Smoked Roasted Heritage Turkey

Heritage turkeys are not the same as store bought commercial turkeys. The common store bought variety is highly bred or genetically altered to produce more white meat at a faster rate than nature itself will support. Heritage birds are fully mature, processed at 6 to 9 months, and have a normal body shape that allows them to naturally mate.  This does mean a few things to be aware of in the kitchen.

The picture below is a 12lb narangansette tom that has been roasted and smoked on our own pit. You can see from the picture that hte body shape os a natural bird is quite different from what you may be used to. Thee birds have a much longer and narrower body, higher more pronounced breastbone, and much less breastmeat. What you find when cutting into this fine bird is equal amounts of white and dark meat, and plenty of juice from the internal fat to keep it moist all throughout.

I usually roast / smoke mine to about 170 degrees, allowing about 6 hours for snoking at low temperateure and 2 to 3 hours of actual cooking time. This is all on a Traeger Grill with a full water pan below the bird. Traeger grills are pellet grills that allow you to set the temp like an oven and walk away, and you can choose any type of hardwood pellets for flavor. My favorite is mosquite and hickory, sometimes mixed. Apple does ok for poultry also.  

Best results are obtained by brining the birds for 2 days before roasting. I take the frozen bird and place it in an insulated brining bucket with the brining solution and just leave it for 2 days. It defrosts slowly and brines at the same time, keeping it cool enough to not need ice except in summer. The flavor imparted is unbelievable! Then I go form brine to smoker for a day.

We will have these turkeys avaialble this year for christmas and thanksgiving. I can assure you that when raised properly, processed properly, and cooked properly, there is no better turkey on earth!