Bourbon Brined Smoked Turkey — Ultimate Thanksgiving Turkey

We’re finally sharing the secrets to the final word smoke-cured Turkey for your Thanksgiving Dinner.
This smoke-cured turkey is jam full of mega flavor, from a bourbon citrus brine, to Associate in Nursing herbed butter, to a dry rub, this can be the juiciest and most flavourful turkey that may have your guests going back for seconds… and perhaps even thirds.

Ingredients

• 1 one2-14 pound whole turkey (unbrined)

For the Brine

• 8 quarts water
• 1 one/2 cups kosher salt
• 1/2 cup refined sugar
• 1 cup bourbon
• 2 oranges, dig quarters
• 1 lemon, dig quarters
• 1/3 cup whole peppercorns
• 10 whole cloves
• 2 dried bay leaves

For the Herbed Butter

• 1 stick tasteless butter, at temperature
• 1/2 tablespoon recent rosemary, chopped
• 1/2 tablespoon recent thyme, chopped
• 1/2 tablespoon recent sage, chopped

Dry Rub

• 1/2 cup Our final Dry Rub for Chicken or Pork ,(link in notes)

Cavity Stuffing

• 2 oranges quartered, we have a tendency to use navel
• 1 lemon, quartered
• 6 garlic cloves
• 1 red or yellow onion, quartered
• 10 sprigs thyme
• 2 giant sprigs of rosemary

Instructions

For Brine

1. Prepare turkey for brine by absolutely defrosting, and removing giblets, neck, and trimming off excess fat.
2. In a giant stock pot over medium-high heat, mix water, salt, sugar, and bourbon. Bring heat up and dissolve the salt and sugar into the liquid, then close up heat.
3. Let cool and so add remaining brine ingredients. Add turkey to brine and canopy. Brine for twenty-four hours, avoid going on the far side thirty hours. At a minimum brine for four.

For Herb Butter

1. Add herbs to temperature butter and mix. make certain after you area unit exploitation for the turkey, it's still temperature.

Smoking Turkey

1. Preheat Smoker to 275 degrees.
2. Remove turkey from brine and rinse. Pat dry with a towel and let fully dry, will add back to electric refrigerator further for Associate in Nursing hour to assist. you wish a dry bird for the dry rub.
3. Stuff cavity of the bird with thyme, rosemary, oranges, lemons,  and garlic. Then stuff butter between the skin and breasts, spreading it out together with your hands right along the breast.
4. Coat generously with oil and so dry rub. Season rock bottom further. hold up legs and wings with room string, or tuck them to stay tight against the turkey. 
5. Place turkey on the smoker, and insert your digital meat probe into the breast and thigh or leg. Smoke till the inner temperature of each reads one hundred sixty five degrees (F). Use a rapid scan to visualize worker in numerous a part of the turkey, albeit the digital probes scan one hundred sixty five to verify all components of the turkey area unit braised through.
6. Remove from smoker (will seemingly take three hours with a twelve - fourteen pound bird) and canopy with foil. Let cool for concerning twenty minutes. Then slice and serve.