KevinD

I wouldn’t mind trying that - looks mighty tasty from here, too bad I’m not closer to drop in and do some quality control checks for you...

Here is the finished result of the reason for the smoked turkey:

No carved pics but the turkey was moist and nicely done thoughout. Smoke flavor was nice without being overwhelming - everyone enjoyed it.

The turkey should be moist and tender, I’ve not yet carved into it but will in a couple of hours. I brined it for 6 hrs which have added some moisture content and given how efficient our Komodos are, I wouldn’t think that I suffered moisture loss beyond what the brine added. Once I get into the turkey and have had a chance to eat some of it with my guests I will report back on those results…

Yes, it got real cold here in Southern California, for us – 41° F overnight. Sorry I couldn’t resist teasing my friends on the forum in the colder climates – I do love the idea of seasons, but don’t know how well I would live in them. When we get into what I called “real winter” in my area of southern California, it will get down to just below freezing on many nights.

Not a problem, bagged this one in the wilds of my Albertsons supermarket - it was crazy in there.

Ok, here we are 8 hours and 15 minutes later, and the 17 pound turkey is at 165°F for all areas probed, so off it comes. Didn’t open Pele up at all except to take a final temperature check this morning with my thermapen. Pictures below... Carving will wait until people begin to arrive much later today, probably 4 PM Pacific time. That of course assumes that I can deal with the scent of smoked turkey in my house all afternoon and not give in to temptation... FYI: I used two medium sized chunks each of pedan and cherry.

It has been a while since I’ve had some fun with Pele and tonight I fired her up to smoke a turkey for my family’s annual Christmas tree trimming party. Prior to acquiring Pele I had bought fantastic smoked turkeys from Greenberg Smoked Turkey in Tyler, TX. As much as I enjoyed those birds there’s no reason for me to not give it a spin on my own cooker so tonight, I put this on for enjoyment tomorrow... Planning on the traditional low and slow @225° I brined in a simple salt water solution for @six hours, dried the bird and seasoned with a mixture of ground black pepper, a bit of cayenne pepper, picante papriki, onion and garlic powder, with some good old Schillings poultry seasoning tossed in as well. Put it on midnight and I’ll check at 8 in the morning. I’ve allowed for a possible12 hour cook, + or - an hour or two. Since I plan to serve this up carved for sandwiches or general noshing, finish time really is not critical. Of course I will post the obligatory finish pictures...

I’ve got to say, there are some very nice set ups you folks at out there! And I have to agree the Komodo Kamado sign is the icing on the cake, I wish I had the foresight to have saved mine…

My family and friends voted to keep it really simple for our upcoming 4th of July celebration and just stick to good old classic grilling hotdogs & hamburgers, corn on the cob &watermelon, but I just couldn't let this weekend go by without doing something on my Komodo...Who said I run a democracy at my house anyway? Started off with a couple of pork shoulders picked up from Costco and after about 13 hours on Pele, we have the following results:

OMG - that all looks so fantastic, especially love the crispy look of your egg while still having the runny yolk! Lip smackin goodness! Happy Brithday to all or our Canadian Brothers and Sisters!

As others have said – absolutely well-deserved continuing recognition! Tongue firmly planted in cheek - Dennis, don't rest on your laurels as I just received an email today claiming that the most-advanced ceramic grill is the "Monolith Grill - BBQ Guru Edition." But as I sit back and reflect on what I read in the email and then watched on YouTube, I suppose it would be akin to putting voice control recognition on a Yugo? Though, I'm sure the grill on its own performs well for its price point. Even though I've not been active on the forum over the last few to several months, I want to say that I continue to thoroughly enjoy Pele, my beyond beautiful 23" Ultimate in Terra blue…

I'll be right on over Jeff - next time you send me an invite in advance - looks absolutely amazing!

Did two myself last night, but alas, just cooking with CostCo prime brisket. One was for a friend who told me I can't ever smoke anything again unless, I had one of "whatever" for him too! So he came over and took his home, while I had a few slices of mine for lunch and prepped the rest for a gathering next week at one of the county beaches near to Santa Barbara CA (Jalama County Beach). Below are the shots of the prepped brisket followed by the vacuum seal bags for later consumption...

