Smoking a Turkey with a Kamado and FireBoard

Thawing Safety

If you were not able to get a turkey from your local butcher shop, you will need to properly thaw your frozen turkey.  This will result in evenly smoked meat with consistent texture… and ensure food safety.  Be aware that thawing a frozen turkey in your refrigerator could take 24 hours or more!  Check out the CDC’s comprehensive rundown of thawing options.

The FireBoard 2 Drive and 20 CFM blower and the thermal stability of a kamado is a powerful smoking setup.

Take the Time to Brine

Those in the know will readily tell you that the secret to a juicy oven-roasted turkey is brining.  The same holds true for smoking a turkey.  This relatively simple step involves mixing up a saltwater solution called brine and soaking the meat for a duration of time.  Similar to marinating, this is an easy way to avoid dry meat.  The most this step will cost you is time.  While there are many brine recipes to be found, the essential ingredients are few: salt and water. Save your signature fragrant herbs and spices for the rub.  This is where they will have a more substantial impact on the flavor.

Mix up 3/4 cup of Kosher salt per gallon of water, soaking overnight.  You will need a container large enough to submerge the turkey brining solution.  The turkey used for this post was 21 pounds; a clean and sanitized chest cooler fit the bill nicely for a container. Do not forget to keep your temp below 40ºF (monitor your temps)!  Adding a little ice to the brine and closing the cooler dramatically stabilizes the brine temperature, thus keeping the bacteria growth at bay.

Start the Pit Before applying Rub

On the day of your cook, you will want to get your pit going prior to applying the rub to the turkey.  If you are using a Kamado smoker, visit our previous post about starting your charcoal with a FireBoard2 Drive and 20 CFM Blower.  This will give your pit plenty of time to get warmed up.

Ted makes quick work of starting a kamado using a strategically placed paper towel, along with lump charcoal and aromatic hickory pieces sourced from the Missouri Ozarks.

Rub

Ted’s spice set to make his turkey rub.

Rub: a noun and verb in the world of barbecue.  No real rules here. Whether you are using a premixed rub or putting something together yourself, select a rub with a flavor profile that complements your menu.  Ted has shared with us his go-to turkey rub recipe:

Sea Salt

Black Pepper

Ginger, powdered

Cumin

Rosemary, dry

Parsley

Celery Seed

Cilantro, dry

Mix intuitive amounts of ingredients in a bowl, and start by rubbing olive oil into the turkey.  Then apply liberally over the entire surface of the bird.  Don’t hesitate to add the spices under the skin of the breast.  While cooking, the fat of the skin will render out, and having some spices present will make it extra tasty.

Ted Conrad prepping a turkey for smoking on a kamado. He stresses the rub choice is personal, but getting the seasonings under the skin is a priority.

Drive Program

Ted placed the turkey on the kamado leaning slightly forward giving the ambient probe on the grill surface enough room to be able to take an unbiased reading. Do note the empty cavity adds to an efficient cook in terms of smoke distribution and total cook time.

The beauty of using the FireBoard Drive Blower with a Kamado is the temperature stability you are able to create during your cook.  Extending the temperature control further, a Drive Program can be used to automate cooking steps.  The three-step program for this cook can be seen in the inset screenshot below.  This program holds the ambient at 225ºF for one hour, then increases to 350ºF until the leave-in probe reads 165ºF.  After the breast hits 165, the program cools down to a holding temp of 180ºF.

Ted’s Drive Program to smoke a turkey on a kamado using a FireBoard 2 Drive.

Analyze

Ted monitoring his cook with his Spark on SyncMode displaying the active channels on his FireBoard 2 Drive, and checking the forecast of when it will be done with the Predictive Analysis feature of the FireBoard App.

The Smoke in progress.  Note the FireBoard Competition series probe was used for internal temp reading, placed in the thickest area of the meat.

Predictive Analysis screenshots, a robust app feature FireBoard added earlier this year that will forecast when your cook will be complete.

Final Temperature checks with a thermocouple equipped Spark instant read thermometer.

The Finished Product

The end results of a brined turkey smoked on a kamado. Enough succulent comfort food to go around for everyone at FireBoard Headquarters.

Hannah’s Alternate Session

One exciting feature of the FireBoard App is the ability to share your cook sessions in real-time.  It is as easy as sharing a photo or a web link. Click here to see Ted Conrad’s Smoked Turkey session done expressly for this blog post.  Be sure to see a completely different approach to turkey smoking. Click here to see FireBoard employee Hannah Stade’s rendition of Chef Tom’s Holiday Turkey.

FireBoard’s Hannah Stade is known for her well-documented sessions. Click the link to see her execution of Chef Tom’s Holiday Turkey.