Our 18.5# turkey cooked in only three hours. I brined it last night with salt, apple cider and bourbon. Could the brine make the bird cook that fast and how do I keep it from drying out until the guests arrive in an hour?

I have had a 19.5 lb. in for about 2 1/2 hours so far. My breast temp is reading about 153 with a smoker temp varying between 320 and 335. I suspect mine will be done within another hour, so my cooking speed seems similar to yours.

Dave, what temps are you cooking at? If high heat I'd drop her down to smoking range to finish. I think you should be OK with this approach . . . don't know about the skin though.

I'm actually running late so I'm hoping to have speed cooks like you guys.

unstuffed the cook time doesn't sound unreasonable to me

you said it is done, you mean by temp? did you temp in a few spots?

check around the leg joints for squishy, check the cavity for pooled red/pink juice

you may want to let it go a little longer for appearance sake if you find those things but it's done by temp

if you're happy with it, you could try and salvage the skin by removing it to a plate, then foil the thing up and put it in a cooler until it's time for slicing

if you foil with the skin on, if you had nice skin when it goes in you won't when it comes out

It's a stuffed bird cooking at 325*. I checked different spots and they all read the same (165* breast and 175 thigh). No blood in the joints but the stuffing is only about 140* so I'm going to put it back in until it reaches 165*

I don't think I had my probe in the thickest part of the breast. It just hit 165 so I did a check on the other breast, further back...and I read 150. So, better safe than sorry!

quote:

Originally posted by Dave L.:
It's a stuffed bird cooking at 325*. I checked different spots and they all read the same (165* breast and 175 thigh). No blood in the joints but the stuffing is only about 140* so I'm going to put it back in until it reaches 165*

I wouldn't sacrifice the bird for the sake of the stuffing. Why not remove it (the stuffing) and oven finish it? The bird is ready now.

Final time on my bird came out around 3:50 .

Looks good!

Good luck to all!