13 pound turkey

[Like Smoke]

Hi All,
Last year I smoked a 13 pound turkey on my Texan Elite and it came out great. Now I can't find my notes for time and temp. I would like to get some feedback on your experience with starting temp and duration. Thanks in advance, I love this site.

 

[CMTiger]

Wouldn’t you know I can’t find mine either right now. I think I set my 575 at 300 all the way through and it took ~ 4 hours maybe. I wrapped the legs in foil at some point throughout the cook

 

[Like Smoke]

Thanks for the info, I use a rack called a Turkey Donrite. I found it on Amazon, it is made to hold the turkey up side down so the breasts are at the bottom when cooking. I remove the grill and set it in an aluminum pan on the grease catcher. I keep the pan level using a cooling rack and a piece of 1/2 inch angle iron. The rack has a flat piece that holds the turkey in place but still allows for adding your favorite seasonings in the cavity, I just use butter. Very pleased with the moist breast meat when done. 300 is where I'll start. Thanks again.

 

[RayClem]

I think many oven bake methods recommend a cooking temperature of 325F.

Since your Traeger is a great convection oven, you can do this as well. However, if you like smoke flavor, you won't get a lot at 325F. You might want to start your cook off around 225F for a couple of hours to develop some smoke flavor and then boost the temperature to 325F to insure you reach an internal temp of 165F in the breast meat. This will also insure the skin browns nicely. The Maillard reaction that causes browning proceeds rapidly at 325F. Starting at the lower temperature will prolong the cooking time, but will make for more smoke flavor.

Since turkey is a very lean meat, it is prone to drying out. You can help prevent that by brining the turkey before cooking, using injected marinades, or basting the turkey with butter or other fats.

 

[Like Smoke]

Great info, Thanks