2024 Thanksgiving Turkey

Since 2018, which was the year I started becoming obsessed with BBQ, I've been in charge of smoking the Thanksgiving turkey outside.

It's fun for me, and it frees up the oven for the various sides my wife generally makes.

And, I think smoked turkey tastes better than it would if we cooked it in the oven.

Over the years, I've tried different ways to cook the turkey, and this year I actually tried something new.

Last year, I spatchcocked, and halved the bird, which is how I generally cook my whole chickens now.

This year, I came across a youtube video where the author "quartered" the bird. I decided to do the same thing on my cook this year.

 

We got one of the inexpensive frozen turkeys from our local grocery store. it was around 14.5 pounds, which is on the larger end of the range we usually get.

I took the bird out of the freezer and let it "thaw" in one of our fridges starting on Saturday evening.

On Wednesday, it wasn't thawed, but that's ok because I put it in a liquid brine for a day.

Thursday morning, I cut out the backbone, and then separated each breast from the thigh / leg.

I then seasoned both sides of each piece with "Crack", which is seasoning created by a local business, and something I tend to really like on chicken and turkey. 

I'm never sure exactly how much time to give myself. I'd probably have a better idea if I cooked more than one turkey during the year, but we only have turkey on Thanksgiving.

And, of course since I do it slightly different every year, I can't necessarily do exactly what I did the previous year.

This year, I got the bird on the grill around 3 hours before dinner.

I started with the legs closer to the heat.

I'm really glad I decided to quarter the bird, because I'm not sure it would have fit real well if I had not done that.

I don't know exactly how big the 2023 turkey was, but this years seemed to take up more room on the grill than last year's.

But, with the breasts separated from the thighs, it was significantly easier to fit the pieces on the grate.

The bird took on quite a bit of color early in the cook. This is part of what makes smoking the turkey so wonderful, but I was a little nervous that it was looking a little too dark.

In the end, though, I think it turned out about perfect.

Over the 3 hours of cooking, I was able to watch the Lions beat the Bears, and try my 2024 X-Mas Ale.

I really like this year's version of the X-Mas Ale. It is less sweet than previous versions. It was not as clear as I thought it would be, but it was delicious.

About half-way through the cook, I flipped the bird over. I'm not sure if this helps or not, but I feel like it helps keep the poultry a little more juicy.

So, I do it.

And closer to dinner time, I checked the temperature of the meat.

The thighs and legs were done. The breasts needed some more temperature. 

So, I moved the breasts closer to the fire and placed the thighs away from the fire.

And, the bird finished up with the breasts measuring right at 165ish about half an hour before dinner. Just about perfect.

I let the meat rest for 20 minutes or so, and then cut the meat off the breasts and thighs for serving.

The meat was honestly about perfect. Nice and juicy with just the right about of smoke character. 

The wings were not perfect, but good enough for me.

And all the sides were wonderful as well. Another successful Thanksgiving dinner.

Leftovers were wonderful as well.

I imagine that next year, I'll do the quartered poultry again. If you check out Sheppy's Blog: Thanksgiving around this time next year, you'll see if I follow through with this plan.

And ...

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Go Broncos!