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[darita]

The bird is still resting but at first look, the skin is not as crisp as I thought it would be. I pulled it off of the grill when the largest part of the breast reached 155°. After resting for 10 minutes the thighs were at 168° and the breast has risen to 158°. As I mentioned before, I had the grill set to 350°, maybe the results would have been different if I had used 375°. 

[hughver]

Frying temp has to reach 375* minimum.  That's the temp that will render the skin well and crisp it.

I suspected as much. Actually, the whole project was somewhat of a flop. First of all, I used an off-the shelf creole butter injection which was not very good. My DIY version was an order of magnitude better. Secondly, the breast were done perfectly but the dark meat was way undercooked at 168°. This was probably the last whole turkey that I'll ever cook. In the future, I'll separate the breast and quarters. Cook the breast to 155° and the quarters to 185° in order to fully breakdown the tough interconnecting tissues. BTW, the dry brined version was much better than the non-brined.   

[darita]

Frying temp has to reach 375* minimum.  That's the temp that will render the skin well and crisp it.

I suspected as much. Actually, the whole project was somewhat of a flop. First of all, I used an off-the shelf creole butter injection which was not very good. My DIY version was an order of magnitude better. Secondly, the breast were done perfectly but the dark meat was way undercooked at 168°. This was probably the last whole turkey that I'll ever cook. In the future, I'll separate the breast and quarters. Cook the breast to 155° and the quarters to 185° in order to fully breakdown the tough interconnecting tissues. BTW, the dry brined version was much better than the non-brined.   

I know it sucks when things don't work, as I've had plenty of birds that were not good.  On the other hand, now you know what doesn't work, so you can check that off the list, so that's a good thing.
Don't know if you want my input, but here goes...Try no injection.  Instead, season the bird and put in fridge to dry brine for 3 to 6 hours.  That's a must.  Pull it out an hour or two before the cook, to room temp it.  Just before the cook, pour the boiling water over the bird in the sink.  Its good if it's spatched, cuz it can lay in the sink on a grate, when you pour the water over the skin side.  You'll see the skin go translucent.  Pull the bird out, then re-season, spray a lite coating of oil on the skin, then right into the cooker at 375* to 400*.  When breast reaches 171*, check temp of thigh.  Thigh is usually much higher temp than the breast is, like around 180's, but I just make sure it's above 165*, so the dark meat is safe.  But like I said, it's always well above the breast temp. 
Just try that exact method once, to make sure it all works for you in that sequence.  Once you do establish that as a working method, then you can try one different thing at a time to see if it works too or doesn't work.  So far, those who have tried that method have had success.  From there, you can make it your own.  Really hope this helps.  Let me know...thanks.

[hughver]

Thanks for the advice darita. I fully intend to brine, use boiling water and 375° on future cooks. The problem is that if I leave the bird on long enough to adequately cook the quarters, the breast reaches too high temperature and tends to dry out. Even the first bird that I did for Thanksgiving, which was the best that I've ever done in over fifty+ years of trying, the quarters could have been cooked a little more. It's kind of like trying to cook tenderloin and brisket on the same grill at the same time. Even when I sous vide chicken, I cook the breast at 145° for a couple of hours and the quarters at 175° for a longer time. 

[pmillen]

The problem is that if I leave the bird on long enough to adequately cook the quarters, the breast reaches too high temperature and tends to dry out.

See this post for a way to pull the white and dark meat separately.  You don't have to cut across the spine or remove it. 

[darita]

Thanks for the advice darita. I fully intend to brine, use boiling water and 375° on future cooks. The problem is that if I leave the bird on long enough to adequately cook the quarters, the breast reaches too high temperature and tends to dry out. Even the first bird that I did for Thanksgiving, which was the best that I've ever done in over fifty+ years of trying, the quarters could have been cooked a little more. It's kind of like trying to cook tenderloin and brisket on the same grill at the same time. Even when I sous vide chicken, I cook the breast at 145° for a couple of hours and the quarters at 175° for a longer time. 

Hmmm...if you are cooking on the main grate, have you tried rotating the bird 180*?  You may have a hot side side and cold side.  Going higher cook temp may help even out the bird temps as well as the moistness of the meat.  Occasionally, if I don't room-temp the bird before the cook, the outer breast will reach doneness before the inner breast, so the outer dries out.  I experiment with chicken...my wife is sick of chicken...I'm not.

[hughver]

See this post for a way to pull the white and dark meat separately.  You don't have to cut across the spine or remove it.

Great idea, I'll try it. Thanks for the link.

[jdmessner]

Darita - I just want to say thanks for posting this technique. I ended up doing 5 turkeys on my pellet grill so I was able to experiment a bit. I dry brined most of them and used the boiling water trick on mine (the others said they didn't care about or eat the skin). Big difference between the brined and unbrined. Also a noticeable difference between the boiled and unboiled. The skin was picture perfect (tight and crisp) on the bird with the boiling water when it came off the grill.

After pulling the turkey, it was a 90 minute drive to my destination and about another hour after that before we ate. I boiled the back and giblets from the bird and poured the stock in the bottom of the pan with the bird on a rack. Placed it in a "cambro" until it was time to carve the turkey. When I opened it up it was steaming hot. The skin was not as crispy as when it went in, but it still was firm and not rubbery. The extra steaming kept the bird very moist and flavorful.

Thanks again for sharing.

[Jiggle Racing]

Mine came out great

Sent from my SM-N950U using Tapatalk

[pmillen]

I'd go to work on that plate.  Really nicely done.

1.  Did you use the hot water prep method on the skin?
2.  How did you prepare those sweet potatoes?

[darita]

Great job!  Glad it worked for you.  I still have not put any moisture below the bird, as I didn't want to add moisture to the skin and possibly retard frying the skin.  Now that I see yours, I'm going to have to give it a try.  Thanks for posting!

[sleebus.jones]

Nice!  This gives me a great idea for my next chicken.  I usually do rotisserie chicken, with a pan of chunked up potatoes, sweet potatoes with a bit of salt, pepper, garlic and rosemary on them.  A bit of olive oil goes in the bottom of the pan to prevent sticking.  They cook in the grill, and the pan catches all the delicious drippings from the chicken, and the potatoes cook in the chicken fat.  Oh.  So.  Good.  I'd say next time, skip the water and get those potatoes down there!

Here's a street cafe in Paris doing exactly that.  The rotisserie in the center is all dripping down to a pan of potatoes on the bottom:

[darita]

As long as the skin stays crisp/bite thru...

[Jiggle Racing]

11 lb bird. Did the boiling water and like others.... the skins shrunk right up tight against the bird. Smoked at around 225* for 2+ hours then cranked to 350* for 1.5 hours. The potato's were olive oil-salt-pepper. I actually added the pan at the end with the stock that my wife had made inside. I needed to keep it warm while she used our single oven to bake pies. When it all came off the pellet grill, I added the green beans.

[darita]

11 lb bird. Did the boiling water and like others.... the skins shrunk right up tight against the bird. Smoked at around 225* for 2+ hours then cranked to 350* for 1.5 hours. The potato's were olive oil-salt-pepper. I actually added the pan at the end with the stock that my wife had made inside. I needed to keep it warm while she used our single oven to bake pies. When it all came off the pellet grill, I added the green beans.

Well, did it work?  Is the skin crisp or at least bite thru?