Easter Turkey - Injected and Smoked

I suppose you could call Sunday's turkey a bit of an experiment, only because I've not injected a turkey before, nor have I smoked an entire bird.  I will say, the results were quite tasty, and i'd do it again in a heartbeat.  An acquaintance of mine suggested trying Tony Chachere's injectable marinades, he thought they were pretty tasty and produced a moist flavorful bird.  So let's give credit where credit is due...here is the link for Tony Chachere's marinades:

Here's what I did:

1.  Rinse and pat dry a turkey.  I don't recommend going over 12-13 lbs for smoking, it will simply take too long.

2.  Using the injector, inject marinade in several spots in the breast meat, legs and thighs.  You will notice how the meat of the bird puffs up with the injection liquid.

3.  I used a BBQ rub over the entire bird, then let it sit for about an hour.  during that time, I got the smoker up to temp...around 225-250 degrees.  I used Apple Wood for this recipe.  I think it's a milder smoke and usually is my go to wood for poultry.

4.  My bird smoked for around 7 hours to get the deepest part of the breast meat up between 165-170.  I took it off and let it rest for about an hour while we made the other goodies to go along with the bird.

NOTES:  I think the bird came out very well.  The meat was amazingly tender and juicy with tons of flavor.  I think next time I will make my own marinade and try different flavor profiles.  The injection syringe is something that you can use over and over again, but for goodness sake, put it in a safe spot...the point is super sharp!    I recommend this method, it's fun and produced a great end product!

Eat Well!