Well guys, yesterday a gobbler met his comeuppance in my big old Model #4. The one thing about the model 4 that I do not like is there is no temp gauge. I am thinking about installing one on the front door, but I don't want to take a chance that I will harm the smoker.
I selected a 15 pound turkey because the only other selections at Walmart were 9 pounds and 20 pounds. My appetite has slowed down when I hit seventy, and my much younger wife weighs 95 (soaking wet) and eats like a bird--all the time, tiny bites, few calories--so we needed a 15 pound turkey only because it was there. That, and I have been dying to cook a turkey every since I bought the Big Daddy several months ago.
That thing is so big, I have considered using it as a gun safe between cooks. I moved the turkey from the freezer to the fridge last Sunday. When I removed it Thursday morning, it still had ice around the turkey's neck, but it was thawed... just barely thawed. I have some paprika based rub I normally use for ribs, but it just doesn't seem right for turkey--that, and I am somewhat tired of the same on taste, so I got a new rub recipe off the web.
http://bbq.about.com/od/rubrecipes/r/ble31107g.htm. I even went to the store and bought fresh rosemary and thyme, loosened the skin and got it all inside under the skin.
It's hard to find applewood or cherry where I live, so I settle for applewood chips and chunks of hickory. I didn't preheat the smoker, as directed by Smokin-It. I put the turkey directly om the top rack, and in the middle of the Big Daddy I positioned a large disposable roasting pan containing 4 cups of water as the recipe stipulates, shut the door, set the temp to around 235 and turned the smoker on.
I dangled the probe from a wireless thermometer inside the exhaust port, located on the top of the smoker. It took over an hour for the temp to reach 163, then it stalled. After another hour it was still at 163, so I cranked it up to 250. Didn't help. About that time I surmised the probe was touching the turkey, opened the smoker, added more wood, and positioned the smoker so it couldn't touch the bird and the temp immediately rose to 233-235. (I really need to install a good temp gauge). When I first bought the smoker, I laid a external thermometer on a grill, but it had been exposed to so much smoke, the temp was unreadable.
After 5.5 hours, I moved the probe to the thigh and put another probe in the breast and got a reading of 157 and 161 on the breast and thigh respectively. After 8 hours the temp rose to 161 and 163 (My what a stall). During the last 30 minutes of the cook, the temp rose to 164 and 165. I check the bird with two non-wireless thermometers and they read 168-165. Total cooking time 8.5 hours (which is about as expected). I decided it was time to take the bird out. I let it rest for 15 minutes in foil and carved it.
It was good, but I've eaten better. My wife likes the breast (it was too dry for me) and she said it was the best she ever tasted. I started in on a leg and thigh and had to add salt. The taste of the rosemary and thyme was barely detectable... we could hardly taste it.
All in all, I would say I wouldn't go to so much trouble again. The bird was cooked perfectly, and the taste wasn't bad, but it just wasn't one I would want to write home about. Probably should have brined it instead.