Very tasty and rich...the higher fat content is evident in the texture and flavor; and I was speaking of the flat! OMg, the point and some of it done up as burnt ends, I've never had better. I echo Tony's thought, I don't buy SRF unless on sale, and then it is bought and saved for special events. Worth it if you have the budget to spend it...

Finish cook pictures:

Wow, from @170°F to 205°F in about one hour 45 minutes! It finished a couple hours sooner than I expected! Took it off and it felt limber so I put it in an igloo cooler wrapped in towels (towels protected by foil) and there it will sit for the next four hours. At that point I will take it out, unwrap it and take the point to make burnt ends. This one definitely behave differently from my first two and per my comment to Robert, I still have a lot more experience to gain with brisket...

Thanks for the feedback Robert, I'm still a newbie when it comes to briskets. Perhaps when I've hit 20 of them , I'll consider myself "well-schooled" in the art!

What is wrong with me??? Never even thought about rendering the fat trimmings ! I will have to make sure to give that a try – Yum!

Ok, here are the next pictures: This cook started at 225°F temperature and after @11+hours, now it is coming off @ 170°F for the wrap in pink butcher's paper. I had started the brisket on the top level grate but decided after a few hours to move it down to the main level grate. The balance of cooking time I estimate to be @4 hours, with with the target temperature @205°F. Just a comment on the cooking temperature that I mentioned… It seems that most of the "brisket experts" that I've seen or watched on YouTube, like to cook their brisket at 250°F but the couple that I've done so far at 225°F have turned out wonderfully well. Perhaps the next one I will cook at 250°F which from the general guidelines I've heard/read, might give me a closer to 12 hour cook time on the Komodo. For those that are following this, let me say that the time on the Komodo at 225°F has been approximately 16 hours, followed by at least two hours resting in the cooler thoroughly wrapped to rest. For us that have the good fortune to be able to cook on a Komodo, it is so easy to keep a stable temperature that the length of time really does not matter. If you're cooking on something not quite as stable, that extra four hours of time might be just too much work... The next picture is more for laughs but it is the platter that I put the brisket on when I brought it in to wrap, and then return to Pele for the finish cook. I could not resist running a finger through the rendered fat juices and spices that were left behind; equivalent to getting the last bit of frosting or cookie dough off of the side of the mixing bowl – oh my gosh is it good! I'm sure the end result will be so much better...

At first I thought Dennis was joking, but then I thought about it, and it would be darned difficult to take that lid off if/when you had to. Now I REALLY would be impressed if Dennis had a mix into which you added water and then voila! Your help is there to assist in taking that lid off! LOL, very elegant looking handles Dennis!

A couple of months ago I took advantage of a Snake River Farms (SRF) sale which I believe was a "buy one get one" on their Wagyu black grade brisket (one level down from their top-notch gold level). I decided to host a family Super Bowl party and started the thaw this last Monday. This started as a 16.6 lb brisket and I ended up trimming 4.6 lb of surface fat and the huge wedge of fat between the point and flat. The amount of fat I trimmed was more than I expected to have to trim off of this brisket but, since Wagyu is renowned for heavy marbling, perhaps the amount of fat I trimmed off isn't unreasonable? Purely out of curiosity I would ask if anyone else has bought and trimmed SRF black label brisket, is my experience consistent with your own experience? Thanks in advance for your feedback! Now for the first pictures... I promise more, including the finish pictures...

A work of art! But then, anything less wouldn't have been expected!

Wow - top notch all the way! What a spectacular celebration and such long range planning - I hope that every bit of what you had for your celebration lived up to your expectation - A resounding birthday cheer from me to you!

One more comment on the difference between the two deep dish pie's… The first had the traditional buttery/flaky crust and called for basically no kneading, just enough mixing to hold the dough together and after the appropriate rise, press it out from the center to the edge, then thinly halfway up the side to keep everything within the crust. Pequod version as the recipe tells, results in a very bready dough/crust which is a consequence of all of the kneading time (3-5 minutes) with a dough hook in a mixer. After rise has finished, press out dough to the edge but not up the sides as the mozzarella and tomato sauce will caramelize to form the chewy outer/upper crust – Yum! As mentioned before my next bake will use the original flaky and buttery crust but I will not press the dough up the side of the pan, leaving the cheese and tomato to form the upper crust. I'm hoping that will give me the best of the two pies – at least in my humble opinion – LOL!