How to Cook Great Smoked Barbeque Turkey Legs

More people should try smoked barbeque turkey and especially smoked barbeque turkey legs. Have you ever had those legs that they sell on vendor carts at Disney World? They're pretty good and one of my favorite treats at Disney. I liked them so much that I told my wife that we have to duplicate those legs at home. We made a few attempts but we didn't get it right until we discovered the secret. The secret is brining. You have to marinate the legs in a brine solution before you put them on the smoker.

Achieving juicy turkey legs is almost foolproof if you take the step of brining. It's also an opportunity to add additional flavors by adding fruit juices, spices, and sweeteners like honey.

Barbeque

The other trick of great barbeque turkey legs is crisp skin. To get crisp skin you must have dry skin (the moisture of the brine will make the skin mushy). The turkey legs must air dry uncovered for at least two hours to evaporate water just below the surface of the skin. Just make sure that you do this in the refrigerator.

How to Cook Great Smoked Barbeque Turkey Legs

Use apple or cherry wood for your smoke. The smoke is milder and imparts a slight sweetness to the turkey legs.

As a precaution remember to wash and disinfect anything that comes in contact with raw poultry. Salmonella poisoning is no joke so be careful.

Follow these steps to cook perfect smoked barbeque turkey legs:

1. Prepare your brine marinade and immerse the legs in the brine. Use one of the brining recipes for poultry and it let stay in the brine for no more than 4 hours.

2. Take the legs out of the brine, wash off and pat dry. Let the legs air dry under refrigeration for at least 2 hours. Rub the legs down with olive oil and season. You can season with simple salt and pepper or you can use a rub. There are several poultry rubs that make a tasty turkey legs.

3. Prepare your smoker with lump charcoal and stabilize the temperature in the range between 230 to 250 degrees. It takes about 35 minutes per pound of turkey legs to cook to an internal temperature of 160 degrees.

4. As stated previously, apple or cherry wood are good smoking choices for turkey. You can also use hickory or oak for a heavier smoke flavor. I would avoid mesquite; it has a very strong flavor leaves a slightly bitter taste.

5. You are going to need a good instant read meat thermometer to determine doneness of your turkey legs Be sure to check several locations and avoid touching bone.

6. When done let the legs rest for 15 minutes before serving.

Enjoy those smoked barbeque turkey legs!

How to Cook Great Smoked Barbeque Turkey Legs

If you would like to read more detail on how to cook great smoked barbeque turkey and other tips, techniques, and recommendations on barbeque cooking click here for the best "Q" resource on the net.

The Perfect Smoked Ribs Recipe

Cooking has been considered a form of art, just like making a smoked ribs recipe the right way. Smoking ribs is a favourite family dish, whether it is done in the comfort of the home or being ordered at restaurants. Smoked ribs recipe is simple and requires a good kind of pork or beef ribs that are smoke barbequed well on a griller or oven with a flavourful marinade that is applied onto the ribs.

The kind of marinade that is applied to coat the ribs is the cook's preference depending on the chosen flavor. The marinade could taste sweet, sweet and spicy or others prefer sweet and hot. The secret to attaining good smoked ribs recipe is in the method used in cooking the ribs. The initial consideration is whether or not to use a good quality wood to smoke the ribs with. The wood for this kind should be untreated, which means it is free of any chemicals and is not rotten.

Bbq Recipe

The next thing to consider for cooking a smoked ribs recipe is the smoker where the actual cooking will be done. The smoker can also be used as a charcoal grill if preferred. With the smoker, start the fire by using charcoal rather than wood on the smoking section of the smoker. When the fire is ready, spread the racks of ribs by the meat compartment of the smoker, making sure that it is placed far from the heat source to prevent burning. If the smoker does not have a divider to separate the heat source to the ribs, use brick or large stones for this. The point created here is allowing the smoke to get into the ribs without it directly hitting the heat source.

To create a good smoked ribs recipe is to close up the air valves to allow minimal air to flow out and have a low fire. This will trap the toxic part of the smoke, which is carbon dioxide, to escape into the atmosphere. Every couple of hours the ribs should be turned to allow an even cooking of the smoked ribs recipe. If necessary, add wood or charcoal so as to keep the fire alive while still barbequing the smoke ribs. The more wood or charcoal is added to the smoker, the more the smoking process is achieved. When the wood burns down, the smoker's valve could be opened to allow the airflow to exit. Smoked ribs recipe will still taste good even if the airflow is not so consistent.

To achieve a good recipe, the fire in the smoker should never die out. Make sure that the ribs cool off in the smoker before cooking is done and then have it heated up again by restarting the fire. It takes about 3-5 hours for the recipe to cook. Allow it to cool down first before serving. It is also advised to wrap the smoked ribs in a good quality foil to seal its smoky flavor.

The Perfect Smoked Ribs Recipe

For more great recipes and tips from Chef Michael please visit his Barbeque Blog at: Smoked Ribs Recipe

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