First things first: prep your smoker. Ensure you have enough pellets or wood for the cook, clean the grates, and it is always nice to start with a fresh firebox. I use a Daniel Boone Green Mountain Grill pellet smoker and hickory pellets for turkey. Once you have prepared the smoker, set the temperature to 265 degrees and let it come up to temp while you prepare the turkey. 

Set out all of your ingredients and have everything measured so you can easily grab it while preparing the turkey, or as the French say: Mise en place. For the seasoning, mix 2 parts Kinder's roasted garlic salt, 2 parts poultry seasoning, and 1 part sea salt in a bowl.

Unwrap your turkey and remove any extras from within the cavity (neck, gizzard, etc.). Rinse the meat under cold water and pat dry with paper towels. Pour your Creole Butter into a mason jar or cup and mix a sprinkle or two of your seasoning into it. We use Tony Chachere's because the jar comes with an injector. When injecting, persperate the needle a couple times to create a little pocket for the butter. Inject the butter in the breasts, thighs, and legs from multiple angles to ensure juiciness. This will help prevent the meat drying out during the cook and helps push some seasoning into the meat. Any excess can be rubbed on the turkey as a bonding agent for the seasoning. 

Once injected, add the dry rub all over the turkey. Don't be shy, it is a large piece of meat and can handle a heavy hand of seasoning. Once completely covered in seasoning, cut the onion, celery, carrot, lemon, and insert them into the cavity of the turkey with a sprig or two of rosemary and thyme. These will help with the aroma of the turkey and provide some density to the inside of the turkey to allow even cooking. Grab the butchers twine and tie the legs together to keep all of this inside the turkey during the cook. 

Take a large casserole pan or baking sheet with some decent sides and set a cooking rack on top of this on the smoker. The cooking rack will allow the air to circulate evenly around the turkey and the pan will catch all the drippings so you can make turkey gravy later! Add your turkey to the rack and leave it for an hour or so. 

Now is time to make a baste that you will add to the turkey every hour. The baste consists of melted unsalted butter sprinkled with your seasoning, thyme, and rosemary. We recommend using a silicone brush to drizzle the mixture all over the turkey as to not disturb the seasoning. Continue doing this every hour until the turkey is done. After an hour or two go ahead and insert a thermometer into the deepest part of a breast, this will be the final part to come to the proper temperature at 160 degrees. Keep an eye on the wings as they cook, after about 3.5 hours you may want to wrap them in foil to prevent the outside from over cooking. 

Once the turkey has hit 160 degrees in the breast and 175 in the thighs, remove the turkey from the smoker and let it rest for about 30 minutes. This will carry the turkey over another 5 degrees to 165 in the breast and 180 in the thighs. Finally, remove the veggies form inside, slice the turkey breasts, and shred the thighs. Enjoy!