Turkey smoke

[donnylove]

I saw another recent thread here that talked about a turkey brine with nitrate/nitrite included as an ingredient. I've smoked a few turkeys and turkey breasts over the past couple years and they always turn out good, but I never seem to get the intense smoke/flavor penetration that I expect based on commercial smoked turkeys that I've had in the past.
I've always brined with just a water/salt/sugar solutions (sometimes other ingredients as well, such as beer, herbs, etc.) and never tried a formal curing component. I was doing some research this morning and printed a recipe from the National Center for Home Food Preservation that looks like this:

4 1/2 gallons water
12 cups salt
6 cups sugar
6 TBS sodium nitrate (saltpeter) or
1 TSP sodium nitrite

I don't know much about nitrates and nitrites. I saw in that other thread some concern of using saltpeter. So what do all of you suggest? I have smoked turkeys on both my MES and my drum. Should I try a more advanced curing process or stick with the standard brine? Part of the problem is that the whole turkeys I've smoked are monsters. Every year my company gives all the employees a Hutterite turkey and they're usually 17-22 lbs. Big as they are, I typically use a modified version of the beer can chicken method to accelerate my cooking time and stay away from extended hours in the "danger zone."
Thanks in advance!

[Richtee]

Hia Donny! Good to see ya back :{)

Hmm "saltpeter' is not recommended for a cure these days. It is POTASSIUM NITRATE, not sodium. And anyway... the nitrate form of cure is for a long haul aging thing, not a quick cure/cook/eat deal.

Don't know why ya need that much brine/cure, really. Get a food safe baggie and use it. But barring that...

Since brine concentration is the deal here- time in the brine is also key for curing. According to Morton (Tenderquick) use .5 cup TQ to1 Qt. water... or 2 cups /gallon. Cure for 24 hours.

I think that's a bit stiff... I'd go with a cup and a half, due to salt amounts. For a standard brine I use 3/4 cup Kosher/gallon, and it works out well.

Also, I don't use all water for a brine/cure. I use about half dry white wine. Yum.

And don't forget to add rosemary, thyme, celery, onion, etc. to the mix. Don't be shy with amounts... it takes alot to show up in the final product.

OK.. there's more... others may help too...but I gotta go deal with some ribs. :{)

[donnylove]

Rich - in your opinion then, what's the difference going to be between using kosher salt and tenderquick? I don't want my turkey to taste like ham (though I can think of much worse fates), but I'm looking for a more intense flavor result.

[Richtee]

Hmm.. a plain brine will give you a nice result. Like I mentioned. A cure does change the flavor. Not like a ham, but more like err..a poultry lunchmeat? See the post about the turkey being done by T-bone Tim. What DO you want?

[T-bone Tim]

Donny , that recipe in your first post looks wayyyyyyyyy heavy on salt IMHO , use a basic brine and add the flavors that YOU LIKE to it , if you want to smoke low temps for longer time ( which would give more flavor )you are gonna require some cure such as tenderquick or prague powder .

as Rich stated , using something other than water / or with the water to start with will add more flavor .

also the type wood you use will also make a difference , if it is a heavier smoke flavor you want , maybe go with mesquite and a good heavy smoke during the first few hours of the smoke .

[donnylove]

Thanks for the suggestions. I may try it once with some TQ just to see the difference. Actually I'm thinking what I'll do is buy two breasts and brine one with a standard salt-based brine and the other with TQ, smoke them both the same way and compare. Seems like a good way to get back in the saddle with showing off some Q anyway . . .

[donnylove]

Couldn't find any "natural" breasts around here . . . only those implanted with solution, so I decided to pull a 16-lb Huterite turkey out of the freezer and smoke that. It's thawing now and I'll prolly smoke it Wednesday afternoon. Question though . . . this past summer I added a rotisserie to my drum. Should I smoke the turkey on the rotisserie or just leave'er breast up on the grate?

[Earache_My_Eye]

Personally, if I had a rotisserie on my drum, I'd do MORE turkeys...

At least from a moisture standpoint, I would tend to think the rotisserie would keep it more moist....let alone having it twirling in the smoke can't be bad for flavor, either.

Stepping back a bit, what do you normally use for wood when you smoke turkeys? I did a spatchcock turkey for my in-laws with cherry and oak 2:1 ratio and I thought it came out nice...depends I guess on what you are looking for flavor-wise. Those commercially smoked turkeys most likely also have a good dose of liquid smoke to give them the "heavy smoke" flavor that most people expect. Doing a spatchcock turkey, or splitting the bird in half or quarters would allow you to lower your temps and give the bird more time in the smoke and still get through the danger zone with ease.

Just my thoughts anyway...

L8r,
Eric

[donnylove]

I was thinking about spatchcocking anyway, since the bird is so big. In the past when I've smoked the big 16-20 lbs birds I've done a beer can chicken version so as to cook quick enough to avoid danger zone issues, but I'm definitely open to having more "surface" of the bird exposed to the smoke. Mayble I'll straight up cut the bird completely in half and try half with a regular brine and half with TQ like I talked about earlier in the thread. Otherwise I'm not sure how exactly I'd put a spatchcocked bird on the rotisserie . . . I wish it was Wednesday already. Gotta love a short work week!

[donnylove]

Stepping back a bit, what do you normally use for wood when you smoke turkeys? I did a spatchcock turkey for my in-laws with cherry and oak 2:1 ratio and I thought it came out nice...depends I guess on what you are looking for flavor-wise. Those commercially smoked turkeys most likely also have a good dose of liquid smoke to give them the "heavy smoke" flavor that most people expect.

Forgot to answer your question . . . I've tried different kinds of wood for poultry, but most recently I've been using mesquite because I'm looking for more smoke flavor. Right now I have some good apple wood and some sugar maple, so I may use a combination of that or I may use some mesquite chunks. I agree that the commercially smoked turkeys are probably enhanced with liquid smoke . . .

[Mikey]

I've had the best results using red oak & either orange or cherry when doing poultry. Yum

[Savannahsmoker]

We use Tender Quick in the Brine.