Holiday turkey needs help/suggestions

New to the list and am info seeking on best suggestions to smoke a turkey for the holidays. My inlaws are coming and I'm as nervous as a hooker in church about doing a turkey in my smoker for them. Have never done one this way, so any help would be appreciated. Looking for smoking time(20 # bird), internal temp for being done, baste/rub ideas, injector ideas. Also, how's the skin on the bird turn out(eatable or not from smoking?) Any ideas for this holiday turkey would be appreciated. Taz

Tazimna,

Welcome to the crowd...There are a lot of useful tips here to answer some of your questions. I suggest searching the site for this topic. Many of the posts include links to other sites that have the information, including info about injecting, bastes and rubs. I'm sure you'll be able to do well. I also have to put in a plug for Steven's books...can't go wrong with any of them, they're worth the investment!!

Taz- I've done several many ways. Smoked and Fried. Injected and not, brined and not, rubed and not. Instead of typing until my fingers fall off, like Pete said, there are many other threads out there that talk turkey.

Start with "Deep Fried Turkey", "Smoking Turkey Time?", "Still Talking Turkey", "Happy
Thanksgiving Everyone!", "Brining", and Rotisserie Turkey Using Infrared Back Burner".

They should take up a bit of time and answer most of your questions. If you still have any ask away!

Good Luck and Enjoy.

Let us know how you make out.

My inlaws are coming and I'm as nervous as a hooker in church about doing a turkey in my smoker for them.

Sounds kinky! I enjoy my smoker and turkey's but man! Do you really think they would enjoy watching such a performance? They won't like it no matter how much work you put into it anyway. Buy'em McDonalds instead! It's probably all they deserve anyway

Go through our threads from the Thanksgiving time frame and you'll find plenty there. Also, have you considered using a rotisserie?

Do you experience smoking other meats? If so, what have you done and how did it turn out? I would recommend brining the bird prior to cooking it.

Also, do you have any of Steven's books? Barbecue Bible has instructions for grilling a turkey, Beer Can Chicken has a recipe for smoking a beer can turkey, How to Grill teaches Cajun smoked turkey, and Sauces, Rubs & Marinades has a wonderful assortment of sauces and glazes for serving with the finished product.

On the upside...if the turkey is a disaster...you may never have to cook for the in-laws again.

Taz - Welcome to the community of crazy grill obsessed people! As far as the turkey I will offer the same suggestion as everyone else - check the past posts we got alot of great info before Thanksgiving about everyone's methods and also detailed everything to help with your first time. One little extra hint as to the size of the bird that you smoke - the general rule it to keep it around 12-14 lbs because a larger bird will be in bacteria zone (between 40 degrees and 140 degrees) for to long and will likely develop some bacteria. If you have a large group that you need to feed I would fix two smaller birds instead. This way you can also experiment with two different rubs and methods for everyone to try.

Thanks for the input folks. I'll look at past posts and do my homework. BTW, I've been using my smoker of/on for 10 years. Do MANY pounds sausage, especially venison(brats,beer sticks,jerky,theringer). Have perfected that. This poultry thing is a new concept to me and am anxious to master that also. Taz

Taz....This is the place to receive a lot of information. In addition, I look forward to some of your experiences with smoking/grilling.