Smoked Turkey or Chicken Legs
- Ready In:
- 30hrs
- Ingredients:
- 15
- Serves:
-
4-6
ingredients
-
BRINE
- 1 1⁄2 cups salt
- 1⁄2 cup brown sugar
- 1⁄4 cup peppercorn
- 1⁄4 cup Emeril's Original Essence, mix (optional)
- 1 gallon chicken stock
- 1 gallon cold water
-
RUB
- 2 tablespoons paprika
- 2 tablespoons onion powder
- 2 tablespoons salt
- 1 tablespoon pepper
- 1 tablespoon garlic powder
- 2 tablespoons Emeril's Original Essence, mix (optional)
-
Broth for steam pan
- 1⁄2 gallon water
- 1 cup apple juice
- 1 cup white wine
directions
- Wash 4 to 6 turkey legs and place in roaster or large pot. They will have to soak in the brine for 12 hours, so make sure the pot is large enough for the legs to be completely covered in the brine.
- Heat the chicken broth in a large pot to a low boil. add all brine ingredients and stir to dissolve. Boil for 10 minutes, remove from heat. Add 1 gallon cold water to the brine pot, add cooled brine to pot cover legs, add more water if needed.
- Cover and let soak in cool place for 12 hours.
- Remove legs from brine and rinse. Pat dry with paper towels. Discard brine. Combined all ingredients for the rub and coat the legs. Wrap in foil or plastic wrap and chill in fridge 6 hours or more.
- Make sure your fire is ready (250°) before adding soaked hickory wood chips. remove legs from foil. Fill drip/steam pan with broth listed above. Place in your smoker for 6-8 hours. You do not have to have constant smoke on these, so do not worry. You will want to add water to the drip pan after about 3 hours.
- Remove from smoker and let sit 15 minutes before serving. Enjoy!
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Reviews
-
I halved the recipe, but without the optional Emeril Essence. Outstanding. Used gas BBQ, iron smoker box with wood chips that had been soaked for a day. Weber foil pan with the broth, and indeed had to add water. Not too smokey, luckily, since better half doesn't like smoked things, but didn't think of these as "smoked." BTW, steam pan broth: forgot to prep this, and didn't have wine, so improvised at the last minute with a cup each of verjus and white vinegar. Also, didn't boil broth/brine mixture (didn't read ahead in recipe), so just used cold. Sometimes it's a wonder my cooking comes out at all...but worked fine. Might be even better if you include that step.
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I love to cook, and I love to eat! I have lost over 40lbs in the 1st 6 months of 2007 by following the Body for Life program of diet and exercise. I have put together 6 cookbooks to help those that are trying to get or stay fit find healthy and great tasting recipes!
Always remember to use low-fat, less calorie substitutes for any recipes that list higher fat or calorie ingredents (i.e. Milk = Skim Milk, Sugar = Splenda, Butter = Smart Balance, etc.). You really dont have to give up good taste to eat better and lose weight!
Enjoy!