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.