Turkey in the smoker

 

This is my year to host the family Thanksgiving dinner so I thought I'd try some different ways to cook it.  When I only cook turkey once a year, by the time it comes around a year later, I have forgotten what I did to make it special... Come to think of it there hasn't been a really special turkey ever.  Once quite a while ago someone brought a smoked turkey to a potluck and I didn't like it.  Now after a few  years of doing my own smoking, I think I probably didn't like it because the person didn't know how to smoke properly. If he was like me, when I first started,  he thought any smoke is good smoke and the more the better.  If that is what happened, that is why it did not taste good to me.  So this year I'll practice a few ways so I'll be ready in November.  This one was was spatchcocked so it would cook faster and hopefully without any undercooked parts.  I took it out of the smoker at 157 º at the breast and let is coast up to 160º out of the smoker.  The dark meat was mostly 185 to 190 which is what dark turkey meat should be. Usually when it comes out whenever the pop-up timer signals, it usually means the white meat is dry and the dark meat is under cooked.  I mean its safely cooked but kind of icky.  This way the dark meat surrounded the white meat and cooked properly by the time the white meat in the middle was done and still juicy. 

So the look, feel and temperatures tell me that this one is going to be good.  When it cools down, i cut it up and we will have it for dinner.