Eat Arkansas

I brined and smoked a turkey on Sunday. This was the best turkey I've ever eaten. I brined it in kosher salt and brown sugar with some fresh rosemary, oranges, and lemons. It was on the brine for maybe 20 hrs. On Sunday I slowly smoked it with freshly cut pecan wood on my cheap-o bullet smoker. It cooked maybe 10 hrs. The flavor is absolutely wonderful. I fed my folks some turkey for lunch today, the rest is sliced and frozen for future uses. I even got a batch of smoked turkey stock cooked up from the leftover bones, skin, etc. It will be great in my next gumbo/bean/chili/tortillia soup. Whichever comes first. Stock freezes beautifully in ziploc bags.

Brining is a total hassle, but I think there's no going back now.

Belly,
Sorry for the late reply to this excellent thread...just getting back to normal after having a bazillion folks around...

I smoked a 10 lb. bird and my Pops smoked a 21 lb. bird and a 7 lb. breast...

We used two Brinkmann smokers for the whole birds and a Portable Kitchen (only the greatest grill/smoker ever made) for the breast...

I brined mine (yes, a hassle but I will always do it) and dry rubbed it with a nice spicy rub, then smoked it beer can style...

Was friggin' awesome...

I followed this recipe (click on name) almost to the letter...I highly recommend it...