Old Dave's "Killer" Turkey

This is my second cook on my new Hasty Bake Gourmet cooker and I decided to just load it up a little to see how it would perform with a larger cook. This is my competition recipe with five turkey breasts. This recipe has won some money for both me and several friends. It is also the recipe I use for most cooks around the house for our poultry.

This is a great cook and with the holiday coming up, should fit into most schedules.

This is a great recipe and method for doing a great whole turkey or just cooking a couple of turkey breasts.

You will be brining and marinading at the same time and this will produce a wonderful result.

This recipe will work for both the turkey breasts and the whole turkeys.

Try to find a clean turkey that is not injected with the salt water and if you can't find one that way, try to get one with the least amount of injected salt water. You can probably find them from about 6 to 13% injected salt water so do go with something around 6% for the best results.

The turkey will be prepped about 12-14 hours before the fire so be sure you have the time.

BRINE, and it is injected into the turkey. Be sure the turkey is completely thawed if using a frozen bird.

This is Shake's Injectable Honey Brine with my slight changes and it is a great brine and I use it for all my poultry.

32 oz of water
1/4 cup pickling salt
2 tsp Tenderquick
1/3 cup honey
3 bay leaves
1/4 tsp gound cloves
1/2 tsp pickle spice

Heat this up on the stove to help it dissolve but do not boil or you will ruin it and have to start over. Just get it warmed up. Cool it down before injecting it into the turkey.



This cook included 5 nice turkey breasts and I did have to increase the above recipe to cover this larger cook.



This picture shows a couple of the breasts being injected with my brine. Inject 2oz in each leg, 2oz in each thigh, 4oz in each side of the breast. This is a total of 16 oz per bird or 8oz per whole breast. MORE is NOT better as it will make the turkey toooo salty!!!

MARINADE....I use Wishbone Robusto Italian salad dressing in the 16oz bottle and you need one bottle for each breast and about two bottles for a whole turkey.

You will be brining and marinading at the same time.

Place the brine injected turkey into a food grade small plastic bag and then pour the Wishbone over the bird. Align the turkey so it is longways in the bag and on one side of the bag. Carefully start at the bottom of the bag using both hands and work all the marinade up around the meat getting most of the air out of the bag and then tie off the bag. Better to have some help with this step. Place the bag and turkey on a platter and put it into the fridge for about 12-14 hours. You might turn it a time or two when you get into the fridge for a beer.



This picture shows adding the Wishbone Robusto to the bag with the breast.



This is all 5 of my breasts ready for the fridge and my overnight brining and marinading session.

On the morning of the cook, I take the breasts out of the bags and get them ready for the rub.



RUB...This rub has no sugar and will not brown or burn at any temp. (thanks mr. db)

1 TBl Salt
1 TBL Paprika
2 tsp Onion powder
2 tsp Garlic powder
1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1 tsp White pepper

I also left out the salt for this cook as my breasts were injected with 11% salt water and I figured that along with more salt in the rub would be too much.



I sprinkled on a light dose of my rub.



I loaded the right half of the charcoal pan with lump charcoal and then added a small amount of hickory and placed the heat diverter on top and lit it off.



I placed all 5 breasts on the cooker.



The breasts a little later into the cook and about half done. I did have to add charcoal again to get this large amount done.



They sure looked good coming off of the cooker. I placed four of the breasts into individual pans and covered with foil and then sent them out for delivery.



I deboned the one breast I kept for us.



I then sliced it up for the plate.



Plated with the balance of the meal.



Sure was good...

This recipe does quite well at the lower temps of 250-275 and will also do well at temps up to about 350.

I think I am going to like this new cooker.

Philly Cheese Steak Sandwich, Western Ribs, & Wings

I just purchased my "Lottery Cooker" which is an all Stainless Steel Hasty Bake Model 257 Gourmet cooker. I say lottery because it takes a lottery hit plus a second mortgage on my home for the funds to own one. I believe this cooker is the best of the best of the cookers like it out there and I have cooked on most of them.



This is the first cook on my new Hasty Bake Gourmet #257 Stainless Steel grill. I brushed it down good on the inside with peanut oil and then setup a fuse burn for this longer cook.



I used two firebricks and just split the firebox down the middle and added my lump charcoal. I will light it with a Weber fire cube in the left front corner and it should burn all the way down and around the corner and back to the front. I’m looking for about a 7-8 hour burn.



Looks a little tight at the corner but I think the fire will go around it ok. I then added some hickory chunks to my fire. I then placed the heat deflector over the firebox. Lit it off and then got my meat ready for the cook.



These so called Western ribs are cut off of a pork butt and are pretty thick. I sprinkled on a generous amount of Smokin’ Guns hot rub and placed them on the grill.




I got the cooker dialed in at about 225 degrees measured at the cooking surface and let it go for a few hours with the Western ribs. Near the end of their cook, I slopped on some Blues Hog bbq sauce and glazed them for a few minutes and then took them off the grill.



They sure looked good. I then added the first batch of my breaded hot wings.



The wings usually take about an hour at the lower temp and then I added my hot sauce and finished up the first batch. With my heat deflector in the center of the firebox, the two ends of the grill were not covered and I could move the wings around both direct and indirect and that worked out great for finishing them up.



Later, I added the second round of wings over the direct part of the grill and noticed that I had a big chunk of my hickory smoke wood on fire with the flames coming up thru the cooking grate and decided to just add the steaks as well for their searing. I had planned to do them at the end of the cook with a raised firebox so this worked out great.



I also sliced up a couple of onions about 1/2” thick for my sandwiches and placed them on the top cooking grid of the cooker for about 90 minutes.



The ribeye steaks had some garlic salt and fresh cracked black pepper sprinkled on them before the cook. I seared them about 4 minutes a side and checked them and they were done to about medium so that was just fine for them. I would have preferred medium rare but I missed that one by a couple minutes.



My two plates of super hot chicken wings.



The Western ribs.



My two ribeyes just before I cut them up for my Philly Cheese Steak sandwiches.



The steak sliced for my treat.



This is the start of my brides sandwich as she doesn’t do soppy. We will be using hot dog buns for our sandwich.

I like to place my onions, and my steak slices in some warm Lipton Onion Soup and then add my roasted peppers. I then prep my sandwich out of the soup.



I start by spooning on about 2-3 tablespoons of the soppy on my bun. I then add the balance of the ingredients from the soup. Next is the cheese....Now That is a Philly Cheese Steak!

Was a nice first cook on the Gourmet.