I've now had my Pit Boss PB1000XLWL Austin XL Wood Pellet Grill for several months. So far, the experience has been extremely good. So it's Christmas day, and although I started the prep on Christmas Eve, today was the long 6-7 hour smoke.
I used the Traeger Grills Cherry Wood Pellets from BBQ World set to 120c (250f), although for the first 30 minutes had it running at 150c(300f).
Turkey Prep:
Ingredients.
Turkey 6.7Kg (14.7lbs) from Allisons Butchers
Unsalted butter 225g (8oz)
Red onions X 3
Chestnuts vacuum packed 120g(4oz)
Fresh sage, thyme and rosemary, parsley.
Carrot X 4
Leek X 1
Garlic Bulb X 2
Clementine X 1
Lemon X 1
Sausage meat 220g(8oz)
Salt.and black pepper.
Olive oil or rapeseed oil.
Turkey Brine:
For years I relied on accurate cooking, tin foil, butter and luck to ensure the turkey remained moist, occasionally getting it wrong with a turkey drying out too quickly. When deciding to use a smoker on a long and slow roast, ensuring the moisture of the meat was going to be key. There are many different brine recipes for turkey, I decided to go for a festive brine. 24 hours in a salt, sugar mixture with cinnamon, star anise, Clementine pealings, onions, black peppercorns and bay leaves.
I made sure I took the turkey out of the solution and fridge 2 hours before placing onto the smoker.
Chestnut and Sausage stuffing:
This can be made a few days before, but only stuffed into the neck end of the turkey an hour before cooking.
Finely dice 1 red onion and soften in a frying pan with a knob of butter and a little bit of olive oil (not virgin olive oil) or rapeseed oil.
When softened add a couple cloves of crushed garlic and a good few leaves of finely chopped sage. After a few minutes, chop and add the chestnuts. Cook away for a few more minutes with some salt and pepper to taste. Then set aside to cool completely.
Once the mixture is cooled, add the sausage meat and mix well using your hands, mechanical mixing can add heat and upset the sausage meat (making it a bit sad).
When all mixed, place into the fridge until ready to use as turkey stuffing, but also great as stuffing balls.
Turkey cook day:
Looking to get a really nice smoke on the turkey but wanted to make sure it was not overcooked. Given the high quality of the bird, I estimated 25-30 minutes per lb, a lower quality would be 30-35 minutes per lb. So around 7 hours at a temp of 120c (250f). Two hours to warm up, and 90 minutes at the end to rest.
Using the remaining veg as a trivet along with the giblets and neck to help build the gravy at the end.
After the first hour, the turkey already started to taking some of the smoke.
Using a meat probe I decided to cook until 75c (170f).
During the warming up process, I stuffed the neck end with the chestnut stuffing, and butter, sage, garlic under the skin.
The final turkey was cooked to perfection, meat succulent and moist, and the colour was exactly what you are looking for on a special day. The cherry wood pellets also ment that the flavour of the meat wasn't overpowered by the smoke.
Worth the effort.
