Worth the Wait Turkey

~ Sean, Wanda & Kev ~

We’re not big talkers (just big eaters!) and only want to say that this was one tender turkey!  It comes from the cookbook: Smoke & Spice.  Kev says it best in this excerpt from one of his letters:“….It was a short drive home, and I arrived in time for dinner, which was moose tenderloin lightly fried in olive oil with salt, pepper, and garlic. Oh, man. It is so good to have that void in the freezer filled once again. In speaking with Mom and Mary on the telephone during the previous couple of weeks we’d touched on various recipes that got Rose and I fired up to get the water smoker out and cook up some “worth the wait” meat. This smoke-cooker doesn’t work well in colder autumn temperatures up here, but it’s great in August and September, and the week before we’d found that, while we don’t have the patience or schedules for the six hours or so to do a turkey, a chicken only takes two hours and is unbelievably good. You inject the meat with a mixture of garlic-flavored oil, beer, and cayenne pepper and rub it over and under the skin with a garlic, pepper, salt, and oil paste. Then you just pop it into the smoker and make sure you keep wet wood chips on there until it’s done.”…….

Worth the Wait Turkey

Inject this mixture all over the bird – move the needle around to get optimal coverage.

1/2 Cup Garlic Infused Oil  

         just slice up 4-5 garlic cloves and let sit in oil for an hour or so

1/4 Cup Beer

1/2 tsp Cayenne

Mix together the following ingredients and rub the paste all over the bird and under the skin: 

4-5 Minced Garlic

1 Tbsp Kosher Salt

1 Tbsp Course Ground Pepper

1 Tbsp Garlic Oil

Do these first two steps then let the bird sit in the fridge 24 hours or at least over-night.  Take the bird out of the fridge a good 45min to an hour before smoking then wrap the bird in a dampened cheesecloth.

Smoke the bird UPSIDE down and smoke with indirect heat at 200-250 degrees for 60-75 minutes PER POUND!  Get the internal temp to 165-180!

Keep the cheesecloth moist by mopping every 30-45 min. with mop sauce:

Equal parts:

Beer

Water

Chicken Broth

optional – 1/4 part oil

After six hours cut off cloth – turn the bird right side up  and baste the turkey until it’s finished cooking.  You can finish the bird off in the oven.