New Years Eve cook

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zilla

Sous Chef
Joined
Aug 9, 2005
Messages
573
Location
Universal City Texas
I got a call yesterday from my friend Bill asking if I would smoke a wild turkey he shot the day before, he really liked the one I smoked for his family for Christmas. Before it was over I had assembled a nice selection of meat for the cook. Bill donated the game and I bought the rest. Chuck (Bobby-Q) made the relish for the pork loin. Smoking with Peach wood.

1 Wild turkey (skinned) brined 12 hrs, peppered, wrapped in bacon and then cheese cloth.

3 Chickens, 1 whole in cheese cloth, 2 rubbed with my chicken rub.

1 18lb Turkey (on sale .49 per pound) split and rubbed with my rub.

1 Wild Hog ham 8lbs+ rubbed with Texas BBQ Rub, Texas Wild.

1 Venison roast 9lbs rubbed with Texas BBQ Rub, Texas Wild.

1 10lb stuffed pork loin, stuffed with Bobby Qs Cranberry Relish, rubbed with Texas BBQ Rub, Texas Wild.

I kind of got tired of taking pics of the cooks but I thought this might be of interest to some. Here are the before pics. Not sure if I'll take any after shots as the meat will come off through out the day and I may not remember. :roll:

http://www.kodakgallery.com/photozilla
 
Now that's the way to end the year!! You got something in there for everybody. Can't wait to see some finished pics.

Griff
 
Updated pics finished meat. Everything turned out good, the loin is amazing, the chicken looks a bit dark but was perfect inside. The domestic turkey was great but the wild one with no skin suffered a bit. All in all a very good cook for so much different meat. Happy New Year all!

http://www.kodakgallery.com/photozilla
 
To hell with Virgina & Ohio, I'm moving to your back yard! Was any of that wild turkey barrel proof?
 
zilla

Please tell what you didn't like about the wild turkey and how you would do it different next time. Thanks.

Griff
 
Well smoking a wild turkey is dicey at best and I didn't get the bird in great shape. This guy shot it while deer hunting in south Texas with a 7mm Magnum. Now for those of you who don't know rifle cartridges that's a big ass bullet!

His intent was for a head shot which would have been fine, but the bird moved and he hit it between the thigh and the breast. That shot almost cut the turkey in half but didn't actually damage very much meat.

The next problem was that he didn't pluck the bird, he skinned it. Now anyone who ever had to pluck a turkey, let alone at dusk after hunting since 4am knows that skinning that bird must have sounded pretty good at the moment. Plucking a turkey ain't no picnic!

So I just wish I had the whole bird intact with the skin on and well plucked. That would have made a huge difference in the final product. It would have looked like one of those birds you see in the smoked meat catalog. ;)
 
The loin took about 15 min to tie, The whole cook was a bunch of work, lots of prep. I was wiped out last night by the time I cut and packed all that meat and cleaned all the trays and coolers and such. I have to clean the pit today. Thats the one thing about a big offset that gets old is the clean up after a big cook.
 
zilla said:
Thats the one thing about a big offset that gets old is the clean up after a big cook.

It's not just the big offsets, it's the small ones too!! That's one reason I don't have mine anymore!!! I hate cleaning in general!!!
 
I didn't consider your offset small Larry. That was bigger pit than many will ever own. Do you ever wish you had it to cook on now and again?
 
zilla said:
I didn't consider your offset small Larry. That was bigger pit than many will ever own. Do you ever wish you had it to cook on now and again?

To be perfectly honest, NO. It was a very well built pit, nothing wrong with the pit whatsoever. But I like the ease of the WSM or a Stumps type smoker. But I dreaded the clean up factor!!!
 

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