Brine Smoked Turkey

Dusting of The Squeal Hog rub prior to smoking - we had it on hand

Tom is a terrific at smoking meats.  This year he decided to smoke a turkey for Thanksgiving.

Smoke pot contains cherry wood chips

Of course the challenge on any bird is to get the dark and white meat cooked to perfection...meaning different cooking times even though it's all in one tidy unit...the bird. 

This years turkey cooking trend (seems every year there is a turkey cooking trend - fried, roasted, brined, turduckened, etc...) is to separate the breast (white meat) and legs (dark meat) and cook separate and then reassemble. Huh?  Like Tday feast preparation isn't enough?  I don't think so sparky! 

13 lbs turkey for 4 hours at 300 degrees until turkey temp reached 160

Solution for us....we did an overnight complete turkey soak in a brine solution.   You can google the specifics of what this does chemically but we find it allows the breast meat to stay moist while the dark meat finishes cooking.   

Master of the smoke

Origin - Food Network Alton Brown Turkey Brine.