TURKEY BREAST AND WHOLE CHICKEN ON PBC FOR TURKEY DAY ADVICE...

[MACEvan]

Hello Fellow PB Cookers... I am deciding what to make this year for Thanksgiving..Wife isn't too big on turkey so my thought since we are not having anyone over this year is do do 1-2 whole chickens and possibly a turkey breast to try it out. Just a piece for me..

I have done turkey and chickens before on a different smoker and have had excellent results with brining. I brined over night (24hrs), then pulled it from brine and did a pat down with paper towels, then seasoned and back in the fridge on a plate overnight (24hrs) to let dry out. After that pulled it from fridge did one more pat down (lightly) added some olive oil and seasoning as needed. At the end of it I pulled it and put the bird in the oven till a little crispy.

I was going to follow the same routine this year and am open to any advice or things you all have tried out.

I also would like to know temps/times and IT when a whole chicken is done and a turkey breast since I have never did a whole chicken or a turkey breast especially together....

Any advice would be great, would like to know if any all hang the whole chicken or cut it in half and placed it on the grill grate. I did a whole chicken like that before and came out just as good as when I didn't cut it in half.

Appreciate your time all....

Pat

[mtford72]

Here's a piece I did on test running with a turkey on the PBC. For the temperature and times question, provided that the PBC is working in optimal temp range of 275 - 310 I would expect that the times will be in the vicinity of 2 hours for the chicken, potentially 3 for the turkey breast. The internal temps are 160 - 165 for the breast (for both turkey and chicken) 180 or so for the leg. I usually watch the breast temp, and pull it off just over 160.

http://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/forum/grills-and-smokers/charcoal/pit-barrel-cooker/29222-spatchcock-turkey-on-pbc-pics-and-graphs

Matt

[smarkley]

Welcome to the Pit, Pat!

Yeah Matt's post was awesome... read that.

As far as chicken goes on the PBC... I have done it all ways (hung whole, split then hang, hang quarters, spatchcock on the grill, hang the spatchcock) I think the easiest and most useful later was to spit it and hang it.

My method is like most others - dry brine for [insert your fav time here], light coat of oil, use fav poultry rub, hang it, then cook it. Time is variable, it depends on your cooker temp. Probably around 1.5 hours -- I let the probe tell me though! LOL!

I did a turkey in prep for turkey day... I did NOT brine the turkey, because it was enhanced and injected by the turkey gods. Method was similar as chicken -- light coat of oil, my fav poultry rub (inside and out), hang whole so breasts are down (lots of ways to hang these BTW) -- again I used the probes to tell me when it was done... I think it was between 3-4 hours.

Best advise for firing up the PBC is read this thread >> Light my (PBC) fire: tips on lighting and maintaining temperatures >>

http://pitmaster.amazingribs.com/forum/grills-and-smokers/charcoal/pit-barrel-cooker/12614-light-my-pbc-fire-tips-on-lighting-and-maintaining-temperatures

Also for Turkey, read this Meathead article on Ultimate Smoked Turkey... this should be your new Turkey bible!

http://amazingribs.com/recipes/chicken_turkey_duck/ultimate_smoked_turkey.html

Don't get blind sided on Turkey day... do a few practice cooks first, you have 2 weeks. LOL

[Huskee]

Excellent post smarkley! Great job.

[MACEvan]

WOW your right that is the Turkey bible..Damn thats a lot of good info.

[fzxdoc]

Another bit of advice, and one that I rarely follow: Don't overthink this! It's only a turkey! As long as there are good desserts (or fill-in-the-blank--for my FIL it would be a good single malt scotch), everyone will still rave about the Thanksgiving dinner, no matter what!

Kathryn

[smarkley]

Great Advice Kathryn!

yup... it is just an over-sized chicken... no biggie.

[MACEvan]

All...Thank you so much for your advice... So no one had recommends doing a wet brine? I did the turkey last year that way and let me tell ya it came out good...24 hrs in the wet brine..then at least 24 hrs in fridge and it came out great so juicy and tender. But I will take your all advice and try a dry brine. It just suddenly got cold here too in WA.. It seemed like overnight it went from a cool evening to the 20 degree range. HATE IT..

So with the cooler temps probably need to watch my temps. I am thinking of splitting the whole chickens as well. Thats the way I did it last year if I remember correctly. I assume to split and let them hang in the PBC. Was thinking of setting the on the grate but probably be be best to hang like the PBC is supposed to be used.

I know I seen a post about putting some whole potatoes or corn in the PBC on the grates during cooking..just curious how that turned out and how long it needs to be done. Did you all wrap in foil as well.

I will post pics of my first birsket and ribs.. OMG the brisket was amazing..Seemed like it took forever and it did..It stalled for a long time and the temps started to die down..Nevertheless I popped that brisket in the oven and finished her up in some foil and it turned out so dang good. I couldn't believe it.

The ribs were good too the only thing I think I messed up on was when I seasoned them I used mustard and yea it was grey poupon and once they were done i could tell there was a bit of that after taste on them. Lesson learned on that smoke. I did pick up some tiger sauce not sure if anyone has used that here but I know my friend uses it and says it adds a nice glaze and a hint of sweetness.

Thanks

Pat

[fzxdoc]

Pat, Meathead says dry brine is the way to go, and on the Serious Eats blog, Chef Kenji says that wet brining dilutes the turkey/chicken flavor. I've had good luck with dry brining both turkey and many many chickens.

I do my chickens just like Noah does: split and hung from rebars. I use the PBC All Purpose rub with a little oil under the skin and lightly rub the same mixture on top of the skin. They are amazing every single time. Since the PBC All Purpose rub has so much salt in it, I use put it on several hours before to let it do its dry brining thing.

I have baked potatoes in the PBC. I did them with ribs using my GreatGrate (standard grate with half the bars removed so the ribs can hang through the hole and the potatoes can sit on the grate) They took a couple of hours and I crisped the skins up in a 450 degree oven for about 5 minutes before serving. I'm not a big potato fan, but everyone said they turned out wonderful. I did not wrap in foil.

Meathead discourages the use of mustard when applying a rub to meat. He says it's mostly water, vinegar and a little mustard spice so it doesn't do much. He recommends oil and dry rub.

Kathryn