I still have a couple frozen turkeys from Thanksgiving and want to reclaim some freezer space so I'm doing a 13 lbs turkey today. I brined it overnight in one of my customary kitchen cupboard brines where I use half my spice cabinet and a cup of salt and a cup of brown sugar. For a rub I'm using Weber Garlic & Herb seasoning and filled the cavity with onion, celery and carrots. The smoke took 5 hours to reach 162 IT and was placed in a cooler with towels to rest for about an hour and a half. This was probably my best turkey to date.
I haven't smoked a turkey yet but I want mine to look like that! From your description, did you dry brine it (spices, sugar, and salt) but no water? The skin looks so good, and yet, I keep reading that because it's not crisp, you should just throw it away.
I'm going to smoke some wings this weekend and will attempt to get the skin somewhat crisp by employing a 2 step method. Smoke the wings at 250 for about an hour and then raise the temp. to 350 for the remaining time. According to Steve Raichlen, he raises the temp. to 350 or 400 for the last 20 minutes of cooking chicken. Apparently, it works for him. I don't want to test my smoker by going too high. Any suggestions?
