Greetings -
I've been smoking boneless/skinless turkey breasts on my WSM for months now (usually 2.2-2.5 lbs; both on the top rack). I know that many if not most on this site would recommend that I brine them, but I haven't done this yet (somewhat wary of the extra salt, as I'm keeping an eye on my blood pressure). I put on a basic rub that tastes good to us, and then smoke them for ca 4 hours at 225-240. Although I started out using hickory, as that's what I had, I've since moved on to almond wood for the smoke, as I got a load of it for free, and it's great, in my opinion. Here's my question: We recently had a party for about 30 people, and I cooked up ten marinated pork tenderloins on my Weber grill, and six 2.5 lb. turkey breasts (boneless/skinless) on the WSM, using both racks. As usual, I used a heat range from 225-240, with full pan of water. After two hours, when I opened the WSM to baste with apple juice, I became rather concerned, as instead of the golden brown meat I'm used to seeing, these breasts did not have the same golden color at that point, and they were moist on the outside, instead of towards the dry side, obviously in need of a spritz with the apple juice, as usual. When we got to the four hour mark, I pulled them when they reached 159/160, wrapped them and let them rest for an hour or so. Although they tasted great and got rave reviews ultimately, I'm now concerned that perhaps there is some trick yet to be learned when cooking more than my usual two breasts at one time. Even though all six of these tasted good and were moist with decent smoke ring (I used apple this time, for the first time) the surface area did not have the same bark-like texture I'm used to. I'd appreciate any comments from those among you who may smoke turkey breasts on your WSM. Thanks.
I've been smoking boneless/skinless turkey breasts on my WSM for months now (usually 2.2-2.5 lbs; both on the top rack). I know that many if not most on this site would recommend that I brine them, but I haven't done this yet (somewhat wary of the extra salt, as I'm keeping an eye on my blood pressure). I put on a basic rub that tastes good to us, and then smoke them for ca 4 hours at 225-240. Although I started out using hickory, as that's what I had, I've since moved on to almond wood for the smoke, as I got a load of it for free, and it's great, in my opinion. Here's my question: We recently had a party for about 30 people, and I cooked up ten marinated pork tenderloins on my Weber grill, and six 2.5 lb. turkey breasts (boneless/skinless) on the WSM, using both racks. As usual, I used a heat range from 225-240, with full pan of water. After two hours, when I opened the WSM to baste with apple juice, I became rather concerned, as instead of the golden brown meat I'm used to seeing, these breasts did not have the same golden color at that point, and they were moist on the outside, instead of towards the dry side, obviously in need of a spritz with the apple juice, as usual. When we got to the four hour mark, I pulled them when they reached 159/160, wrapped them and let them rest for an hour or so. Although they tasted great and got rave reviews ultimately, I'm now concerned that perhaps there is some trick yet to be learned when cooking more than my usual two breasts at one time. Even though all six of these tasted good and were moist with decent smoke ring (I used apple this time, for the first time) the surface area did not have the same bark-like texture I'm used to. I'd appreciate any comments from those among you who may smoke turkey breasts on your WSM. Thanks.
