4th of July celebration

Having a great time on Sturgeon Lake, Minnesota, land of the barely-there cell connection. Have an outstanding weekend!

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Hope everyone's holiday is ending up lots of fun. We woke up to rain rain rain early yesterday. On the Fourth of July that seemed an unAmerican gift from the gods! We were already topped off around here and didn't need more rain. Today is sunny, so I guess we'll be celebrating by firing up the lawnmowers.

 

Had a great day with friends and family, I hope everyone else did as well.

 

From Across the Pond, may I extend warm wishes for a happy and enjoyable Independence Day to all of my fellow forum members who are from the US.

 

Thanks so much for your thoughts! And hoping you are having a great weekend too!!

 

We went swimming It was HOT I don't think we've had weather this hot for this long since I've lived here right now it's 2150 and it's 88 degrees.

 

We just had a relaxing day at home with family. Smoked a turkey and had a great meal.

 

How do you smoke a turkey? And, more importantly, what does it taste like and what do you serve it with?

Aside from all of that, I hope you had a great day.

 

That never changes for me I do my four in the morning and four in the evening no matter the temp, I've been doing it for too long now to stop and if I miss more than one or two I get out of sorts. When I was still in I cared about how fast those miles went by now I care how long they take.

 

You put it in a smoker???

 

Thanks for that exceptionally enlightening post.

Context is everything. Now, some further enlightenment, please, just what exactly is a smoker?

Well, I'm from mostly wet, windy, misty, rainy, northern Europe,(not, admittedly at the moment) - so barbecues are a fantasy we see on TV rather than a reality we live with.

Indeed, I've never used one, personally, and when I have seen them used, it has been when I have served abroad in hot climates, and they were usually used for steaks, kebabs, sausages, burgers or chicken. Never for a turkey.

Besides, while I genuinely don't know the first thing about barbecues, (apart from admiring the stupefying heat and volcanic appearance that can come from the depths of disintegrating charcoal), I do know about turkeys, - Christmas and all that - and have cooked them - and the first thing that strikes you is that they are big birds. Birds that challenge most ovens by dint of being rather enormous. Birds that take bloody well forever to cook properly - that is the second thing that strikes you - these creatures can take forever to cook properly.

So, my question stands: How do you smoke a turkey?

 

You season it with spices and dress it to your taste. For us that means stuffing it with apple slices and cinnamon. Then we cook it slow on a smoker with your choice of wood. All in all the process takes about 4+ hours of cooking time. The end result looks like this....



We had avocado salad/salsa, corn on the grill, and cucumbers as side dishes.

The leftover turkey made for great sandwiches today.

 

That is a great reply - thank you for it - and a seductively and extremely tasty looking bird. Great picture, and the meal sounds delicious. I hope you enjoyed it hugely. Bon appetite.

Knowing what I know of cooking turkeys, I had assumed that cooking it would take the best part of five hours - between prepping the bird and actually cooking it.

Is a smoker similar to a barbecue? And do you need to baste the bird with cooking juices - or oil - while it is smoking?

 

A smoker is a special grill that is designed to both provide heat for cooking and simultaneously burn wood blocks, chips, or pellets for the purpose of flavoring the meat you are cooking. Different kinds of wood produce different kinds of flavor as the smoke penetrates the meat that is being cooked. Smoking is a slow cooking process and it will take several hours to properly complete the cooking process. I hope that helps.

Generally, you do not need to baste your turkey or other meat while cooking. All seasoning is done prior to cooking. Now, over the course of the cooking process you might need to add more wood for the continued generation of smoke.

 

Here is a smoker available in the UK.

http://www.forfoodsmokers.co.uk/

Humans have been smoking foor for a very long time, it's not European vs. American thing I've lived in Germany for a decade and you could go to BayWa and get a smoker before you could get a decent grill.

 

@Scepticalscribe, these illustrations might help.

 

Thank you both.

Fascinating. Although I am quite an accomplished cook, that is one method I had never encountered before today; so, I have learned something new today. Mind you, with barbecues, I far prefer to be in the hands of someone who is pretty experienced and knows what they are doing rather than an enthusiastic amateur.

Re cooking with smokers, does the meat retain its moisture when this method of cooking is used? And, what are the preferred woods to use for this method - how do their flavours differ? Such differences stand to reason, as woods can differ drastically - in appearance, texture, durability - when used in floors, or furniture, or for other purposes.

 

Smoking will produce very tender and juicy meet when done properly. Like any other grilling/cooking method, if you over cook then you will dry out the meat. Different woods produce different flavors. I tend to use hickory, cherry, and apple wood most. There are other wood types and some people like to use wood blends to further combine flavor profiles.

 

@Scepticalscribe, I know you like to read so here's an article that will tell you way more than you probably wanted to know about BBQ.

http://amazingribs.com/BBQ_articles/barbecue_defined.html

 

You want to know hot? Let me tell you of the 4th Of July fishbake of 2012, when it reached 107 by early afternoon, and the humidity made it feel like so much worse.

It was tragic. Old people keeling over left and right, kids sizzling on the sidewalks like slabs of bacon. I brag about being able to take the heat, but that? Man, it was oppressive.

 

Egypt, you say? Yeah, that's a dry heat...