Rotating turkey trial

[HankB]

I have a couple turkeys to do for the holidays so I decided to see how they go in the rotisserie. Here's the cheapest 12 pounder I could find.

Lots of color already at 45 minutes.



Best described as mahogany at 1:50 and almost done!



Lid thermometer is reading about 300°F.

[Duke]

That looks excellent! I can't wait to hear and see the final results.

[HankB]

That looks excellent! I can't wait to hear and see the final results.

Oh, yeah... I kinda slowed down after dinner. Must have been the tryptophan.



I was pretty happy with the results. White meat was not dry. Not particularly juicy either. But judging by the joint flexibility I got the bird off the heat at just the right point. The dark meat was really juicy and the skin was crisp when it came off. Despite the mahogany color, the smoke flavor was subtle. Some times that seems to come out more in the left overs. I'll be making Buffalo Chicken Mac 'n Cheese with some today.

One thing that surprised me was the cooking time. It finished in a little over two hours. The lid therm read about 300°F except for one time it went to 320°. The chart found here suggests 3-4 hours at 325°. I guess the radiant heat from the coals on either side of the pan provide a lot of heat. I am thinking of putting coals on one side for the next one. Or starting with coals on both sides for a hot start and then just replenishing one side. (Alton Brown suggests 500° for the first 20 minutes and then reduce to 350° or 325° for the remainder of the cook.)

The other issue was that the stuff I put in the body cavity mostly cane out. That was orange, and onion slices and some fresh herbs. I need to secure that better. The bondage job to keep the bird firmly on the spit did work well. My counter weight was not sufficient to offset the turkey but I'm sure it helped and the rotisserie motor had no difficulty with the weight.

I am definitely going to use the rotisserie for the next two birds this holiday.

[wyd]

Overall its looks great and after seeing it cut open I really starting to get hungry.  Very nice write up.  I know my 14lb turkey took 4hours 15 minutes to do but that was indirect heat around 275 to 290 degrees for all of the cook.  Next one I do will be from 300 to 325 at the most.  I expect on my fresh one for Thanksgiving day will take me 4 hours this time around.  I will give myself an hour window as I need to have it ready by 1pm on Turkey Day.

[saxart]

Wow, this looks fantastic Hank!   Thanks for sharing these pics as we were just thinking of putting a turkey in a Kettle to do a pre-test before "the big day".

Everytime you post a pic of that Roti-ring, I like it more and more!

[HankB]

Everytime you post a pic of that Roti-ring, I like it more and more!

Thanks! So far so good. The 28 pound bird will be a real test - and w/out a safety net. I'll be away from home so I won't have the option to slip it off the spit and onto the 26er. There will be another kettle present (I think.) If push comes to shove I could do an emergency spatchcock and do it on two grills.

[Duke]

Thanks Hank! That is a fantastic looking bird. I hope the one I cook the Thanksgiving looks half that good.

[javahog2002]

Great looking bird. Been wanting to cook one on my rotisserie.

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