Rotisserie Turkey
Cook Notes
BBQ Used: Weber 57cm Kettle
Cooking Method: Weber Rotisserie
Fuel used: Weber Briquettes
Cooking Temperature: 190 - 200c
BBQ Setup: Indirect 50-50 split
Ingredients
1 Free Range Turkey (I got mine from Buchanan's Turkeys)
250g unsalted butter, room temperature
small handful fresh thyme
small handful fresh rosemary, chopped
small handful fresh sage, chopped
Method
Tease your hand underneath the skin of the turkey breast to separate it from the flesh and create a pocket. Next up, we need to prepare the herb butter to push under the skin. Add the room temperature butter to a bowl. Finely chop your herbs and mix them through the butter. Lift the skin and tease the butter underneath so it covers as much of the breast as possible.
On this bird, I used the Texas Steak rub from Angus & Oink which is basically a salt, pepper and garlic rub with a few other bits and bobs in there. Before we tie the bird up, drizzle a little oil over the skin to help the rub stick then season inside all the little creases of the legs and wings that we won't be able to reach when the bird is trussed.
To stop the bird flopping around on the rotisserie we need to truss it. Take some butchers twine and start by looping it around both legs and pulling them together. Next, take the twine down over the breast and underneath the bird. When underneath, twist the twine when it is centred on the wings and bring it up around each side of the breast to hold the wings in place. Tie the twine off on top of the breast and your bird is good to go.
Apply the seasoning to the rest of the bird then we need to get it onto the spit. Push the spit through the cavity of the bird and out through the neck cavity, piercing the flap of skin to hold it in place. Attach the forks to your rotisserie and push them into the flesh to secure the bird.
Fire up a chimney start of briquettes and tip it into the charcoal baskets of your weber kettle. Push the baskets to either side of the BBQ leaving an area in the centre to hold a drip tray. You are aiming for a temperature of around 200c but don't fret if it climbs a little higher. Place the end of the spit into the motor and turn it on. the bird should sit directly over the drip tray with the charcoal off to each side so it is cooking indirect.
Close the lid and allow your bird to spin. We can't really go off time on this so you will need to periodically check the internal temperature of your bird. You are aiming for an internal temperature of around 73c in the deepest part of the breast. This was a 7kg bird and it took around 2 1/2 hours to reach that temperature but I have cooked smaller birds in under 2 hours so keep checking as you don't want it to go over.
When the bird has reached 73c in the breast, lift it off the BBQ and loosely wrap it in foil to rest for 20-30 minutes the you are ready to carve and serve. Cooking a turkey on the rotisserie is probably one of the easiest ways to do it, you don't have to worry about rotating the bird to get and even cook or basting it as it is constantly moving which gives you a more even cook and also bastes the bird in it's own juices. It also allows you to cook at a higher temperature which cooks the bird a lot faster.
