A Must Try Thanksgiving Day Turkey
Ingredients
Brine:
- 1 Gallon of Water
- 1 Cup of Salt
- 1 Cup of Brown Sugar
- 1/4 Cup of Whole Peppercorn
- 3 Tablespoons of All Purpose
Turkey:
- 14-16 lbs Turkey
- OHP All Purpose
- OHP Pepper-All
- Butter
Instructions
- Prepare the brine by combining all ingredients and heating until dissolved.
- Allow for the brine to completely cool before adding the turkey. Make sure the turkey is completely submerged in the brine. This can be stored in a refrigerator or in a cooler with ice.
- Allow the turkey to brine overnight, roughly allowing it to brine for an hour per pound.
- After the brine, take the turkey out and rinse the brine off and pat dry.
- You can then spatchcock the turkey by removing the backbone. This can be done by cutting both sides of the backbone and removing it with a knife or kitchen scissors.
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- Tip: Using kitchen shears makes spatchcocking easier
- You can now season the turkey however you would like. You can use any oil as a binder and make sure to get both sides and all the nooks and crannies. For our seasonings, All Purpose, Pepper All and Cock-A-Doodle-Dooster work great on any poultry dish. Allow the seasonings to adhere while you prepare your smoker.
- Today, we are smoking our turkey on the Ole Hickory Pits CTO at 300 degrees. We are smoking with our cherry Squogs.
- Once the pit has come up to temperature, place the turkey on the rack and let the CTO do its thing. It is thermostatically controlled so the pit will self-regulate to maintain the 300 degrees we set it at.
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- This will give you plenty of time to prepare your other Thanksgiving Day sides like mashed potatoes, green beans, and stuffing.
- Because you spatchcocked the turkey, this will speed up the cooking time. So about every 30-40 minutes, you will need to apply a coat of butter. This can be done but melting butter and basting the turkey, using spray butter, or by any means you would like.
- After about 2 hours your turkey breast should be close to reaching an internal temperature of 160 degrees. Once that temperature is reached, pull the turkey off and allow it to rest for at least 15-20 minutes but longer if you have time
- Carve the turkey how you see fit and watch your family rant and rave about how great the turkey turned out. Looks like you will be doing it again next year. Happy Thanksgiving!
