Smokin'

When we were up in Wyoming forever ago for the holidays, one thing my dad and Dustin really wanted to do was some smoking. No, no not like that! My mom just about had a conniption when I told her that the boys were going to go smoke some stuff. Ha! That was pretty funny.

Obviously, considering how much we love barbecue, we love almost any smokey, salty meat production. And trust me, it is quite the production. Although my dad did most of the work, I can proudly say that I helped the most by doing what I do best--going shopping with my mom and staying the hell out of the way.

Love this little Wyoming gem.

Note: being a cowboy is expensive. There is no wardrobe addition I desire more than a z-exay pair of cowboy booots. On sale, they are $139. Ouch. Sorry Boot Barn, I haven't won enough rodeos for you yet.

Anyway, I digress.

My dad brined the turkey first in a bath of salt, garlic and water. The garlic was kind of our own special touch since I love em some garlic, but also because the only non-iodized salt we had happened to be a sea salt and roasted garlic grinder. Apparently non-iodized salt is very important to the smoking process, and I never figured out exactly why.

The turkey brined overnight and almost killed us when we opened the fridge in the morning with eau de garlique. Holy moly. Oh well. It was like perfume to me :)

My dad and D smoked the turkey over two hours using a series of hickory chips.


This is the before shot, right as the turkey went in with the first batch of chips:



And as it went along, smokin away:

This was done in my dad's little workshop up at his job where he does lots of amazing projects, including roasting his own coffee beans, and now, smoking a variety of meats. It smells incredible.

And the finished product! Keep in mind that the smoking procedure in this case was only to impart flavor to the meat and not to fully cook it. After two hours of absorbing scrumptious hickory scent, we still needed to bring it home and cook it in the oven.


Served along side some of Ellie's stuffing from my Blogger Secret Santa package!

This delectable mixture was full of apples, cranberries and CHESTNUTS! Now what could be more quintessentially holiday than that? So delicious and so interesting to try. I was surprised at the texture of the chestnuts--almost like those water chestnuts you get in Chinese mixes. But my favorite was the chunks of cranberry. Thanks again Ellie! you are wonderful :)

Of course, with having turkey for Christmas dinner the day before, AND having smoked turkey the next day, we had tons leftover, which in my opinion, is the best part anyway because it totally calls for only one thing--SAMMIES!!



This delight was sprouted wheat bread stuffed with shredded smoked turkey, cranberry sauce and aged super sharp white cheddar cheese. Oh Em Gee. Perfect for Sammie Saturday--which was yesterday by the way--I am a day behind, but this post is like a month behind :)

Hope you all had a good weekend! I will see ya on Tuesday fer sure with a recap of our second Meatless Monday! xoxo