Smoking turkey in a hot and cold smokehouse: recipes, how much and how to smoke

Hot smoked turkey, cooked at home, is of great interest to lovers of smoked delicacies. This is a truly festive dish; it never loses its relevance. The product turns out incredibly tender, tasty, with a pleasant smoky aroma. In addition, turkey meat is valued for its many useful qualities; it is not too fatty and is not for nothing considered a dietary product. Cooking smoked turkey at home is not difficult if you know the main points of preparing the carcass and the technology of hot and cold smoking.

Useful properties of the product

The high popularity of smoked turkey among people who care about their health and figure is explained by its low calorie content and richness in nutrients. Poultry meat is rich in vitamins B, C, potassium, calcium, sodium, and also contains phosphorus, iron, magnesium.

The consumption of B vitamins has a beneficial effect on the human nervous system, making it more resistant to stressful situations. Vitamin B12 is especially useful for the normal process of formation, development and maturation of leukocytes, erythrocytes, and platelets. If there is a lack of it in the human body, then iron deficiency anemia appears.

Among the positive aspects of using vitamin C are:

increasing the body's resistance to diseases;
improvement of general well-being;
increasing stress resistance;
the process of cell renewal occurs better;
collagen synthesis improves;
blood vessels become more elastic.

When a sufficient amount of macro- and microelements enters the body, the bone skeleton becomes stronger, the heart rate normalizes, the balance of electrolytes in the blood comes into order, and the degree of endurance and stress resistance increases.

Calorie content and BZHU

Caloric content in boiled turkey is 195 kcal per 100 g of product, and in smoked turkey it is 104 kcal. Cold/hot processed turkey contains:

16.66 g protein;
4.2 g fat;
0.06 g carbohydrates.

Turkey meat contains easily digestible protein, which is especially important for athletes

Considering such indicators of nutritional value, turkey meat can safely be classified as a dietary product.Unlike chicken, which is susceptible to gout and urolithiasis, this product contains 2.5 times less purines. Thanks to the presence of arginine acid and the amino acid tryptophan in turkey meat, blood pressure is normalized and problems with insomnia disappear.

Important! Of all the parts of turkey, its breast contains virtually no fat; its impressive weight makes it possible to feed 4 adults, which is both healthy and inexpensive.

Rules and methods for smoking turkey

To obtain the expected effect - a tasty and aromatic turkey in a smokehouse, you must follow the following rules:

use only fresh product;
maintain time when marinating the carcass;
use the “correct” sawdust;
comply with cooking times.

To make turkey meat a real smoked delicacy, you need to choose sawdust taken from pecan, hickory, walnut, and mesquite wood.

If you need to achieve a weak aroma in raw smoked turkey, it is better to use peach, grape, cherry, or apple wood chips. There are hobbyists who treat apple sawdust with cider before using it, and soak hickory chips in bourbon. Alternatively, you can place a few sprigs of mint on top.

Turkey is smoked at home using both cold and hot smoking methods. The difference between them is the cooking time of the product. With the first method, poultry meat takes much longer to cook than with the second.

How to select and prepare a turkey for smoking

When choosing poultry meat, you should pay attention to color. If the shade is soft pink, then the protein content is less and the fat content is higher, but in red meat these indicators are the opposite.As for turkey skin, it should have an elastic and smooth structure; if it is slippery, this indicates a long shelf life, which should alert the buyer. When purchasing, you should press the meat with your finger; if the dent quickly straightens out and disappears, then this is a quality product.

Advice! The optimal weight of a turkey carcass is 5-10 kg; it is at this level that the meat has the best taste characteristics.

Poultry cutting

The process of cutting a carcass includes plucking, removing the entrails and the process of cutting the turkey into pieces. To get rid of feathers, you need to pour boiling water over the bird. After plucking, small feathers can be easily removed over the fire. You should not keep the bird in a container with boiling water for a long hour, otherwise the skin will lose its elasticity.

The process of removing entrails, giblets, begins with cutting out the tail and making an incision in that place. Particular attention should be paid to the removal of pulmonary sacs, which are similar in appearance to bright scarlet blood clots. Cut the carcass into pieces, separating the drumsticks, wings, and thighs. To prevent small bone fragments from accidentally entering the human body, you need to cut the bird along the joint, and with a fairly well-sharpened knife. The following are suitable for smoking: breast, thighs, drumsticks, fillets, or you can cook the entire turkey carcass using hot or cold smoking.

