Preparation / Directions:
Tuesday night:
Brine: set the turkey (completely covered in brine) in the fridge over night (about 7 hours).
Wed: Removed on Wed morning and rinsed well. Covered with peanut oil and placed in fridge till I got home from work (uncovered). After work (it was an early day, played 2 hours racquetball before coming home and was still home by 1230) I injected with butter, garlic powder, onion powder, hot sauce, and black pepper. Don't know how much cause I just kept making it until I had injected every few inches. Rubbed down with oil again, sprinkled with black pepper, some poultry seasoning, and garlic powder and returned to fridge.
Thurs.: (reminder, my wife had to work so we planned on eating late): Removed from fridge to allow to warm to room temp. Started fire about 11a. Injected one last time with same stuff as before. Stuffed the body cavity with onion chopped into quarters, and half an onion in the neck cavity. A friend had given me some blackberry wine that was to dry for me so I poured some into the body cavity and mixed with oil for the final rub down. Sprinkled more pepper on it. Rest of wine went into water bowl. Quartered several more onions to be put into the fire pan with the oak, hickory, and blackjack oak. Used heavy smoke and high heat for the first hour, then let the heat drop down to 275 and the smoke to light for the rest of the cooking time. Bird went in at noon and off at 8p. (21.45 lb. bird) Done to perfection. Wife and kids claimed best ever (been doin birds for 16 years, only been brining and oiling for the last year or so. The oiling tip came from this list (thanks Danny). In the past I just wrote the blackened skin off and peeled it off while carving. The blackberry wine added a slight fruitiness to the overall taste. I also placed some foil pans in the bottom rack to catch all the drippings. Used this to make gravy and to add to my cornbread stuffing. I was afraid that the juices would make the gravy to Smokey to eat, but it was just a strong hint, with no gravy left. Kids loved it on the dressing and potatoes. Most of one breast was eaten last night, the rest of that one will be gone today. The other side will be sandwiches for the week. The dark meat will become chili this weekend, or I may freeze it till some cold weekend. Might use some to make some of the soups in this months On The Grill. My first cheesecake turned out great
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