My first turkey on the kettle

[Craig]

Well, I spent Election day voting and cooking my first turkey. My wife won it at work, so I thought I would practice with it on the kettle since we're hosting Christmas this year with her family. I brined it in Fire and Flavor brand brine...Apple/Sage flavor for 18 hours, breast down. Did a stuffing not super fancy, but it was Pepperdige Farm sage stuffing with minced onions and celery and some sliced apples. I did what Weber calls "Big Time Gravy" I got the idea for the gravy and to use of our Oneida pan from Weber's youtube page. They also show how to make your own brine, but I cheated and went store-bought. I've been seeing many turkey on the kettle vids on YT, some look good, others looked charred on the outside and undercooked inside from just sitting bare on the grill grates. I had wanted to do this bird on the 3 wheeler brownie, but we had 30+ mph gusts that day, so I improvised and re-fastened the ash can to my red 22. I didn't want to risk ash and embers blowing all over creation. After brushing the brined bird with a half cup of melted butter, I sprinkled some fresh ground pepper on it then I cooked it breast down for 1 hour, flipped and it cooked for another 3 hours. Internal temp 175-180 when finished. I brushed a 1/2 cup of melted butter and basted with the juices every 25-30 minutes. I used K-brown mesquite and a little bit of apple chips. Bird had a nice pink smoke ring to it when carved. There was not a dry piece of meat on this when we ate it. We finished the last of the leftovers on Saturday and the meat was still moist. Huge hit!! I'll be doing this again at Christmas. Rookie mistakes.... I forgot to use cooking twine and turkey lacers, but didn't ruin anything. On the stuffing, I used a tad too much chicken stock, so it was a little on the mushy side, but lessons learned for round 2.  This is the most moist, juciest non-fried turkey that I have ever had to this point.
 
Put on, breast down for 1 hour


Flipped at 1 hour, this about 1:45 to 2 hours in, this is where I realized I didn't use the twine/lacers.




I need to work on my plating for food pr0n, this was a "oh crap, get a pic" moment.


Craig

[bama bbq]

I'll bet it tasted great.  I LOVE smoked turkey almost as much as kettle pizza!

[1buckie]

Hard to believe that's the 1st one you've done.....Good Show!!!!

Good idea putting it on the vegetables, keeps the bottom from burning or getting stuck to the pan

I'll use just some celery stalks across the short way of the pan, works the same.....

The other thing I've done for years is a smaller pan, down on the charcoal grate w/ coals all around

Yours looks screamin' good & as you say got some stuff aready figgered out for next time....

Bang Up Job !!!!

[Duke]

You nailed that turkey Husker! 

[1911Ron]

Looks good, as for the plated shot looks good to me!