We are preparing a meal for the church tomorrow, and my buddy has a trailer with an Ole Hickory on it, so i was dumb enough to tell them we'd cook the turkeys!
Here's the plan
> 12 pound ish birds. Sams has Fresh Butterball turkeys for 99c a pound. They have a 4% injection in them.
> Spatchcock them
> S&G Rub
> 325 Cook till 160 in the deepest part of the breast.
> Cook some on my #WhoDat1 pit so we can capture the drippings and make Meathead's gravy.
I did a test cook yesterday, all of that above, and these 2 questions arose:
1.) Right before the cook, I did put some Kosher salt on, about 1/3 less than the 1/2 Tsp per pound than Meathead recommends. THE BIRD WAS NOT SALTY ENOUGH! I was eating it wondering what went wrong. Sprinkled some salt on there and it really helped!
The reason I wanted to do the test bird is exactly this discovery: apparently not all injections have that much salt in them?
QUESTIONS:
Who else has "factory injected" birds that don't have much salt in them? I'm planning on doing a 2nd test bird tonight, if i can pull it off.
Will dry-brining 18 hours ahead of time impact the amount of salt taste absorbed into the meat?
2.) We're in Louisiana, so folks love injecting it with all the spices and such, the deep frying them. I have not injected with butter yet, but since my test bird was flat, I AM INJECTING! Butter, and maybe a hint of Tony's/Cajun Spice.
QUESTION: How much butter do you inject in a 12 pound bird? I'm used to injecting bbq meats, and a whole chicken will take about one full cylinder in my injector?
3.) I can't seem to avoid those pockets of S&G herbs gathering up, and those who are sensitive to over spicing, like my wife, really notice. I work my hands up under the skin beforehand, and can get the whole breast and all up on the thighs and much of the leg, since the bird is spatchcocked.
QUESTIONS:
Any tips on applying the wet rub and avoiding the pockets?
How about using more oil in the wet rub, so the liquidity of it may help the herbs naturally flow out better?
4.) I'm struggling to make a homemade chicken (and Turkey) rub with the Pop that you could use in competition. My current favorite is S&G combined with either Cherry or Desert Gold from Simply Marvelous/Big Poppa Smokers. My test bird has me worried...the flavor was off.
I did a little cheat and used the Tone's Italian Herb mix as the base for my S&G, it has all the italian herbs in it except Bay Leaves and Parsley, and I added those. I've used the Tones as a base before and it seemed good. Maybe there was something else out of sync with my test bird?
QUESTION: What are your fav's to supplement S&G on turkey?
Isn't this fun!
paul
@BishopofBBQ
Here's the plan
> 12 pound ish birds. Sams has Fresh Butterball turkeys for 99c a pound. They have a 4% injection in them.
> Spatchcock them
> S&G Rub
> 325 Cook till 160 in the deepest part of the breast.
> Cook some on my #WhoDat1 pit so we can capture the drippings and make Meathead's gravy.
I did a test cook yesterday, all of that above, and these 2 questions arose:
1.) Right before the cook, I did put some Kosher salt on, about 1/3 less than the 1/2 Tsp per pound than Meathead recommends. THE BIRD WAS NOT SALTY ENOUGH! I was eating it wondering what went wrong. Sprinkled some salt on there and it really helped!
The reason I wanted to do the test bird is exactly this discovery: apparently not all injections have that much salt in them?
QUESTIONS:
Who else has "factory injected" birds that don't have much salt in them? I'm planning on doing a 2nd test bird tonight, if i can pull it off.
Will dry-brining 18 hours ahead of time impact the amount of salt taste absorbed into the meat?
2.) We're in Louisiana, so folks love injecting it with all the spices and such, the deep frying them. I have not injected with butter yet, but since my test bird was flat, I AM INJECTING! Butter, and maybe a hint of Tony's/Cajun Spice.
QUESTION: How much butter do you inject in a 12 pound bird? I'm used to injecting bbq meats, and a whole chicken will take about one full cylinder in my injector?
3.) I can't seem to avoid those pockets of S&G herbs gathering up, and those who are sensitive to over spicing, like my wife, really notice. I work my hands up under the skin beforehand, and can get the whole breast and all up on the thighs and much of the leg, since the bird is spatchcocked.
QUESTIONS:
Any tips on applying the wet rub and avoiding the pockets?
How about using more oil in the wet rub, so the liquidity of it may help the herbs naturally flow out better?
4.) I'm struggling to make a homemade chicken (and Turkey) rub with the Pop that you could use in competition. My current favorite is S&G combined with either Cherry or Desert Gold from Simply Marvelous/Big Poppa Smokers. My test bird has me worried...the flavor was off.
I did a little cheat and used the Tone's Italian Herb mix as the base for my S&G, it has all the italian herbs in it except Bay Leaves and Parsley, and I added those. I've used the Tones as a base before and it seemed good. Maybe there was something else out of sync with my test bird?
QUESTION: What are your fav's to supplement S&G on turkey?
Isn't this fun!
paul
@BishopofBBQ
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