I’m thrilled that I got turkey duty this year. I’ve been loving the hell out of my smoker and smoking an entire turkey was something I simply had to do. Some people have asked about the recipe so I’m putting it up here for the world to see (and as a reference for when I want to do it again).
First, I’m brining the turkey for 24 hours. The brine is as follows
Dissolve the brown sugar and salt in the apple juice over heat. Once dissolved, let come to room temperature.
When the apple / salt / sugar has cooled down, mix it and all the other ingredients together, squeezing the oranges to get some of the juice out. I used the Oven Turkey Bag In The Fridge Trick to store the turkey in overnight.
After 24 hours, pull out the turkey, give it a quick pat down with some paper towels to dry, and place on a rack over a pan in the fridge overnight to let dry. Then, smoke it how you smoke it best. My smoker is electric and gets about 250° on average, so I’ll be keeping the bird in there for 30 minutes per pound (6 1/2 hours for our 13lb bird). Most of the recipes I saw using this brine called for apple wood, but I couldn’t find any so I’m going with cherry.
I’ll let y’all know how it turns out.