I probably violated the first rule of holiday cooking – not doing a trial run beforehand. But I spend tons of time researching. I took all that I could learn from this forum, and combine with everything else I could find on the internet. My turkey background included a brined 20 LB bird and a brined breast on my Weber kettle using the indirect heat method. The turkey was good, but the breast received killer praises.
SO my first turkey in the SI was a 14.75 LB turkey put in at 5 AM for a noon meal – outside temp was 31 degrees. I used 3 oz of hickory. I started at 275 for 2 hours and lowered to 250. I pulled it at about 11:45. I tried a few things I had not seen on this forum yet.
1. Dry brining – simply sprinkle kosher salt on the outside and let it sit in the fridge for 2 days uncovered. I might even do 3 or 4 days next time. 1 TBSP per 5 Lb of turkey. Combine with any other spices if you wish. I will tell you that this made me nervous. I have done wet brines before, but was concerned this would not penetrate the skin and I would have a dry turkey. Iwas operating on all faith in all that I had read.
2. Cover the bird with butter soaked cheesecloth. I cover the top with 2 layers of cheesecloth. Then I spread a butter (with herbs) into the cloth. This is supposed to keep the turkey more moist and have more of an oven like appearance rather than the dark brown all over smoke appearance. It said to remove it ½ hour before pulling it off to allow for browning. I would suggest an hour. Some say this helps to crisp the skin. I am not yet sold on this method. I did not consider the result as "beautiful".
3. I carefully loosened the breast skin as far my fingers would fit. Then I spread the herbed butter under the skin using a spoon (domed side up). A little working with the skin helped spread the butter more evenly.
The results yielded a tender turkey with a mild smoke flavor. The skin was rubber. Unfortunately, I don’t know which of the above were factors in the success. I suspect the dry brine and the butter. The breast was tender and flavorful. I will now a fan of the dry brining, and will be trying it on a brisket at some point. It makes brining so much easier and less messy. If you are not familiar with it, just search “judy rogers dry brine” on the internet and read for yourself.
My mom called yesterday just to tell me it was the best turkey ever. I guess that I all I need to know.