How to brine a turkey for smoking

The salting algorithm is as follows:

Wash the turkey and dry it with a paper towel.
Rub with salt and keep in the refrigerator for two days. Prepare a pickling mixture from: 80 g of salt, 15-20 g of sugar, 1.5 g of ascorbic acid. The carcass or its individual parts must be rubbed again with this mixture, placed in a suitable container, skin side down, where salt must first be poured onto the bottom.If desired, you can use bay leaf and black pepper.
Place pressure on top and place the workpiece in a cool place for two days. If the liquid does not cover the turkey meat within the time allotted for salting, then you need to prepare a brine from 1 liter of water, 200 g of salt, 20 g of sugar and 2.5 g of ascorbic acid. The carcass should stand in this mixture for another 10 hours.

Recipes for turkey marinades before smoking

There are several recipes. Here is the first cooking method:

You need to boil water (8 liters) in a container of suitable volume.
Add salt and sugar (3 cups of each ingredient), a clove of garlic cut in half (50 g), ground black pepper (3 tbsp), herbs (thyme, rosemary, lavender) 1 tsp. When the brine has cooled to +5 degrees, place the turkey in it and leave for at least 24 hours, turning over every 7-8 hours.
At the end of the period, remove the workpiece from the brine, hang it in the fresh air to drain off excess liquid, the procedure takes 5-6 hours.

Alternative recipe:

Prepare the marinade from 4 liters of water, 200 g of salt, 100 g of sugar (brown), ¾ cup of honey, 10 cloves of garlic, 4 tbsp. l. ground black pepper, 2 tbsp. l. ground red pepper, cinnamon on the tip of a knife, 1 tbsp. l. vegetable/olive oil. It is better to fry the garlic first, and only then use it in the marinade.
Place the turkey carcass in the brine and refrigerate for two days.

How to smoke a turkey

There are different ways to smoke turkey, each with its own characteristics. To ensure that the poultry meat is tender and aromatic, you must follow the instructions for preparing products using the hot/cold smoking method.

Hot smoked turkey recipes

At home, you won’t be able to smoke a large carcass using gas; it is recommended to divide it into parts. Don’t worry that the taste of the meat will deteriorate; the result will be the same as when preparing a whole turkey.

How to smoke a turkey in a smokehouse

The algorithm for smoking poultry meat in an apartment is as follows:

Rinse and marinate the turkey according to the specific recipe.
Place the pieces of carcass on the grill in the smokehouse, being careful not to let them touch each other. Pre-place chips of fruit trees on the bottom, you can add mint. For the first 15 minutes, you need to heat the smokehouse enough for smoke to appear. After this, set the temperature to 90-100 degrees and wait 6-8 hours.

The internal temperature of poultry meat during cooking should be at least 75 degrees. There is an opinion that the workpiece should be boiled in salted water until half cooked in advance. When the smoking time has expired, the turkey needs to be cooled and placed in the refrigerator for 4-6 hours.

Hot smoked turkey drumsticks

You can prepare drumsticks using the hot smoking method according to the following recipe:

Wash and dry the drumsticks, make several punctures for better penetration of the “Maheev” garlic marinade (170 g per 1.7 kg of raw materials). It is enough to keep the meat in it for two hours.
Place the marinated drumsticks on the smoker grate with apple wood chips underneath.

Smoking time is 1.5 hours.

How to Smoke a Hot Smoked Turkey Thigh

The recipe for smoking turkey thighs in a smokehouse is as follows:

The thighs need to be washed and dried.
Rub with salt, pepper and lemon juice. Make a brine from 1 liter of water, 2 tbsp. l. salt, 1 tbsp. l. chopped parsley, 3 tbsp. l. red wine and add 1 onion. The marinating time for meat is one night.
Hot smoke the thighs for 1-1.5 hours.

Smoking turkey fillet recipe

Do-it-yourself turkey fillet smoking technology:

Wash and dry the poultry with a paper towel.
Rub with seasonings, pour over soy sauce and leave to marinate in the refrigerator for two days.
Place on smoker rack and cook for 1 hour.

