Sharon, Elery says to be sure you brine it, it'll be delicious! He still uses the smoker, but he's been playing with the new grill. My little $59 gas grill that I bought a couple of years ago finally gave up the ghost, although I think I got my money's worth out of it. Since Elery's house was for sale, he didn't replace his old gas grill either, somehow it seems that a gas grill, no matter the price, lasts about 5 years before it rusts, the burners need replacement, whatever. So, Elery had to decide whether he wanted a gas grill or a charcoal grill. He looked at the Big Green Egg but it's heavy, can't be easily moved around, costs nearly a grand. The imitators are a few hundred less, but still costly. On one of the BBQ forums, he found this: They were first made in Arkansas in the early 1950s and some posters still had the original models, they say they'll last a lifetime. Elery loves it. He uses a hardwood charcoal that we get locally and a chimney starter so no lighter fluid is necessary. It's light enough to move into the garage with the door open if it rains and we can keep it out of the weather. Elery really thinks we should have let the turkey go another hour, it would have been more tender, but it's the first time we've done a whole turkey and it was too cumbersome for the smoker. I thought it was perfect. Lars, that garlic bread looks delicious, what a great idea, I'll definitely do that next time. Elery says we need a cookoff, you can come and visit us when we get the farmhouse done, you can bring Kevin along and finally get to visit Michigan! It was nicely smokey, not overpowering but still a very definite smoke. Elery says you could easily do it partially in the smoker too. Anyone leaning toward doing it (you listening, c?) should definitely give it a try, it was fairly simple and delicious, and gives you lots of leftover turkey. Islay, I don't think it travels THAT well, LOL, you may have to come along too. dcarch, gotta do something with all those garlic scapes, they're really good flavored with smoked turkey. Yeah, I'm a lucky girl.... Annie

I read on one of the BBQ sites that if the skin is too dark, then I was using too much smoke. I must say - the smoke was *pouring* out the vent in the top! LOL - I bet my whole neighborhood had their mouth's watering! We cooked it at 275 and it was done in about 4 hours - much faster than we expected. Dinner was 3 hours away, so we wrapped it in foil, turned it breast side down, and let it sit on the counter until dinnertime. It was still plenty hot 3 hours later!!! Our current plan is to try 225 and use less wood. Can anyone comment on any of this? We had thought about cutting the bird up since we will not be "presenting" a whole bird at the table. That way, we can monitor the white meat separately from the dark and pull each when ready. Thoughts on this? I'm trying to keep the oven free for the side dishes. :-)

If you really want to be adventurous, use it as a basis for a turkey and andouille gumbo. Assuming the turkey is about 8 pounds, and assuming you know how to make stock, here's how to do it: 1 smoked turkey, about 8# 2 to 3 lbs andouille sausage (see notes) cut into 1/2" 'coins' 1 lb baked ham, diced (see notes) 2 bell pepper, chopped 2 bunch green onions, chopped 4 cups onions, chopped 4 qt turkey stock (made from the carcass--see notes) or water 2 tsp black pepper, freshly ground 4 tbsp chopped parsley 2 tbsp minced garlic 1 tsp cayenne 3 tsp thyme 6 bay leaves Flour vegetable oil Salt Gumbo Filé Remove the skin from the turkey (save it) and carve the turkey. Save the meat. Take the carcass and skin and make stock. (Use a couple of onions, a few ribs of celery and some fresh parsley, about 6 qts water, DON'T ADD SALT, simmer for hours, strain; don't bother defatting because you will defat the gumbo later) Have all the vegetables prepped and chopped before starting the roux. To make the roux: in a large 8-cup pyrex measure or microwaveable glass bowl, use 2 cups oil and 2 cups flour. Put it in the microwave on high for 3 minutes. ItÂll bubble and froth. Stir it well, nuke it again for 2 minutes. Stir. Nuke again for 1 minute. Stir. Repeat the nuke/stir cycles, 30 seconds at a time, until it turns medium brown (about the color of peanut butter) At that point throw in some of the chopped vegetables to arrest the browning. ItÂll steam (be careful). Mix well. Put the roux and the rest of the vegetables in the bottom of a stock pot, mix well, add a little of the stock and mix again; then add the sausage, ham, all the seasonings except for salt and file powder, and the rest of the stock. Simmer for about 30 minutes. The oil from the roux and the sausage will rise to the top; ladle it off and discard. During this time, make some rice. Add the reserved turkey meat, simmer for another 10-15 minutes. Degrease the dish again. If the gumbo is too thick, you can add more stock or water. Add salt if needed (but you probably wonÂt need it, because there's salt from the turkey stock and the sausage). Serve over boiled rice. Each diner may wish to add ¼ to ½ tsp of gumbo filé to his dish, and adjust the level of spiciness with Tabasco. Notes on ingredients: Andouille is a rich and spicy smoked sausage. Acceptable substitutes are kielbasa or smoked sausage. DonÂt use low-fat turkey sausageÂitÂll taste like hot dogs. Ham: get a chunk from the deli and cut it into ½ inch dice. Gumbo filé is powdered sassafras leaves; it thickens the broth and gives an herbal touch. Chicken Stock: If you donÂt want to make stock, you can use canned stock but that can make the dish salty. Half canned stock and half water is okay. ItÂll even taste good if you use 100% water instead of stock, but stock makes it richer.

I believe the problem is that a fan is running all the time. Including when it is NOT on the convection setting. I have given up on the convection setting. Everything takes longer on convection, including baking. I just use the regular oven setting, but a fan is still running. When I bought it the sales person said all the new ovens have fans now, in theory to make the hot air move evenly. But to me it means it loses heat. There are a lot of complaints about that. It should be calibrated to see if the settings are wrong. A quick review of that online make it look very complicated. There is no paper manual, I have to go to their website. The top oven runs very cold. But that’s not the one we roast anything in, I only use that for things like fish. We are going to get a regular roasted turkey locally. Since we don't know enough about who might like it or not.