My first turkey on my pellet cooker

[sryoder]

I cooked a ~15 lb. turkey yesterday on my Camp Chef pellet grill. Followed Meathead's recipeas closely as I could. Spatchcocked the bird, put a drip pan full of liquids, mire pix, and miscellaneous meat pieces under it. Cooked at 225° for 30 minutes to generate lots of smoke and thn shifted up to 325°. Took quite a bit longer than I'd expected. At about 3 hours I thought I was done until I probed the part of the breast under the armpit and found it to be only 147°. Cooked it for another hour or so to bring it up to 160°. The bird came out deliscious but he skin, while pretty, could have been used to make shoes out of. Very tough. Had some of the turkey last night in a pasta salad and tonight it's going to be in turkey pot pie. I did get a photo at the beginning of the cook but, as usual, I neglected to get a finished one before I cut it all up.

[Spinaker]

I would try to cook Hot and fast. (350 F+) This should help to crisp up the skin. Also, you could throw the bird over a charcoal fire to crisp up the skin at the end. Just make sure to spray the grate with oil to prevent the skin from searing to the grate!

Good looking cook!

[EdF]

Try turkey tetrazzini with the leftovers some time. You won't regret it. Cream/wine sauce, mushrooms, parmesan, pasta!

[sryoder]

Yum! I think there may still be plenty of leftovers for that. I'm cooking the pot pie tonight on the pellet cooker to keep the heat out of the house.

[Red Man]

You’ve got the legs tucked up against the breast, that’s probably why you found a cooler spot in the armpit. If you turn the leg/thigh 90 degrees, it won’t be overlapping the breast.

[sryoder]

I was having trouble picturing this until I went back and looked at a picture of a Meathead spatchcocked turkey. You are right, that would have probably helped a lot. Thanks.