Well cooking the turkey after beating it up (Scratchcocking) was a part good/part bad experience. Busting up the turkey was fairly easy until I got to the part about breaking the breastbone so it would lay flat. Wasn't happening so I used a knife and meat cleaver to break it down.

I had preheated the Treager to 350* and put the bird in. I put it on a baking tray and it sat on top of a wire rack. I also put in a baking dish with half of the stuffing I made. The other half went into the oven, also at 350* so we could compare the smoked vs the non-smoked. The stuffing was one I'd never used before that I picked up at Costco.

The turkey weighed in at 10 pounds so I figured about 2.5 hours. At the end of an hour I checked the temp of the breast and it showed 145* so it was way ahead of the rest of the dinner. I turned the temp down to 225*. At 1.5 hours the temp in the breast showed 165* so it was done.

I took it off, put it in the kitchen under a towel to stay warm. When everything else was done I uncovered the bird to carve it up and found it was a looooong way from being done. So into the oven with it.

The turkey was way too salty but that was the fault of the brine she used. The smokey taste was good and the meat was very moist, just way too salty. The stuffing from Costco was a flop. There was some kind of
tiny seed in it that got stuck in our teeth so it was a PITA.

All things considered, our Thanksgiving dinner was a flop. Tomorrow it's turkey enchiladas then some time in the next few days it will be turkey noodle soup.

Here's what the bird looked like when it came off the grill.


Probably the best part of the day was this Costco cheesecake. Tina marinated some cherries in Grand Marnier overnight then I spread them on top. Yum.

Sorry to hear it didn't turn out good. Looks good in the pics.

Not a huge fan of turkey so we did a honey baked pork roast.

Turned out awesome.

One of our traditional after Thanksgiving turkey dishes is Cream of Turkey.

Served over Toast or over Rice.

My mom used to make it each year with some of the left over turkey.

I see some recipes online as a soup. Our version is not really a soup, although it is made with Cream of Mushroom soup. I is more of the consistency of a thick chowder or gravy, over toast or rice.

I brined a Turkey once. A co-worker was adamant that I use Kosher salt. She described what it does, but I can't recall the details, like it draws out something and was less salty than other salts/table salts or something like that.

That cheesecake looks amazing

"... I uncovered the bird to carve it up and found it was a looooong way from being done."


We did not remove the bone, but we had the exact same experience with the time it takes to cook. We did it on the gas grill, without anything below the bird in the roasting pan. Time calculated for cooking at 300* was 3.6 hours, but the thermometer was reading 165* way before that. When we took it off and the first cut to separate the leg/thigh. It was so pink and red juices, that I cooked it another 45 minutes. Still pink, but was done. The popup done indicator never popped up, either. Since we has brined it with Kosher salt, it was the juiciest white meat I had ever made on a turkey. The brine may also have been responsible for the color of the inside.

Not a tremendous main course, but the rest was good.

"All things considered, our Thanksgiving dinner was a flop."

I'll second that motion.

Had some awesome leftovers for lunch today. One of the best perks

Never trust the temp gauge or the temp knob of a pellet grill, they are notoriously wrong. I use a Bluetooth thermometer that has four probes so I can monitor meat temp and grill temp.

I second that. Most all built in thermometers are wildly inaccurate. And even if they were accurate, I don’t care what the temp is at the lid. I want to know what it is at the cooking surface.

I use a FireBoard and also a thermoworks instant read. I like them both.

I’m headed in to the bbq store in St Louis in a few minutes. Doing some scouting on a new smoker.

I did not get a pic of my Prime Rib on the Traeger but I can tell you it was good.



Had a couple of Hoddie Toddies and Mulled Wine and Spiced Apple Cider while sitting outside.

I also use a Bluetooth Thermometer with 4 probes. It came with 3 probes so I bought an extra one. Need to buy more for multiple steaks. I know when the dang things are cooked and no guessing or cutting the meat to see.

BBQ Temp Probe

Mark, that photo you posted makes up for a lack of a photo of your prime rib. Thanks for sharing it.

Mark that view is amazing.