First turkey on our Yoder

7

7sanders

New member
My shipment from https://www.bigpoppasmokers.com/ showed up yesterday (hello Maverick ET-732, wish we would have had you for the pork butt smoke a few days ago!) So, after reading, reading, and way to much reading... I threw on a turkey :)

This bird's been hanging out in the deep freezer for awhile but I figure you can't go wrong with free meat!! (not big turkey fans in our house since I surely overcooked them my whole life, until we tried some smoked turkey my brother made)
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rubbed on a little oil, then a blend of seasonings (on top of and under the skin)
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and now we wait....
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anxious to taste the results tonight!
 
Pappymn

Pappymn

New member
Don't pay any attention to the red pimple on the side. Pull it at around 162 degrees and tent in foil for at least a 15 minute rest. I grew up with "fall off the bone turkey jerky" would sour a person for life on turkey.
 
7

7sanders

New member
Yep... have the alarm set to tell me when it hits 160 and am planning for a 30 minute or so foil rest. I thought about cutting out the pop up timer before I threw it on the smoker but forgot :)

2.5 hours in, opened up the smoker to stick another thermometer in ($15 unit we picked up at wallyworld while waiting on the et-732) and it's lookin' pretty good at 135
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scooter

scooter

Moderator
If you cook the turkey the whole way in a pan like that, I think the back will not be as golden brown as the front. If that matters to you.
Looks good for your first that's for sure!
 
7

7sanders

New member
scooter said:
If you cook the turkey the whole way in a pan like that, I think the back will not be as golden brown as the front. If that matters to you.
Looks good for your first that's for sure!
Click to expand...

No one in this house will eat the skin anyway, so it wasn't too much of a concern :) Next time we'll be trying the spatchcock way.

All was going well, until about 4 hours in ... IT was 156 and it was time to run one of the kiddos to cross country practice... got back and temp was still 156 and the pit was all the way down to 223 (had it set for 275), rats... forgot to check the pellet hopper before I left and sure enough, it ran out... so we fired it back up and were back to 275 pretty quickly, however that bird just refused to go past 158! at 6.5 hours we pulled the bird, stuck it in a 350 oven (at this point we warmed up some left over pulled pork since it was so late, and a school night, and we had 5 hungry kids)... and waited until the probe said 165, pulled and tented, but the probe never went higher than 165 (can't figure out if it just didn't have the momentum or what).

Carved it up, the breast meat is nice and juicy with a huge smoke ring around the outsides. The dark meat on the drumsticks fell off the bones, and the dark meat on the legs we VERY pink (the hubby remarked "that just looks raw") but for the most part it pulled off the bones without much effort (which I would imagine meant it was cooked well enough?)

As for taste... it tasted like turkey, but juicier :) (I'm sure it just couldn't live up to the standards of the pulled pork we had just eaten, lol).

As for pellet consumption, I haven't weighed what is left, but a quick glance tells me the 18lb hopper has about 1/4 to 1/3 left (meaning we used more than 2lbs/hr) ... still awaiting an email reply from ATBBQ regarding our consumption.

**edit** weighed the remaining pellets... 5.25 left, so we used 14.75 lbs for 6.5hrs at 275 (but of course running out of pellets and having to refire the smoker probably skews that a little)

Tonight, we're eating turkey :)
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Pappymn

Pappymn

New member
Dark meat does look pink? Wonder if the pan played a roll in that? Hopefully more experienced people will weigh in.
 
Patrick_CT

Patrick_CT

New member
Looks good! Did you measure the leg IT when you pulled it? It is probably just the smoke that gave teh pink color.. i noticed when I did a turkey it was also pretty pink, but was at 180ish
 
muebe

muebe

New member
The pink color is caused by the products of combustion gases reacting with the meat(like the smoke ring). This is normal over long cooks like when smoking a turkey 6.5 hours ;)
 
TentHunter

TentHunter

Moderator
Since it fell off the bone so easily, my guess is it was cooked thoroughly. Along with the nitrogen dioxide from combustion, the 8% solution it was injected with could also have played a role in the pink color.


Either way it sure looks awful juicy & tasty to me! Can you make me a turkey sammich with some mayo & pepper please? YUM!
 
Pappymn

Pappymn

New member
TentHunter said:
Since it fell off the bone so easily, my guess is it was cooked thoroughly. Along with the nitrogen dioxide from combustion, the 8% solution it was injected with could also have played a role in the pink color.


Either way it sure looks awful juicy & tasty to me! Can you make me a turkey sammich with some mayo & pepper please? YUM!
Click to expand...

Exactly how I like mine.
 
Moomtaz

Moomtaz

New member
My yoder eats them pellets too. But it cooks very well and consistently. That's the price you pay for having so much capacity. Turkey looks good, but I think you're right about the spatchcock.
 
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