Smoked Turkey Breast (or whole turkey)

· One or more bone-in, skin-on, whole turkey breasts, 6-9 lb each, or..

· One or more 12 -14 lb turkeys

· Brine of choice

· One stick butter, softened

· Herb mixture

· Mild wood for smoke (apple, pecan, etc.)

· Spray or mop of choice

The night before smoking - Start with fresh breasts (or whole bird) or, if frozen, thaw completely over a couple days. Remove the turkey from packaging, clean and rinse. Brine the turkey overnight in Pete’s Simple Brine Solution (1/4 cup sugar and ¼ cup salt per quart of water, you will probably need a gallon to cover a whole turkey, less for breasts) or something more flavorful, your call. Nice additions include maple syrup if you want to go the sweet route or herbs, onions and garlic if you want to go that way. 

Mix herbs and softened butter. Spread 2-4 ounces on plastic wrap. Then add a layer of plastic wrap on top and flatten to 1/8” thick or so. Repeat to make 3-4 sheets of herbed butter and place in fridge overnight to harden.

Start your fire. While the smoker is heating up, remove the turkey from the brine and rinse. Gently pry skin away from turkey breast and insert butter sheets under the skin. Cover as much of the breast as possible with butter and then pull skin over all exposed breast for decency purposes and to keep it moist. I don’t care if you started with a Butterball, more is usually better when it comes to butter. This is a little tricky and kind of slimy but with practice you will be able to avoid tearing the skin and make sure that skin covers as much of the meat as possible.

When the smoker is at 250-300 degrees, place wood on your hot coals to start the smoke and put the turkey in the smoking chamber. Adjust the heat to 225-250 degrees, insert a tempo probe into the thickest part of the turkey thigh (never poke a hole in the breast, you lose too much juice) and go have a cup of coffee. Keep the temp between 225 and 250 for the entire cooking period.

Spray or mop the turkey every 45 minutes or so after the first two hours. A 12 lb turkey will be done after six hours or so, a 6 lb breast will take about 4 hours. When the temperature in the thigh (or thickest part of the breast) reaches 165, take the turkey out of the smoker, tent under foil for ten minutes or so, carve and eat.

Notes: Mild woods work best with poultry. Pete prefers apple or pecan but other fruit woods will work well, too. Do not use too much smoke, poultry can be overpowered by smoke flavor. Simple apple juice makes a great spray for turkey and will add a nice golden color.

If your crowd will eat more than a 12 lb turkey, get a couple of them instead of using a very large turkey. Large turkeys are trickier and take more time. Another option is to use a whole turkey and an additional turkey breast. A 6-8 lb turkey breast can be prepared the same way as the whole turkey and will require about two hours less time in the smoker. If you have a big crowd, smoke one turkey and let your wife make a boring old oven-roasted one, then let people choose. 

Thanksgiving will never be the same!

Once you have done a couple of turkeys this was, experiment with the brine and mops to try other flavors. Turkey gets along great with any kind of herbs. Another option is fruit or different types of sugar like maple syrup or brown sugar.

Marinade: 

· ¼ cup butter

· ½ cup honey

· 4 cups prepared yellow mustard (really, 4 cups!)

· 1 tsp kosher salt

· 1 tsp mild curry powder

· ½ tsp white pepper

Melt butter over low heat, add the rest of the ingredients, blend until smooth, then cool. Marinate 8 or 10 skin-on chicken thighs for 3-4 hours. Reserve the marinade, heat to a boil, then simmer for five minutes and set aside.

Prepare charcoal fire and heat smoker to 250 degrees. Smoke thighs for 2 ½ to 3 hours at 225 degrees or so until internal temp reaches 165 degrees. Then place thighs over direct heat and baste with remaining marinade. Turn and baste frequently, grill for 5 or 6 minutes. 

Paul Kirk, the Baron of Barbecue recommends this marinade for grilled chicken thighs (page 339 of the most important barbecue book ever). That is good, too but I prefer it on smoked thighs.