Slower Cooker/Oven Smoked Turkey

Smoked fish, poultry, meat,  vegetables and meat alternatives are delicious hallmarks of summer and autumn. Known for their rich and complex flavors,  smoked goods are highly prized, and highly priced. Smoking requires equipment and supplies, skill, a bit of luck, and a good deal of patience.   Smoking essentially is infusing food with flavor by engulfing the food in aromatic smoke.  There are various good cookbooks and great resources online to learn about smoking and barbecuing.  In general there's a low heat sources in either a smoking appliance or a pit, soaked wood chips are added to the the heat source and smoke is born.  The low heat is maintained and the wood chips are replaced as needed to ensure a constant amount of smoke.  Food is cooked in the appliance, pit or in the process of cold smoke is cooled to flavor the food without or with little heat.

What if you  don't have a lot of time, a lot of gear,  or not even a place to smoke at all, would it be possible to achieve the smoking complexity using common kitchen appliances?

Step One:  Salting the Turkey


Turkey drums were selected because they have good favor and they are relatively cheap.

Place the turkey drums in a container and salt them with about two table spoons of kosher salt.  A brine could also be employed depending the cut of meat chosen.  Cover and place turkey in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes to an hour.  Fluid will be noticeable in the bottom of the container. Safely discard the fluid off and continue to step two. 


Step Two:  Adding the Smoke Favor

Once the turkey is salted, season the turkey with seasonings of your choice. Here garlic an cracked pepper were chosen. There's nothing against using cumin, brown sugar, or mustard seed.

After seasoning the turkey, add liberal amounts of your favorite liquid smoke product to the turkey ensuring that all surfaces of the turkey are doused.  Return the turkey to the refrigerator for another 30 minutes.





Step Three: Cooking Slow and Low

With the salting completed and smoke flavoring added it's now time to cook the turkey.  Traditional smoking and barbecuing requires food to be cooked slowly and at low temperatures.  To simulate that use a slow cooker. Transfer the turkey to the slow cooker.

Add about a 1/4 inch of water or broth to the slow cooker. At this time additional seasonings can be added to the fluid including additional liquid smoke.  Be sure not to add too much fluid.  Set the slow cooker to the low setting.  Cook for approx. 6-8 hours, or until your thermometer indicates the turkey is done.

At the conclusion of cooking the turkey will have a roasted golden brown look. At this point the turkey can be eaten. The side of the turkey partially immersed in the water or broth will be paler and the skin will not be taut.  This can be fixed by finishing the turkey in the oven.




Step Four:  Finishing

Remove the turkey from the slow cooker and place it in a baking pan with a rack pale side up.  Bake 350 degree  for about 30 minutes.  This will dry or cure the soft side achieving a uniform golden brown taut exterior.  Other variations could include adding barbecue sauce and then placing the turkey in the oven.







It is defiantly possible to accomplish the look, taste and aroma of smoked turkey  using a slow cooker, oven and liquid smoke flavoring.

There you have it Slower Cooker/Oven Smoked Turkey!

-All Things Eaten