Grilled Turkey with Bacon Weave - Pretty Tricky Smoker Project

I decided I wanted to bacon weave a turkey to smoke. I'm pretty good at bacon weaving but usually do things like meatloaf or pork loin and just make a bacon weave and roll the meat into the weave. With the shape of a whole turkey, I thought I'd have to try something a little different. And, now I can tell you how not to bacon weave a turkey for the grill or smoker.



First, I thought I would weave the bacon on the bottom of the turkey which I seasoned with Pig Pen Seasoning which is made in my home town and which I carry in my OpneSky Barbecue Shop, since it is my favorite all purpose seasoning for grilling. Then I planned to flip it. Let me tell you bacon does not stick to turkeys, and whew boy that was a mess. You can see it going wrong here. I did not even have the heart to photograph the pile of limp bacon and sad looking turkey after the weave fell off.



Hum, I thought: Maybe I can make a weave and roll that sucker like I usually do with bacon weaves for the grill. BOMP! Wrong answer. That was another mess and a huge pile of floppy bacon.



OK. Third time is the charm. I did the bacon weave right on top of the turkey. I laid strips of bacon all along the turkey top and then went back and did strips in and out. That worked out OK, but I still had to handle the bird gently to get it on the Traeger smoker.



I was glad I did not do a tight weave on the bacon. As the turkey began to smoke, the bacon did draw up (of course), but the weave was loose enough that it was not a big problem.

The biggest issue was that bacon grills much faster than turkey (or a whole one), so I was closely babysitting this smoked turkey and spritzing it down with apple juice and putting aluminum foil over the top to keep the bacon from getting totally black.



My grilled smoked turkey did turn out nice as you can see, but it was a lot of work and a lot of checking to make sure I did not burn the heck out of the bacon weave.

As far as taste, this smoked turkey was fabulous. The grilled turkey picked up both the bacon and the smoke flavor and was super moist.

I would suggest doing just a turkey breast with bacon weave on the grill, so the timing is not so difficult. Also, it would be easier to just put a line of bacon across the turkey and then remove the bacon if it started getting too dark before the turkey reaches temperature.

In any case, we had a very yummy smoked turkey, and it looked pretty too. But, it took some real work to nail it. I doubt I'd do a full turkey with a bacon weave again, but it was fun to try out.

Grilled or Smoked Brined Turkey

Moist and Flavorful Brined Turkey

If you want a really terrific turkey this year, try brining the bird. You do have to start a little earlier, but it's worth the extra effort.

Here's my basic Brined Turkey directions and basic recipe plus some ideas, so that you can doctor up your own turkey and have a unique flavor this year.

Once you brine your turkey, then you smoke it like you would other meats. But, don't add the water to the smoker. You want a higher temperature, similar to oven cooking. Aim for around 350 degrees F and about the same cooking time as in the oven.

The reason for the quicker cooking for a smoked turkey is that turkey meat dries out if cooked really low and slow. The texture is simply different from beef or pork. It still takes a while to cook a turkey on a smoker or on a grill with a lid and on the cool side of the grill (not directly over the flames or heat). The smoke flavor gets in there fine with the shorter cooking time.

If you don't want a whole turkey, you can do a bone in turkey breast. Just make less brine if doing a breast or breasts. Cooking time is less as well, since the size is not as large.

Also note that you want to go with the basic water brine recipe in the guide rather than the fruit juices, because the skin may get too dark with the extra sugar in the juice.

We plan to smoke a turkey breast and a spiral ham for Thanksgiving this week. I think we'll plan to do the smoking on Wednesday, so we're not trying to cook both indoors and outdoors on Thanksgiving day. Turkey is fine served cold but can also be heated up for the meal. The smoked flavor is actually more obvious the second day.