The holiday season is officially here, and it’s the time of year to give thanks for our blessings. This year Hapa’s Brewing Company has had many things to be thankful for: a great group of friends and family, the opportunity to share our cooking and brewing adventures with all of you, and of course good beer and food.
This time of year also presents the opportunity to add a Hapa’s touch to traditional holiday food. Everyone knows that the centerpiece of the Thanksgiving feast is the turkey so naturally I volunteered for turkey cooking duties. Just like the pilgrims before me, I broke out the Weber Smokey Mountain Cooker and barbecued this mainstay of Thanksgiving tradition.
The turkey still wrapped… …and unwrapped
The first step in this cooking session was to prep the turkey. I wanted to make sure that I had moist meat after smoking the bird so I chose to brine the turkey for 24 hours. The brine included apple juice, brown sugar, kosher salt, garlic, ginger, oranges, cloves, bay leaves, and water. After brining and a good rinse, it spent the night in the refrigerator to dry. Doing this helps create the crisp skin desired in a turkey.
Brine ingredients Turkey in the brine before putting it in the refrigerator
On the afternoon of Thanksgiving I fired up the Weber and used apple wood chunks for smoke. I let the grill heat up to 325 degrees and then put the turkey on. I cooked the bird for two and a half hours at 325-350 degrees until the internal temperature was 165 degrees. When I pulled it off the grill it had a great dark brown color and crisp skin.
Turkey goes on the grill The turkey hot of the grill
After letting the turkey rest for half an hour we carved it up by removing the drumsticks and wings and cutting out the breast meat. I was pleasantly surprised to see a nice pink smoke ring on the meat which was moist with nice mild smoke flavor. The pilgrims would have been proud!
Give thanks, and eat!