Stone C. Lasley
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Brett's Famous Citrus-Smoked Thanksgiving Gobbler

meats
Prep
40 min
Cook
360 min
Total
400 min
Servings
16
Difficulty
Medium
Batch1×
Units

Ingredients

7257 gWhole Turkey16 lb; 14–17 lb birds work best. Neck and giblets set aside for the gravy
7570 gWaterBrine; 2 gallons: 1 quart hot, 7 quarts cold
230 gKosher SaltBrine; 1 cup Morton Coarse
110 gBrown SugarBrine; ½ cup packed
3Large OrangeBrine; quartered
2Large LemonBrine; quartered
6.9 gBlack PepperBrine; 1 tbsp
Dried HerbsBrine; 2 tbsp total of parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme
6Cinnamon StickBrine; broken
Whole Cloves optionalBrine
113 gButterHerb butter; 1 stick, softened
1GarlicHerb butter; 1 clove, minced
48 gLemon JuiceHerb butter; juice of 1 lemon
6 gLemon ZestHerb butter; zest of 1 lemon
6 gOrange ZestHerb butter; zest of 1 orange
0.7 gFresh RosemaryHerb butter; 1 tsp, minced
0.8 gFresh ThymeHerb butter; 1 tsp, minced
1.2 gBlack PepperHerb butter; ½ tsp
3 gSaltHerb butter; ½ tsp
2.3 gSmoked Paprika optionalHerb butter; 1 tsp, recommended
2Large OrangeAssembly; quartered
473 gWaterRoasting pan; 2 cups
Olive Oil optionalTo thin the butter for the skin
Carrots, Celery and Onion optionalRoasting pan aromatics
600 gChicken BrothGravy; 2–3 cups (480–720 g), chicken or turkey
57 gButterGravy; 4 tbsp
31 gAll Purpose FlourGravy; 4 tbsp
Salt and Black PepperGravy; to taste
Lemon or Orange Juice optionalGravy; a squeeze for brightness

A whole smoked turkey with glossy mahogany skin flecked with herbs, orange wedges in the cavity, on a wooden carving board beside a bowl of cut oranges.
AI-generated illustration.

My friend Brett Thompson (@hkstrongside) is a fellow watch enthusiast who cooks a mean turkey. This is his recipe as he wrote it, tuned for a 16 lb bird: a citrus and cinnamon brine, herb butter under the skin, three hours of smoke at 82 °C (180 °F), then a hotter finish.

Instructions

  1. Thaw the turkey for 3–4 days.
  2. Heat 1 quart of the brine water until hot but not boiling, then dissolve the kosher salt and brown sugar in it.
  3. Squeeze the brine oranges and lemons into the hot water and drop the fruit in. Add the black pepper, dried herbs, cinnamon sticks and cloves, and let it sit 5 minutes.
  4. Pour the remaining 7 quarts of cold water into a brining bag set in a container, add the hot brine and mix.
  5. Remove the neck and giblets. Don't wash the raw bird. Put the neck and giblets in the brine if you want them smoked for the gravy.
  6. Lower the turkey into the brine breast-side down and brine for 12–24 hours.
  7. Rinse the turkey thoroughly inside and out to remove the surface brine, then pat it very dry.
  8. Mix the butter, garlic, lemon juice, lemon and orange zest, rosemary, thyme, pepper, salt and smoked paprika into a herb butter.
  9. Roll 2–3 tablespoons of the herb butter into a small log, wrap it in plastic and freeze it 10–15 minutes to firm up.
  10. Set the turkey on a rack in a roasting pan and pour the 2 cups of water into the pan.
  11. Loosen the skin over both breasts carefully and spread half the remaining herb butter under it. Spread the rest over the outside, thinned with olive oil if needed.
  12. Put the chilled butter log inside the cavity.
  13. Squeeze the assembly oranges over the turkey, inside and out, and put the squeezed pieces in the cavity. Add the carrots, celery and onion to the pan if you're using them.
  14. Preheat the smoker to 82 °C (180 °F).
  15. Smoke the turkey breast-side down directly on the grates for 1 hour.
  16. Flip it breast-side up, move it onto the rack in the roasting pan, and keep smoking until 3 hours have passed in total.
  17. Raise the smoker to 163 °C (325 °F) and cook until the breast reads 74 °C (165 °F) and the thigh 77–82 °C (170–180 °F), usually 2½–3½ hours for a 16 lb bird.
  18. Rest the turkey 30 minutes before carving, tented with foil if needed.
  19. Pour everything from the roasting pan into a large bowl or pitcher, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom with a rubber spatula.
  20. Strain the drippings through a fine-mesh strainer into another bowl, pressing gently to get all the liquid out. Discard the solids. If you smoked the neck and giblets, chop the giblets fine and pull the meat off the neck.
  21. Let the drippings settle for a minute, then skim 3–4 tablespoons of fat off the top and set it aside. The liquid underneath is the gravy base.
  22. Melt the gravy butter in a large saucepan, with the skimmed turkey fat for a stronger flavour. Whisk in the flour and cook over medium heat for 2–3 minutes until slightly golden.
  23. Pour in the strained drippings slowly while whisking, then add broth until it's as thick as you want it. Simmer 5–10 minutes, stirring often.
  24. Stir in the chopped giblets and neck meat if you're using them.
  25. Season with salt and pepper, add a squeeze of lemon or orange juice if you like, and keep it covered on low until serving.

Notes

All the times are guidelines: cook to internal temperature, not the clock. Weather, wind, pellet output and how wet the bird is can shift the cook by up to an hour.

Brett gets the best results from a 14–17 lb turkey. If you need about 20 lb of meat, smoke two smaller birds instead of one big one.

The timeline, start to finish: 3–4 days to thaw, 12–24 hours in the brine, 30–40 minutes for the butter and assembly, 3 hours of smoke, 2½–3½ hours at 163 °C (325 °F), and a 30-minute rest.

Nutritional Info

Nutrient Amount
Calories 409 kcal
Protein 49.2 g
Carbohydrates 2.2 g
Sugar 0.3 g
Fat 21.3 g
Fiber 0.2 g
Sodium 455 mg

Per serving of 170 g (6 oz) roasted turkey with a sixteenth of the herb butter and gravy, calculated from USDA data. The brine, citrus, aromatics and pan drippings aren't counted, so salt from the brine isn't either.