I’m a big fan of smoked turkey and turkey logs. This particular recipe is one that I just love making. The trick is to remove the meat from the turkey and grill the turkey on a stove top for about 4-6 hours.
Because the meat is left out of the turkey, the turkey logs are a great way to serve up your turkey. I make a nice big batch and then store them in the fridge. There’s some great flavor and a little bit of smoke in the meat.
This is kind of a controversial technique – but it’s a great time to bring some out your holiday turkey. If you want a vegetarian option, check out turkey hash.
I think it’s important to talk about the differences between slow cookers and crock pots. Slow cookers have a temperature that is lower and therefore the meat cooks faster. Crock pots are designed to go to higher temperatures and therefore the meat cooks slower. If you use a crock pot to cook turkey, you’ll need to do a little more work on the stove top than if you’re cooking in the oven.
Crock pots are not designed to go to high temperatures and therefore they won’t kill the turkey fast. The only reason they do this is because they are designed to go to lower temperatures. If you are cooking in a crock pot, you are cooking in a fairly high temperature, so if you want to end up with a juicy turkey, you will need to cook it at a lower temperature.
To do this, you would heat the crock pot to a medium high, then add the turkey and cook it until it reaches an internal temp of 165F, then turn on the crock pot and cook for another 5-10 minutes. You’ll want to make sure you don’t over cook the turkey because if it starts to look over cooked, it won’t be very juicy and you wont be able to turn it into a great meal.
To test the temperature of the turkey, you can pull it out of the oven, put it in the crock pot with the lid on, and turn the crock pot up to temperature on the counter. If it looks ready to go, remove the lid and allow it to cook for another 5-10 minutes. If the turkey is turning a little brown over, it is still done.
There is a “cook time” for turkey. If you are not prepared to turn the bird into a meal when it comes out of the oven, you should allow it to cook for a longer cooking time. If you are on a tight schedule and you can’t cook a whole turkey in half an hour, the better option is to allow it to cook for a little longer and then put it in the fridge for a few hours.
The turkey logs are the best part of cooking turkey. It’s a little more time consuming but it’s worth it. They are easy to clean too (the turkey parts are actually very easy to remove from the turkey). After they are done cooking, I’ve found that they are a great gift to give to the turkey lover in the recipient’s life.
I’ve been making turkey logs for years now. I love the simple fact that I dont have to do anything special to make them. Its all just a few simple steps.