Doing my first bird this year on PBC. We are hosting which is new, only a small group of about 6-7, so only cooking an 11 lb bird. I plan to keep it simple, rub with Meat Church garlic herb the night before, use the poultry hanger and see what happens.
Anyone else doing their turkey on the PBC (or J or X)
I did two on my PBC yesterday for a church Thanksgiving event. Turned out so good - juicy and delicious. Seasoned with Cavenders Greek Seasoning, wish I had some garlic herb on hand.
My advice: make sure you have a good thermometer to keep tabs on your temps. The PBC really does make it easy. I would guess 3-4 hours of cook time. Happy Thanksgiving!
I got three 6-7 pound turkey breast from a local farm. It's currently in the fridge dry brining with kosher salt. Going to hit two of them with Meatheads Tuscan Chicken Rub, and 1 with Kosmos Dirty Bird. Hanging two with the turkey hanger, and one with hooks (don't have any more hangers).
Planning on using some Fogo Charcoal and running it at 325 with my Pit Viper Fan + Fireboard combo. Hoping for a 3 hour cook.
Spatchcocked a 17 lb bird and put it in the fridge to dry brine tonight.
Has anyone ever had any issues with the thigh/drumstick falling off during the cook? One seems a bit loose, I think I may have cut a little too much off when I spatchcocked. I was just considering chopping it off and cooking it separately to be safe.
I did a 14 lb bird on my PBC in 2020. Mmm, so good, so good!
I dry brined it and used one of MeatHead's rubs....I think it may have been the Simon and Garfunkel one?
In any case, I think Meat Church's Garlic Herb will be fantastic! (Love his rubs!) I also used the poultry hanger. I do remember this, even when you think you've got the bird perfect positioned, it will shift a bit as you try to lower it and get it over the rebars. No problem at all! It will still cook perfectly.
Just keep an eye on temps on the breast and thighs. As with any poultry, those thighs can go higher than 175 F with no problem. Just get the breast to 155-160 F (to allow for carryover) and you will be fine!
If the wingtips start getting too dark, just cover them in foil.
Thankfully a buddy of mine ordered the hangers and is only cooking one bird himself. I’m not doing a huge bird so I think I could probably figure something out but it seems alot easier and less stressful to just use the hanger.
We are rolling here! Ended up calling an audible at the end and did a mayo binder based on one of Malcolm Reeds videos. In the PBC over KBB with some applewood chips.
We have made Meathead Smoked Mashed Sweet Potatoes with Maple and Sriracha a new tradition.
From the recipe …”At Thanksgiving, my mom always makes too much food, especially one item, like 700 or 800 pounds of sweet potatoes. She’s got to push it during the meal. "Did you get some sweet potatoes? There’s sweet potatoes. They’re hot. There’s more in the oven; some more in the garage. The rest are at the Johnson’s.""
Louis Anderson
I didn’t brine the turkey. It was 11 1/2 pounds. I spatchcocked it and then I separated the skin so I could season meat with BBBR. Someone said yesterday to put mayonnaise as a binder so that’s what I did. Sprinkle BBBR on the skin and got the PBC to 430ish and hooked it on one rebar. I hand a hard time keeping it near 400 so I cracked the lid. I just use a twig from the ground which gives is a little more air. I think my charcoal was moist due to the rainy day. It was done in about 80 minutes.
Turkey turned out excellent. I dry brined for about 48 hrs and used the Simon and Garfunkel rub. I ended up using a third hook to hook the one thigh to the wing because I thought it would detach during the cook (probably unessecary). I also made stuffins and they were a big hit.
Thanks to everyone on the forum for sharing your cooking knowledge. I could have never imagined doing this a few years ago.
So, I was thrown off schedule by how fast my bird finished. This wasn’t a big bird at all but I overestimated and it ended up having to sit too long while the sides finished. 11.5 lb bird took less than 2 hours. I did get some hot bites that were perfect but I think there was too much carryover so it was a tad dry without the gravy. I’d say overall a success.
Also I had some difficulty carving the dark meat but this was a white meat group and that looked beautiful carved up. I had a drumstick and saved the rest for leftovers.
I smoked my first turkey yesterday. It was a 20-pound bird, brined overnight in a maple bourbon brine (Meat Church Bird Baptism Poultry Brine, Maple Syrup, Bourbon), Meat Church "The Gospel" rub, Spatchcocked.
I would like to have been able to give accurate stats on how the cook went but I was kind of all over the place trying just to get it done. But here's some details
I started with both rebars in. After around 15 minutes the barell temp was only around 165 so I took one out.
It fairly quickly rose to around 225 but I wanted it hotter so I took the second one out.
That brought the team up to around 350 and then it slowly rose to around 385.
I took the lid off to put 1 rebar in and that cause the temp to spike to over 450 so I put the other rebar in and it slowly lowered down to around 375.
From there it hovered around 325-365.
Again, my stats are not totally accurate.... just trying to recall/
Once the bird hit 150 breast temp I basted with a butter and maple syrup glaze until it hit 160
Using my thermapen, some of the temps in the center were around 153. That made me a little nervous so I rotated the bird and let the breast temp rise to 162.
Took it off, let it rest, and prepared it to be transported to my daughter's house for 20 people.
I was nervous cutting into it (always afraid of it being undercooked in some spots) but it was spot on in all areas.
Probably could have taken it off at 160.
Everyone loved it and t got devoured.
The skin wasn't crispy like I wanted. It was fully cooked but tough and not crunchy.
I missed the line about the skin not being how you wanted it. Next time, take the rebar out and cook at a higher temp. You may even need to crack the lid a bit to run between 325 and 400.
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