Whole turkey · 15.7 lb / 7.1 kg · Offset stick burner
Whole turkey, seven kilos, six and a half hours over apple and oak
A 7.1 kg bird dry brined for two days, breast packed in ice for forty minutes before the cook, smoked at 135°C for six and a half hours. Both the breast and the thighs came off correct at the same moment.
- Cook date22 Sep 2026
- Published27 Sep 2026
- Raw weight15.7 lb / 7.1 kg
- WoodApple
- CookerOffset stick burner
Cook timeline
- 13:00 Bird on, breast up, ice packs off Breast had been packed in ice for 40 minutes before this Pit135°C Internal4°C +0m
- 14:00 Lid stays shut Every opening at this stage costs 8 minutes of recovery and 5°C of chamber Pit135°C Internal26°C +1h
- 15:00 First look; added one oak split Breast 41°C, thigh 48°C — the ice worked Pit136°C Internal44°C +2h
- 16:30 Rotated 180° Breast 55°C, thigh 62°C Pit136°C Internal57°C +3h30
- 17:30 Shielded the breast with a loose foil tent Not wrapped — just a sheet laid on top to slow the breast by a few degrees Pit137°C Internal65°C +4h30
- 18:30 Checking every 5 minutes Breast 71°C, thigh 79°C Pit138°C Internal72°C +5h30
- 19:30 Pulled; breast 74°C, thigh 82°C Both correct at the same moment, which is the whole point of the ice Pit138°C Internal74°C +6h30
The breast and the thigh want different things
Turkey breast is done at 74°C and the thighs are at their best at 82°C. On a whole bird the thighs are tucked underneath and against the body, where they are partly shielded from the heat, so they also cook slower. Left alone, the breast hits 74°C about fifty minutes before the thighs reach 82°C, and there is nothing you can do about it after the fact.
The fix is to start the breast behind. Ice packs on the breast for forty minutes before the bird goes on chills that end down to about 4°C while the thighs stay at fridge temperature. That is roughly a 25-minute head start, and combined with a foil shield from hour four and a half it closes the gap.
| Time | Breast | Thigh | Gap |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 4°C (iced) | 7°C | 3°C |
| 2 h | 41°C | 48°C | 7°C |
| 4 h 30 m | 55°C | 62°C | 7°C |
| 5 h 30 m | 71°C | 79°C | 8°C |
| 6 h 30 m | 74°C | 82°C | 8°C — both done |
Dry brine for two days
A 7 kg bird needs a longer dry brine than a chicken. Salt at 1.2% of weight, applied 48 hours ahead, uncovered on a rack in the fridge. The skin dries to a parchment texture and the salt works its way into the thigh meat, which is where it is needed most.
No butter under the skin. It sounds like it helps and it does not: the butter sits between the skin and the meat and stops the skin rendering, so you get soft skin and no crispness anywhere.
- Salt 1.2% by weight, 48 hours, uncovered on a rack
- Pepper and a little dried sage in the cavity only
- No butter under the skin, no oil on the skin
- Neck, giblets and wing tips removed and saved for gravy
135°C, and why not hotter
Poultry is usually roasted hot for crisp skin, but a 7 kg bird at 190°C will have the breast at 80°C before the thighs are anywhere near done. At 135°C the gap is manageable and the skin still renders, because six and a half hours is a long time for fat to render even at that temperature.
The skin on this bird was golden and firm, not glassy. If you want glassy, finish the bird at 220°C for eight minutes at the very end — but watch it, because a dry-brined skin goes from gold to black in that window faster than you expect.
| Chamber | Time to breast 74°C | Thigh at that moment | Skin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 190°C | 2 h 10 m | 71°C | Crisp, breast dry |
| 160°C | 4 h 00 m | 76°C | Firm, uneven |
| 135°C (this cook) | 6 h 30 m | 82°C | Golden, firm |
| 120°C | 8 h 15 m | 85°C | Pale, rubbery |
Resting, carving and gravy
Forty minutes of rest, tented loosely with foil, breast up. A bird this size needs it: the juices redistribute and the thighs, which went to 82°C, come down to a carving temperature that does not scald your hands.
Carve the legs and thighs off first, then the wings, then down either side of the breast bone in two long slices. The carcass goes straight into a pot with the neck, giblets and 3 litres of water for two hours, and that becomes the gravy — thicken 700 ml of it with a roux and finish with the roasting juices from the foil.
- Rest 40 minutes, tented, breast up
- Legs and thighs first, then wings, then the breast in two long slices
- Carcass stock: 3 L water, 2 hours, reduce to 1 L for gravy
- Keeps 4 days refrigerated; freeze carved meat in stock, never dry
Cross-section notes
A whole turkey is the hardest geometry in barbecue: 7 kg of bird where the breast wants to finish at 74°C and the thighs at 82°C. On this cook the breast was packed in ice for 40 minutes before it went on, which delayed it by about 25 minutes and closed the gap almost exactly.
- Stall
- 0°C
- Wrap method
- No wrap (bare bark)
- Wrapped at
- never wrapped
- Pulled at
- 74°C
- Rest
- 40m
- Score
- 4.5/5
Verdict: Six and a half hours at 135°C for a 7 kg bird, no wrap, no baste, no flipping. The only tricks that matter are the ice on the breast, a dry brine, and not opening the lid for the first two hours.
Adjacent entries
14 Sep 2026
Whole chicken, spatchcocked
Cherry
Kettle with snake
4.0 lb / 1.8 kg
Skin crisp all over, breast at 74°C and legs at 82°C at the same time4.7/5
16 Oct 2026
Pork tenderloin
Apple
Pellet grill
2.4 lb / 1.1 kg (2 pieces)
Juicy at the thick end, chalky at the tail3.8/5
