‘Jakes’giving Smoked Turkey

This year we will be smoking our turkey in the Humphry’s Battle Box. We will be smoking not only the whole Turkey but 3 additional breasts to give us a little extra meat. The big smoke will take place on Monday, what we call ‘Jakes’giving, in honor of our youngest daughters Significant Other. Which has him leaving on Tuesday to join his family in Borrego Springs, a happening place in the middle of nowhere, for their traditional Thanksgiving. Youngest daughter will drive out on Friday after the Black Friday shopping spree with her mom and sisters, that now takes place Thursday evening.

First up:

THE PREP

Whole Turkey - 17.22 lbs Wet Brine. - Weber’s Apple Brine Recommended 24 hours - we did 33.5 hours

The Brine:

After pulling the bird from the brine we, coated the skin with a little olive oil, seasoned with just black pepper and granulated garlic, and then let it sit for an hour while we prepped the smoker.

For our fire we put a layer of Hickory wood chunks at the bottom and then covered them with Weber’s Briquettes. After getting the smoker to 225° we popped the bird in and were ready to go. 

The bird ready To Go

We brined and smoked the neck for use in our gravey. We felt using the drippings from the turkey would be way to Smokey. So we smoked the neck and then pulled it after 5 hours.  We let the bird smoke for 8 hours. As you can see from the above picture we used multiple probes to track the temperature while it cooked and pulled the bird when they hit 165. And of course while we waited we had to find some way to occupy the time 

A pecan infused Bourbon, Chocolate bitters, simple syrup, and a muddled orange slice. M-m-m good

The Finished product!

After pulling the Turkey we let it sit for 20 minutes before we carved. The taste from the brine was delicious, and the moisture from the brine was impressive. Even our resident Turkey hater thought that the turkey tasted great and was ready to smoke another one.

While we were enjoying the Jakesgiving turkey, we put the three additional breasts in the smoker.

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Turkey Breast’s - 3 Breasts @ Avg 1.5 lbs ea
Wet Brine - Barbecue Bible’s Bourbon and Maple Brine
Recommended - Overnight - we did 16 hours




The brine for these breasts was very basic. Except for the salt it’s title tells you all the other ingredients. So needless to say the flavors aren’t very complex. But if you love Bourbon and Maple (and who doesn’t) The taste is mighty nice.

To do a fair comparison of the brines we prepped the breasts the exact same way with olive oil, black pepper, and granulated garlic.

These only took 3 hours to smoke. Like the whole turkey these breasts were very moist, even after sitting until Thursday! Wish I had remembered to take a photo. The breasts cane out looking fantastic..