Smoked Holiday Turkey Recipes

SMOKED HOLIDAY TURKEY

Steps:

• In a bowl mix minced onion, garlic, rosemary, pepper, 1 tsp paprika, salt and enough olive oil to create a thick paste consistency.
• Clean turkey and prepare for smoker breast up. With a paring knife or other small knife, make incisions straight down into the meat and to the bone, about 1 to 1.5 inches long. You can gouge the holes out deeper below the surface by wiggling the knife to make a larger cavity if you wish. Do this all over the turkey, in any place that you can make a hole and pack some of the mix into the cut, about 1.5 to 2 inches apart.
• Use a spoon and fingers to pack all of the holes with your mix, stuffing them to the top of the hole.
• Quarter onions and pack them with the rosemary sprigs inside the turkey cavity.
• With your hands, coat the turkey on the outside completely with olive oil, and then dust down fairly heavily with paprika. Tie the legs together with string.
• Place on smoker and smoke as you usually would, about 4 to 5 hours in my particular smoker.

SMOKED TURKEY

Steps:

• Place the charcoal into the bottom pan of the smoker. Light the coals and wait for the temperature of the smoker to come to 240 degrees F (115 degrees C). Lightly oil grate.
• Rinse turkey under cold water, and pat dry. Place hickory chips into a pan with water to cover.
• Place turkey onto the prepared grate. Add 2 handfuls damp chips at start of cooking, then a handful every couple of hours during the cooking process. Leave the lid on - DO NOT keep looking at the turkey, or you will let the heat out! Continue smoking until the internal temperature of the turkey reaches 165 degrees F (74 degrees C), or keep going until the coals die out.