Honey Brined Smoked Turkey

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Three years ago I made this but soaked the hichory chips in the brine with the turkey and took second place at our local VFW christmas party. Getting ready to do it again this year for a friendly get together. also my variation of aspargus rapped in bacon. Thanks and keep the ideas comming.

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I never used to want to make turkey on Thanksgiving because no one ever really ate it--too dry and bland. (and still in the fridge a week later But I made a turkey every year anyway because.... how can you NOT cook a turkey on Thanksgiving.

THIS RECIPE IS THE ANSWER! I now get excited about making the turkey because since 2 years ago, I've been using this recipe, and the turkey is fantastic!

I've never smoked it though-- I use the brine method and then roast the turkey in the oven. THe brine is the key. I add apple cider to mine, and I have a baster with a needle attachment, which allows me to inject the brining solution right into the meat of the bird. While it's cooking, all the extra juices start to ooze out and baste the bird almost automatically. I also stuff cut apples, onions, celery, thyme, etc. into the turkey. WHen it's done, it's sweet, juicy, soft, and tasty. The flavors of the honey, sugar, and apple are all through the meat. It's marvelous.

WARNING!: Once you try this recipe, you will NEVER cook a turkey the way you did before.

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Two years ago I made Alton's other brined turkey - the one that says to roast in the oven. That was the best I'd every made until we did this one last year - now we are doing it again! We have a water smoker that uses a propane tank - it frees up my oven to cook all the sides. We poured the brine into the water chamber of the smoker to add extra flavor.

On the brining question - you are supposed to turn the turkey over halfway through the brining if it isn't submerged. Since I brine my turkeys overnight, that isn't very practical (I don't want to get up in the middle of the night!. So I use a large plastic trash bag (I double them up - the kitchen size is big enough. Just make sure your trashbags aren't treated or coated with anything. I pour the brine into the bag and submerge the turkey - I squeeze all the air out and seal with twist-ties, then I put it in the cooler. That ensures that the turkey stays submerged.

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We tried this recipe last year and there was not a scrap of meat left to pick off the bones. Since we have a son-in-law who is allergic to celery (among other things we had to leave the veggie broth out and use apple juice instead. Still fantastic! But here's my question: when we put the bird in the cooler of brine it wasn't completely covered by the brine so we tilted the cooler to try to get the whole thing submerged. Should we have put the bird in breast side down for a few hours and then turned it back over? or just left part of it exposed and hoped it would soak up the brine into the whole breast?

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This is a no-brainer, and it comes out perfect everytime. This has become a tradition in my home. Thank you Alton for all the research and time you put into your recipes for PERFECT results.

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I made this turkey last year in my smoker and it was the best turkey I've ever made. But this year I was wondering if I could add stuffing to the turkey and cook it all in the smoker with the turkey??? Is that possible??

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For those of you planning to smoke your bird in a true smoker be aware that the skin will be very very dark because the smoker is designed to be more air-tight than a grill. So you will need to cut back on your wood.

Also for the time I use a probe monitor and just thread the wire around the door. I usually do a breast only and temp to 160.

This method will cause a heavier smokey taste than using a grill. Bother ways are good, but for a whole bird I would use the grill method.

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Yes, this is the best turkey I've made, and my dinner guests were astonished at how good it was. I did the brining and my husband did the smoking on our Weber kettle. It took 8 hours for a 12 pound turkey. (He did have some technical difficulties keeping the charcoal lit all day. Also, he didn't know which side of the turkey was the back and which was the breast, so it spent most of its time cooking breast side down - no harm done. Turned out a gorgeous mahogany color with awesome flavor and uber moist. We watched the FN Bobby Flay on-line video to figure out how to use the Weber kettle for smoking.

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I JUST BOUGHT A SMOKER TO DO MY TURKEY THIS YEAR. I WOULD LOVE TO DO THIS RECIPE AND NEED TO KNOW IF I CAN DO IT IN THE SMOKER AND IF SO, HOW LONG DOES IT NEED TO COOK? SOUNDS LIKE A GREAT TURKEY...CAN'T WAIT TO TRY IT!

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I want to use this recipe in a stand alone smoker. Having used the stand alone on other Thanksgiving turkeys, it usually takes overnight for the turkey to fully cook 7-8 hours. Is this a method i can still use in the stand alone? please help me and fast!