Paul,
Do you start off cooking the bird at 500 degrees? If not give it a try. I
had always heard a low temp was the key to a moist bird, they were wrong.


"P. Fritz" wrote in message
...
My favorite recipe is similar.......it uses apples and pears along with
onions and fresh herbs in the body cavity......and I baste it with masala
wine during the roasting.

"Sir Rodney Smithers" Ask me about my knighthood. wrote in message
...
JohnH,

I used to eat meat, mostly chicken and fish, with every meal. Today, I
eat
substantially less meat, so I don't think I would buy a smoker, even
though
I love the taste of a smoked meat. My brother had the indirect smoker,
and
it cooked at a very low temp. You controlled the heat with vents in
the
charcoal chamber. There was a temp. gauge for the food chamber, and he
used
an remote temp. probe to keep up with the internal temp. of the meat.

Since I didn't have a smoker, I tried a new recipe for cooking Turkey
in a
oven. It was by far the best Turkey I have had. The white meat was
moist
as can be. I purchased a fresh turkey, without the flavor solution (or
self
basting solution) injected into the bird. For the first time ever, I
did
not use stuffing (according to Alton Brown, the slower cooking time
dries
out the white meat). I placed fresh herbs and onions inside the bird to
use
aromatics to improve the taste of the meat. I used a broiler pan
(flat
with no sides) instead of a roasting pan. The roasting pan high sides,
diverts the hottest air from the dark meat where it is needed, and
directs
it towards the white meat, causing the white meat to dry out. Since it
would not be basted at all, I used olive oil to coat the skin, then
applied
a poultry rub to the skin. I preheated the oven to 500 degrees, and
cooked
the Turkey at 500 degrees for 30 min. This seared the outside of the
bird,
to keep the juices inside the bird. I then lowered the temp. to 350
degrees, covered the bird with aluminum foil, and cooked for
approximately 2
1/2 to 3 hrs. I had an internal temp probe similar to this one (

http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/...845067-0161568)
so I could watch the temp of the turkey breast without opening the oven
door.

At 161 degrees (not at 160 or 162 degrees), I took the Turkey out of
the
oven, covered it with aluminum foil and let it rest for 30 min. This
was
the best bird ever, outside of a perfectly smoked turkey. ; )

This recipe is adapted from my favorite food scientist, Alton Brown.


http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/reci...6_8389,00.html





"John H." wrote in message
...
On Sat, 26 Nov 2005 01:57:28 GMT, Dan Krueger
wrote:

John H. wrote:

On Sat, 26 Nov 2005 00:17:37 GMT, Dan Krueger
wrote:


Sir Rodney Smithers wrote:


JohnH,
What kind of Smoker do you use. I had one similar to this:

http://www.americasbestbbq.com/morei...t_ID=455627799

and it was such a pain to clean up, I finally stopped using it.


If I had extra space on the porch, and still eat meat often, I
would
like a
smoker that didn't require the clean up after each use. Similar to
this:

http://www.americasbestbbq.com/morei...t_ID=455628877

I loved the taste of chicken and fished smoked.


Do yourself a favor and get a "WSM". Same footprint as you
electric.
Here's a like for one of the better prices on the net...

http://tinyurl.com/afpro

Then you go to...

http://www.virtualweberbullet.com/

Enjoy!

Dan


Charcoal smokers are a pain in the ass. The charcoal must be
replaced
about
every 3 hours or so, and doing so is a lot of work. The electric
unit in
the bottom of the Brinkman makes the job much easier, and provides
an
even
heat source. I know my turkey will take 40 min per lb. With
charcoal,
it's
a guessing game.

John,

For starters, you don't use conventional charcoal. You use lump
charcoal - the real thing. The right stuff will last for 6-8 hours
without any intervention.

Dry wood chips added early in the process smoke the meat.

As for the guessing game, a remote thermometer will show you your
smoker
temp as well as your meat. You can set alarms to warn you if it's too
cold or when the meat is done. Good smokers like the WSM, Kamados
($$),
etc. will hold their temperature very well for a long period of time.

The OP (Smithers?) was looking at an offset smoker. They aren't
available in any electric form that I have seen.

Once you try a lump charcoal smoker (in any configuration) you won't
go
back!

Dan

Now you may have a point there. I've never used lump charcoal for
something
like that. What's a remote thermometer? That's something else I've
never
heard of. I didn't see a thermometer on the Weber smoker, although
there
is
one on my Weber grill.

Coincidentally, my brother out in Seattle just bought a new
grill/smoker
called a Big Green Egg. http://www.biggreenegg.com/ Expensive as hell,
but
he thinks he'll get great results from it.

BTW, I looked up Kamado only to find the the BGE has a close
relationship
with same. http://www.biggreenegg.com/history.htm

Have you used one of these? Should I invest in one of those or a new
Nikon
D200?

--
John H

"It's not a *baby* kicking, beautiful bride, it's just a fetus!"

A Famous Self-obsessed Hypocrite