need for your brine solution:

2 Quart of Apple Juice

1 Pound of Brown Sugar (I Prefer dark)

1 Cup Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt or ¾ Cup Morton Kosher Salt

3 Quarts of Cold Water

3 Oranges Quartered

4 Ounces of Fresh Ginger Root, Unpeeled and sliced

15 Whole Cloves

6 Whole Bay Leaves

6 Large Garlic Cloves Crushed

Put the Juice, Sugar and Salt in a saucepan and heat til it reaches boiling.  Stir constantly to dissolve the salt and sugar.  Once it reaches boiling temperature remove from heat and allow to fully cool in refrigerator before proceeding.  It must be cooler than 40F before placing your turkey in the brine solution

Next add the rest of the ingredients to the solution.  I like to squeeze the oranges to aid the orange juice get into the solution.  Once your brine is mixed and all ingredients are added, it’s time to add the turkey.  You want to make sure the entire turkey is covered in the brine solution.  You may need to add a cup or small plate to help push the turkey down into the solution and to keep it fully submerged.

Figure 1 Turkey in the Brine Solution

Just remember to keep the turkey in the brine for a full 24 hours.  You may need to check on it every few hours to ensure the ice hasn’t melted and the solution warms to more than 40F.  The advantage of using a cooler is that it is insulated and helps prevent the ice from melting.  I had no problems with keep my solution under 40F with a little bit of ice and keeping the cooler in our garage.  If you are preparing your turkey in a warm climate then you will need to make sure you place it in a refrigerator.

Rinse and Pat Dry

After the 24 hour brine time is completed, remove your turkey from the solution.  Your next step is to thoroughly rinse the inside and outside of your turkey to remove the brine solution from the carcass.  The brine flavors the meat and adds moisture to it so once it’s done its job it is time to remove the brine.  Using paper towels, you want to pat dry the entire turkey as best as you possibly can.  This will take several paper towels and make sure you dry the underside of your turkey as well.

Figure 2 Turkey is Patted Dry with Paper Towels

Air Drying Your Turkey

When you smoke poultry, it is very hard to get the skin crispy and air drying your turkey will help it to crisp during the smoke session.  You want to air dry your turkey for at least 8 hours which can easily be done overnight.

It’s Smoking Time

Unlike Pork, Turkey is a lean meat and does not contain lots of fat that needs to be rendered out during the smoking session, so you can do a fairly high heat smoke session and still get great results.  Your goal is a temperature of 325F to 350F.  This is the temperature of my Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker at the lid.  There is usually a 25F degree difference from the top of the lid to my grate, so if you are measuring temperature at the grate level, your goal will be 300F to 325F.

The morning of your smoke, remove your turkey from the refrigerator before doing anything else.  You want your meat to sit at room temperature until you actually put it on the smoker.  Your meat will take the smoke better if it is at room temperature versus a cold meat.  Also, putting a cold turkey in your smoker will lower the smoker temperature which wastes energy and can prevent you from getting good consistent results.

The next thing I do is light the lump charcoal and get the smoker up to the proper temperature and place your smoke wood on the lit charcoal.  You want to wait until the white yucky smoke burns off and you have the blue delicious smoke before placing your meat on the smoker.  I chose to use Hickory Wood, but Apple or Cherry or just about any type of fruit wood will work as well.  Just stay away from Mesquite for turkey.  You can choose to brush some butter on the skin of the turkey but I choose to just go plain jane.  This recipe is very tasty so you do not need to use any rub.   

Place your turkey on the smoker and close the lid.  It is very important to keep your smoker lid closed.  Each time you open your lid, you will lose heat and have inconsistent results.  Also, there is no need to baste the turkey because the brine will add plenty of juice to the meat.  Also, basting the turkey means you are constantly removing the lid and losing your precious heat and smoke.

You want to smoke your turkey until it reaches an internal breast temperature of 165F.  For a 12-13 pound turkey, this will take about 2 ½ to 3 hours at the recommended temperature.  I use cooking times as an estimated as to when I should start my smoke and I always smoke to temperature instead of smoking for a set time.  Each piece of meat is different and you will get different results each time, so you are far better to cook to temperature to ensure proper doneness.

Do not follow the automatic pop-up meter that comes in most turkeys.  These are set to pop at 185F and will result in a dry turkey.  Smoke to 165F and allow it to rest.  During the resting process your turkey will continue to rise in temperature and continue the cooking process.  The resting process should last 30 minutes.  This will allow the juices to draw back into the meat and increase its juiciness.  If you do not rest the turkey then the juices will come out during the cutting process and be left on the plate.  Resting the meat creates a juicier better tasting turkey.

Figure 3 Turkey Mid-way Through Smoking

Figure 4 Turkey at 165F

Transporting a Cooked Turkey

I needed to pack up my turkey and transport it to my parent’s house which is almost an hour away.  Here is how I did it and kept it safely at the proper temperature.  After removing your turkey from the smoker, wrap it in Aluminum Foil.  In fact, this is the ONLY time that I ever use aluminum foil in a smoke. 

Figure 5 Foil Wrapped Turkey

The downside of wrapping in foil is the crispy skin that you worked so hard to create will soften up, but keeping it at a proper, safe temperature is more important.  I like to double wrap my turkey in foil.  Then I line the bottom of an insulated cooler with a towel. 

Figure 6 Line Bottom of Cooler with Towel

Once you’ve lined the bottom of the cooler, place your turkey in the cooler with the breast side down.  This will allow the juices to sink into the breast meat and help it to remain juicy.  Breast meat is the first meat to dry out in a turkey, so you need to do as much as you possibly can to keep it from drying out.

Figure 7 Place Turkey in Cooler

Next you will want to place a few towels over the turkey to help insulate and you will be able to store the turkey at a safe temperature for 3-4 hours with no problem at all.  You can use this method for any type of meat that you’ve cooked ahead of time and need to store.  It is best to store like this than to cut it up and have it dry out.  Smaller pieces of cut meat dry out quicker than keeping your turkey stored as a whole, then just before you eat it, slice it into eatable sizes.

Figure 8 Turkey Covered in Towels

Once you’ve added few towels and have completely covered the turkey, close the lid on the cooler and you are good to go for several hours.  You will be very surprised at how effective this method is of maintaining your turkey at a safe temperature.

Figure 9 Unwrapping the Turkey

When you get to your destination, you can unwrap the turkey and you now be ready to slice up the turkey.  You will notice a huge difference in the turkey when I pulled it off the smoker at 165F and when I unwrapped it.  Whether you wrap in foil or not your turkey will continue cook slightly and will increase its temperature by approximately 10 degrees F.  By wrapping it in foil and placing it in an insulated cooler, it helped increase the holding temperature and kept it safe and continued the final cooking process.  When I pulled it out of the foil, it had a nice dark smoke color and tasted wonderful.

Figure 10 Sliced Turkey on Plate

Figure 11 Perfect Smoked Turkey Dinner