Grilled Apple-Oak Smoked Lemongrass Rosemary Garlic Turkey

This will probably be the last post for 2014. So with the last recipe of 2014, I wish you and your family a Happy New Year for 2015, and will see you next year with more recipes.

So the final 2014 recipe is for grill smoking a whole turkey with apple and oak wood that I made for my family’s Christmas dinner. You were probably expecting a photo of the whole cooked turkey in this post (it was impressive looking!), but since I was pressed for time cooking Christmas dinner, I wasn’t able to take any photos and the photo above is for the leftovers.

The turkey is made with a spice paste that is placed in the space between the skin and meat of the breast, thigh, drumstick, and back. The space is created by separating the skin from the meat using your hand or the end of a long cooking spoon. Even though the skin is separated from the turkey meat, it is still attached to the turkey, forming pockets for a spice paste. If using your hand to create the pockets, you have to be prepared to place your hand (and part of your arm) into the turkey. I use this method because I’m able to feel the interface between the skin and meat, and use my fingers to separate the skin from the meat without breaking the skin.

When I first thought about making the paste using a food processor, I wanted to use a fresh rosemary, garlic, kosher salt, and olive oil mixture. It’s a classic combination and I happen to have rosemary growing in my backyard. Lemons and lemon juice are typical additions, but I decided to give the paste an Asian twist by using lemongrass. Only the white portions of the lemongrass are used in the paste, and the inedible green portions, together with the rosemary stalks, are stuffed into the turkey cavity.

Inevitably, some of the spice paste gets on the outer skin when you’re putting the paste into the turkey. Don’t worry, since this adds to the flavor of the skin. The turkey skin is coated with a mixture of kosher salt, pepper, and baking soda. The idea and use of baking soda came from America’s Test Kitchen. The baking soda not only helps with browning, but also with crisping the skin. I used double the amount of ingredients called for in the America’s Test Kitchen recipe, keeping the 1:1:1 ratio of kosher salt, pepper, and baking soda.

Root vegetables can be cut up, coated with olive oil, and placed in the bottom of the roasting pan if desired. Pan roasted vegetables is a nice addition to the meal and doesn’t really add to the cooking time. The pan roasted vegetables also add some flavor to any gravy that is made from the drippings. I also put the turkey neck and organs on top of the vegetables in the pan to be cooked, but you can also omit these items and use them for stock or directly in the gravy.

A gas grill with a thermometer is necessary for grill smoking a whole turkey. Maintaining a constant temperature of 350⁰F (175⁰C) and previous experience with your gas grill will determine the total cooking time for the turkey. I have found that 12 minutes per pound (450 g.) produces the right results (again, previous experience determines total cooking time). So for a 14 lb. (6.4 kg.) turkey, a total of 3 hours is needed to cook the turkey.

The size of your gas grill also matters since that will determine how many burners can be kept on for indirect cooking, which influences the ability to maintain a constant temperature. My gas grill is large enough to keep both end burners on during cooking, so I’m able to center the roasting pan with the turkey between two lit burners. For smaller gas grills, only one end can usually be kept lit for indirect cooking once the roasting pan with the turkey is placed on the grate, which might necessitate an increased cooking time. Regardless, the roasting pan should be rotated 180⁰ half way through the cooking time to even out any hot spots in your gas grill.

The turkey should rest for 30 minutes or more before carving, so don’t carve the turkey immediately after coming out of the grill since all the juices will not remain in the turkey meat and will just drain onto the cutting board. I consider a turkey just a large chicken, so you can follow the instructions for cutting a chicken in the Poached Chicken (白斬雞, Baak⁶ Zaam² Gai¹) with Ginger-Scallion Oil (薑蔥油, Goeng¹ Cung¹ Jau⁴) recipe to carve the turkey. Unlike the chicken, where all the meat will fit onto one plate, separate the turkey dark meat from the white and use two plates. In the end, the turkey was very tasty and my family was duly impressed with the flavor.

Enjoy!

