Hi all,

Last week I cooked a test 13 pound turkey with
all vents open about 300 at top.
Thermapen read 180 in breast but 160 in thigh.
I tied the drumsticks and wings together.
Took the bird off and had to disgard the thighs
with dry breast. Any suggestions for my 17 # bird tomorrow for more even cooking?

Thank you

Robert

ICE

Or you can try lower temps...I cook in the 245-265º range and the thighs always are hotter than the breast. Typically when the breast hits 160-163º the thighs are at least 170º or higher.

The one sacrifice however is the skin will not be edible, but the meat will be done throughout and very moist.

Both ways will work! Happy Thanksgiving, good luck with your turkey!

Icing the breast works and another thing you can do is combine low/slow with higher heat. That gives the bird a good shot at the 'right' temps breast v. thighs, and gives you good skin to boot. It is how I did this one, yesterday. I used an empty foiled pan and Minioned the start with maybe a dozen lit. Left the vents open till it reached 250 then closed them partially so that rise would be slower but steady. Eventually it got to the lower 300s and I closed vents for a while and let it go,, later opening them and cracking the door a touch so that the temp would hit ~400 for the last 15-20 min or so (ended up being about 25 min till I hit the internal I wanted).