UPDATE: I have found a new way to truss my turkey, read about it here.
We went over to a friend’s house for Thanksgiving dinner this year. We had an amazing time and it was great company, but my wife was missing her family’s traditional stuffing and I wanted to give turkey on a Joetisserie a spin (pun intended), so we did Thanksgiving dinner 2.0. Fortunately, Amazon was having a sale on a few of rotisserie expert Mike Vrobel’s (Dadcooksdinner.com) books, including his tome on [easyazon_link identifier=”B016RGM0QM” locale=”US” tag=”backyardmov05-20″]rotisserie turkey[/easyazon_link], so I had Mike as my personal Yoda for this cook.
I used a standard 10# Butterball turkey, since it was injected with juices I didn’t even bother to brine it, but I did allow it to defrost over a 5 day period. I rinsed the turkey and patted it dry with paper towels. Then using the instructions from Mike and the food network I trussed the turkey. Trussing anything is always a humbling experience and I must have watched the video from Alton Brown 10 times, but I finally got it. You want to truss it because it will help keep the rotisserie balanced and ensures that the turkey cooks evenly. I then rubbed the surface of the turkey down with a nice layer of olive oil. I sprinkled it with black pepper and kosher salt and stuffed the cavity with garlic cloves, thyme and sage from the garden.
Turkey on the Spit, coasted in olive oil, salt and pepper, and stuffed with garlic, thyme, and sage.
I setup the [easyazon_link identifier=”B01CCHXXHA” locale=”US” tag=”backyardmov05-20″]Joetisserie[/easyazon_link] on my kamado, and arranged the charcoal basket by having the charcoal pushed off to the side.
Mike recommends using a drip tray, but he cooks with a gas grill and I think the grease causes flare ups, the grease just cooks off on the charcoal in my Kamado. I got the grill up to about 250 degrees before loading the turkey. I always struggle with positioning my meat on the right spot on the spit and this cook was no exception, but I finally got it. You want to make sure that the turkey is able to clear the charcoal as it rotates.
Push your charcoal off to the side, this ensures the turkey has room to spin and isn’t constantly exposed to flames from below.
Everything seemed to be going to plan and I let the turkey cook for about 2 hours and 15 minutes before checking on it.
The smell of roast bird filled the air around the grill and I knew some magic was happening in that ceramic egg. But, when I opened the grill up, I realized that not everything was going to plan. The wiggling of the rotating turkey caused the thumb screws to come loose on the forks on both sides, with the loose thumb screws, the turkey wasn’t rotating, just the spit. So the same part of the turkey had been exposed to the coals, for who knows how long. Of course, this part of the turkey was far browner than the rest of it, but the whole bird had a nice color. The exposure to the heat in just one spot resulted in the butcher’s twine burning and the trussing to come undone, so the turkey lost that nice uniform shape as the legs flopped free. 135 minutes had also allowed the breast to cook past done, to approx. ~170 degrees. Despite all of these hiccups, the turkey still came out amazing! The skin was crispy and even with the overcooked breast, the meat was nice and juicy. My wife doesn’t shy away from offering critique and she was very happy with it.
Due to the turkey’s unbalanced form, I didn’t take any pictures of the final product, but I considered this cook a success. Turns out, rotisserie is fairly forgiving. If you are going to do a Turkey for Christmas, I think rotisserie is the way to go, just remember to tighten your thumb screws. Now I am setting my sights on spinning a Christmas Rib Roast!
[easyazon_infoblock align=”none” identifier=”B016RGM0QM” locale=”US” tag=”backyardmov05-20″]
[easyazon_infoblock align=”none” identifier=”B01CCHXXHA” locale=”US” tag=”backyardmov05-20″]
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