Smoking Turkey Breast

The algorithm for preparing turkey breast using the hot smoking method is as follows:

Wash and dry the meat.
Place in a container with brine from 1.5 liters of cold water, 2 tbsp. l. salt and 1 tbsp. sugar and leave for 2 hours. Dry, pour in oil and sprinkle with black pepper.
Place wood chips on the bottom of the smokehouse, place the meat on the grill, and cook at a temperature of 70 degrees for one hour.

Cooked smoked turkey recipe

The step-by-step cooking process is as follows:

Make a brine from salt, bay leaf, pepper and your favorite spices. Boil it for 5 minutes and let cool.
Place chopped garlic on the bottom of a suitable container, then turkey meat, garlic again, and pour brine over everything to cover.
Place the container with the preparation and pressure in the refrigerator overnight, the next day, prick the meat with this liquid, and again place it in a cool place for 4 days. Remove, rinse and hang to drain excess liquid. Smoke in a smoking cabinet for 1.5-2 hours.

Smoking turkey at home in a slow cooker

Recipe for the delicacy:

Salt, pepper, rub the meat with seasonings and let stand overnight in the refrigerator. Place a wire rack at the bottom of the bowl, pat the turkey meat dry with a paper towel and place. Cover with a lid and place a nozzle filled with wood chips.
Cook in hot smoking mode at 110 degrees for 1.5 hours.

Cold smoking turkey in a smokehouse

In order for the turkey meat to turn out with a bang, you must follow the following sequence of actions:

Rub the raw material with salt and place in a cool place for 4 hours.
Prepare a marinade from 1 liter of meat broth, onion, pepper, parsley root, bay leaf, cloves, dill, cinnamon and sunflower oil (2 cups). Pour hot broth over the meat, add 3 tbsp. l. vinegar and leave for 5 hours. Then the workpiece should dry in the open air for about four hours.
Place the raw product in a smokehouse and cook at 25 degrees for two to three days. When the time is up, the delicacy should be ventilated in the fresh air for up to four hours.

How long does it take to smoke a turkey?

For cold smoking, turkey cooking time can vary between 24-72 hours. If poultry meat is made by hot smoking, then 2-7 hours is enough, everything will depend on the volume of raw materials, the whole carcass should be smoked for 5-7 hours, and individual parts can be ready in a couple of hours.

Carcasses can be laid out on a wire rack or hung on hooks. During the smoking process, there is no need to periodically turn the product over; the smoke generated during heating is evenly distributed in the smoking chamber. When the cooking time is 6-7 hours, you will still have to open the door a couple of times to remove the accumulated moisture.

Storage rules

You can store smoked delicacies in the refrigerator, having previously wrapped them in foil material, parchment, and placed them in a plastic container. The shelf life is directly influenced by both the method of heat treatment and the temperature regime:

With the cold smoking method, the product can be stored for 10 days (-3...0 degrees), 5 days (0...+5 degrees), 2 days (0...+7 degrees).
With the hot smoking method, turkey meat does not lose its taste and does not deteriorate if kept at a temperature of -3...0 degrees (5-7 days), 0...+5 degrees (24 hours), 0...+7 degrees (12 hours) .

Not only a plastic container and foil are suitable for storing smoked meats, but an excellent solution would be to use vacuum packaging. In it, the product remains suitable for 10 days at a temperature of 0...+3 degrees.

You can also store smoked delicacies in the freezer. When vacuum packaging is used, meat does not lose its freshness 3-4 times longer. Depending on the temperature, the turkey is stored:

3-4 months (-8...-10 degrees);
8 months (-10...-18 degrees);
1 year (-18…-24 degrees).

Simple rules will help you smoke and preserve meat correctly.

Conclusion

Hot smoked turkey cooked at home is in no way inferior to a ready-made store-bought product. The delicacy has both a pleasant taste and aroma. The main thing is to use fresh raw materials, be able to properly cut and marinate them. Sawdust is best used from fruit trees. The taste can be enhanced by using a special coating, for example, with the addition of sugar, which is done in the last hour of cooking. You can store smoked meats in the refrigerator and freezer using foil, parchment or vacuum packaging.