The Texas BBQ Forum

Hey guys, I'm new here and a barbecue novice. I've been cooking over wood for a long time and finally got me a cheap stick burner (Oklahoma Joe's Highland) and smoked up our 14.6 lb turkey. This is only the second thing I've cooked on this thing and, miraculously, it came out perfect. Timing and temps were right on (temp 325-350 for 3 1/2 hrs.) Fire was super clean. Almost too clean. The smokestack issued little smoke, sometimes almost none at all. What smoke there was was the perfect thin blue smoke. But tere was very little smoke flavor on the bird.
You guys ever have a cook turn out like this?

Cheers, Ed

EdG wrote:Hey guys, This is only the second thing I've cooked on this thing and, miraculously, it came out perfect. Timing and temps were right on (temp 325-350 for 3 1/2 hrs.) Fire was super clean.

Cheers, Ed

Sounds like an outstanding cook - can’t improve on “perfect”. Personally, I don’t want to overpower poultry with a lot of smoke. Poultry can easily be over smoked and more often than not folks want to mellow the smoke on poultry rather than add smoke. I wouldn’t change a thing with regard to smoke but may want to experiment with injections and rubs.

If I may ask, what kinda of wood were you using to smoke the Bird with

Thanks for the replies, guys.
I forgot to mention I was using hickory splits. Lump charcoal to get a coal bed, then hickory all the way.
Thanks again.
Cheers

Hickory is a good wood for poultry (pretty much versatile with any protein) IMHO. As previously mentioned it is easy to over smoke turkey but everybody has their own tastes. Maybe mix in some cherry with your hickory and see what you think?


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It’s hard to imagine turkey not getting enough smoke with hickory. We’re you cooking it unwrapped the whole time? Was it store bought bagged wood, like western wood? Kiln dried wood sometimes is too dry and has less pronounced smoke flavor.. but what’s more likely is that your senses got numb to the smoke if you were around it during the cook. Then you sat down to eat and couldn’t taste it. How did others like it? Or how did you like the leftovers the next day?


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I got the hickory in big, heavy bags from Lowe's. I'd never burned splits before, only chunks on various Weber kettles.
I made a nice apple cider brine, spritzed with apple juice/apple cider vinegar and basted at the end with a concoction of butter, maple syrup ad some of my own spice rub. I kept a water pan in the cooker and placed a foil wrapped brick on the bottom of the chamber. I think those things contributed to the steady temp.
The bird wasn't stuffed nor was it covered, save for a small foil shield to prevent burning on whichever end faced the firebox. The turkey was in a foil roasting pan and I got a ton of good gravy juice.
While I expected a lot more smoke flavor, I have no complaints. It was cooked perfectly, tasted fantastic. The smoke was very subtle, noted by the three of us who ate it.
I had some cherry but it was sitting outside for awhile and was too wet to use. Next time!
All in all I had a great time cooking and can't wait to do it again. Maybe next time I'll spatchcock. I've always gotten amazing chicken that's been brined and spatchcocked. I'm not into the injection thing, though I do see the value of it.
If you've read this far, thanks.
Cheers, guys

My guess is the Lowe's wood is kiln-dried and exceedingly dry. Even your wet cherry would have worked if is was seasoned - wood really doesn't soak up much water. A stick or two or three would have set that bird over the top.

All in all you did fantastic on your first/second cook on an offset. Sounds like you've done your homework on stick-burning. Can hardly wait to see/read more.

txsmkmstr wrote:My guess is the Lowe's wood is kiln-dried and exceedingly dry.

^^ That.. I've used the netted bag stuff numerous times and found for any significant smoke flavor, you've gotta use a bit more than you think because it's really dry wood. When I use that stuff, I usually build my base fire with it and then my own chunks or splits, or pellets in a small cast iron skillet.