A flavorful and moist turkey recipe with two cooking methods - smoked and rotisserie.
Smoked and Rotisserie Turkey
The turkey is brined with unique apple and mushroom brines, and basted with a delicious mixture of turkey stock, apple cider, garlic, butter, and Herbes de Provence. This recipe offers two methods of preparing your turkey - smoked and rotisserie. Both methods result in a flavorful and moist turkey, but the rotisserie method was considered slightly saltier and more flavorful.
Ingredients
- 13.78 lbs turkey
- 2.78 tbsp salt (Morton’s kosher) or ~5 lbs per tablespoon
Apple Dry Brine: * 1 tbsp garlic powder * 1 package freeze dried apples (4 oz from Trader Joe’s? blitzed to powder) * 1 tbsp Herbes de Provence
Mushroom Brine: * Salt - equivalent sodium from mushroom powder (so was about 2.5 tbsp) * 1 tbsp Umami powder
Basting Mixture: * Turkey stock * Apple cider * Garlic * Butter * Herbes de Provence
Directions
- Prepare the apple dry brine by mixing salt, garlic powder, powdered freeze dried apples, and Herbes de Provence.
- Prepare the mushroom brine by mixing salt and umami powder.
- Apply the brines on the turkeys and wrap in plastic for 2 days.
- The night before cooking, remove the turkeys from the plastic and air dry in the fridge.
- For the smoked turkey, start smoking at 10 AM at 225 degrees for 3 hours. Then, lower the temperature to 180 degrees at 1 PM. The turkey should be done around 4 PM. Place it in a 500 degree oven to finish cooking until the legs reach 160 degrees and the breast reaches 155 degrees.
- For the rotisserie turkey, start at 2 PM. The fire should be 325 degrees, then 450, then 300, then 450. A more consistent temperature of 450 degrees at the beginning and then 325 for the rest is recommended.
- Baste both birds with a mixture of turkey stock, apple cider, garlic, butter, and Herbes de Provence. Drizzle turkey stock over the cut meat.
- The rotisserie turkey was considered more flavorful and moist. It was also slightly saltier. This could be due to either a miscalculation in the saltiness of the mushroom powder, or the rotisserie method doing a better job at distributing the seasoning.