Hickory Smoked Turkey

This is the first time this Weber Charcoal Chimney has been used. My other one has seen a lot of use but is not as good as the Weber.

The first chimney full of lit charcoal was poured into the Weber Smokey Mountain (WSM) and another chimney full of unlit charcoal was poured over it. This should be more than enough for an estimated 3.5 hour cook.

Sometimes, I will stuff the turkey with quartered apples and oranges. They are not good to eat, after cooking, but may add some moisture and, possibly, flavor. I'm not really sure that they do but keep trying it, occasionally.

The turkey was placed on the top rack of the WSM smoker. The water pan was left empty but lined with aluminum foil to catch drippings and make clean-up easier. I kept the foil off the bottom of the water pan in an effort to keep the drippings from burning away. It worked very well and the gravy from it was great!

Usually, we use Apple or Cherry for poultry. This time, we decided to use Hickory.

Monitoring the temperature is the most important part of cooking, indoors or outdoors.

Near the half-way point of time (1:30 PM), the breast temperature was 136°F and the smoker was running a steady 325°F.

The turkey finished at 3:45 PM. The dark skin color is due to the Hickory smoke.

After resting for about 30 minutes, you can see how juicy this turkey is from what has collected in the bottom of the platter. The apples and oranges were discarded and we all enjoyed a very good Thanksgiving dinner. We hope yours was wonderful, too!