Smoked Christmas turkey
In Amerika, a whole turkey is the go-to recipe for a thanksgiving dinner. In Europe, it’s a Christmas meal. Normally the turkey is cooked in an oven but it becomes ten times better when you smoke it.The color of the skin and the smoke flavor intensifies the taste of the meat. I inject the turkey with the most delicious Christmas flavors.
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 piece Free-range turkey
Injection liquid
- 2 liter water
- 2 cubes dried chicken stock
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1 piece lemon
- 2 cloves garlic
- ½ piece white onion
- ½ cup whiskey
- 1 piece bay leaf
- 100 gram butter
Rub
- 1 part fleur de sel
- ½ part raw cane sugar
- â…› part garlic powder
- ½ part paprika powder
- ½ part onion powder
- â…› part ground black pepper
- â…› part thyme
- â…› part powder nutmeg
Instructions
- Put the water in a large pan, add the cubes of chicken stock, the sugar, salt, 2 halves of the lemon, 2 crushed garlic cloves, the onion, and the whiskey. Then add the bay leaf and the butter and bring to a boil.
- Let it all cook down to half of the volume. Then let the liquid cool down. Run the cooled down liquid through a fine-mesh strainer.
- Clean up the turkey by cutting off the loose bits of skin and fat. Then make a big enough incision in the skin near the cavity so the legs can be folded in and stay put. Fold the wings behind the legs. (see the video for a better understanding of how to do this)
- Inject the turkey with a syringe with the injection fluids in all the parts. Inject it until the meat does not hold any more fluids.
- Pat the skin dry with some paper towel. Drizzle on some olive oil and rub it in.
- Mix all the ingredients for the dry rub and sprinkle it on the turkey with an even layer. Put also a couple of tablespoons of the dry rub inside the cavity.
- Start your smoker with a temperature of 120°C/248°F with some smoke wood. I used beech tree.
- Put the turkey in the smoker and close the lid. The turkey is ready when it reaches a core temperature of 75°C/167°F.
- Let the turkey rest for half an hour before slicing it up.
Video
Nutrition
Calories: 1219kcalCarbohydrates: 14gProtein: 140gFat: 57gSaturated Fat: 22gPolyunsaturated Fat: 10gMonounsaturated Fat: 17gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 517mgSodium: 2894mgPotassium: 1520mgFiber: 1gSugar: 11gVitamin A: 1057IUVitamin C: 16mgCalcium: 108mgIron: 6mg
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