Ingredients

12-16 lb.	5.5-7 kg.	Whole turkey
1 cup	250 ml.	Fresh rosemary
½ cup	125 ml.	Garlic cloves
½ cup	125 ml.	Lemongrass
1 Tbs.	15 ml.	Kosher salt
		Olive oil to make a paste
2 tsp.	10 ml.	Kosher salt
2 tsp.	10 ml.	Ground black pepper
2 tsp.	10 ml.	Baking soda
		Olive oil to coat the turkey and vegetables
		Vegetables for pan roasting

 

Equipment

		Pot to thaw the turkey (if using frozen)
		Food processor
		Roasting rack
		Roasting pan
		Grill thermometer
		Gas grill

 

Preparation Instructions (4 Days Before Cooking)

1. If using a frozen turkey, thaw the still wrapped turkey in a pot in the refrigerator for at least 4 days.

Preparation Instructions (24 Hours Before Cooking)

1. After thawing or if using a fresh turkey, take the turkey out of its wrapping, and remove the neck and the packet containing the organs. Remove any excess fat and skin from the turkey.
2. Remove the tough outer skin from the lemongrass. Cut the lemongrass into two separate stalks, one with the white portion (which is edible) and the other with the green portion (which is not edible). Roughly cut the white portion of the lemongrass into ½-inch (15 mm.) pieces and place the pieces into the food processor. Pulse the food processor to form the beginning of the spice paste. Reserve the green lemongrass stalk portions for later use.
3. Add the garlic cloves to the food processor and pulse to incorporate with the lemongrass.
4. Remove the fresh rosemary from its stalks. Use enough rosemary to pack a one cup (250 ml.) measuring cup and then place the rosemary into the food processor. Add the kosher salt to the food processor. Turn on the food processor and add enough olive oil to form a paste while the ingredients are being mixed together. Remove the paste from the food processor.
5. Using your hand or the handle of a large cooking spoon (I use my hand), separate the skin from the breast, thigh, drumstick, and back from the turkey, using the neck cavity as the starting place, making sure to not pierce the skin. As a result, pockets will be formed over those parts of the turkey while the skin is still attached to the turkey. Take some of the spice paste mixture in your hand and insert into the space between the skin and meat of the turkey, trying to evenly distribute the spice paste throughout the turkey. The spice paste mixture will unavoidably get onto the outside skin of the turkey, but this will not be a problem.
6. Put the rosemary stalks and the green portions of the lemongrass into the turkey cavity.
7. Mix the kosher salt, ground pepper, and baking soda together and then rub the mixture on the outside skin of the turkey, neck, and organs. Coat the outside skin of the turkey, neck, and organs with olive oil.
8. If you have enough space in your refrigerator, the turkey can be placed on a rack in the roasting pan and then placed uncovered in the refrigerator. If there isn’t enough space, put the turkey back into the pot used to defrost it, and place uncovered in the refrigerator. Place the neck and organs into the pot or pan. Leave the turkey in the refrigerator for 24 hours.

Cooking Instructions

1. Remove the turkey from the refrigerator at least 2 hours before cooking. If the turkey is not already on a rack in roasting pan, do so now. If pan roasted vegetables are desired, they can be placed in the bottom of the roasting pan after coating with olive oil. The neck and organs can be placed in the pan on top of the vegetables.
2. Soak the apple and oak wood for smoking for one hour if desired. I use dry and not soaked wood. Put the smoking wood into the gas grill. Indirect heating will be used to cook the turkey, but turn on all the gas burners to preheat the grill. Once the wood starts smoking, follow the manufacturer’s instructions as to which burners to leave on for indirect cooking. My gas grill is large enough so that I can turn off the center burners and leave the end burners on for indirect cooking. The temperature of the gas grill will go well above the desired cooking temperature, but once the some burners are turned off for indirect cooking, the temperature will drop. The burners that are left on for indirect cooking need to be monitored and adjusted as the turkey cooks so that the temperature drops to and is maintained at the desired cooking temperature.
3. The turkey should be cooked for about 12 minutes per pound (450 g.), so for a 14 lb. (6.4 kg.) turkey, the total time is about 3 hours. The 3 hour cooking time is greater than the calculated time (which is 2 hr. 48 min.) because the grill needs time to come back up to temperature after the turkey is rotated halfway through the cooking time. Place the roasting pan with the turkey in the center of the grill and cook for 1½ hours covered at 350⁰F (175⁰C). Rotate the roasting pan 180⁰ and cook for another 1½ hours covered at 350⁰F (175⁰C). Remove the turkey from the grill and allow to rest for at least 30 minutes before carving. Remove the pan roasted vegetables, neck, and organs, and use the pan drippings to make a gravy. Maintaining a constant temperature and previous experience with your gas grill will determine the total cooking time for the turkey.