First turkey cook, so-so


 
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paul js

New member
I cooked a whole turkey breast this weekend. Brined per the various discussions here (about 10 hours), smoked using combo of hickory and mesquite (2 fairly small chunks of each). Cooked to 160, folied and wrapped for about 2 hours (till complany came over). Results: Looked good but did not care for the smoke flavor and a bit oversmoked. Also a bit dry. Did I have it foiled too long? If foiled that long should only cook to 150-155?
 
I'd skip the mesquite with turkey. When resting in foil, rest it breast-side down. Two hours can be a bit long for turkey but breast-down will help if you need to go a while. If you're cooking at 300+, you can pull a bit earlier.
 
Should have stuck w/ brisket huh?

I usually use apple or cherry w/ turkey. I've recently had very good luck w/ apple, and then only about one chunk, and I let that one burn down pretty good before putting the meat on.

I've also never had to rest mine quite that long.
 
When Bining a turkey keep a few ounces of brine seperate. Then just before your ready to smoke it. Inject some of the brine into the breast or turkey itself. This may help help. Its the one thig I always do when doing turkeys or chickens whole or peices.
 
Don't know what happened with the brine. I've brined turkeys with the 12 hour recipe and had no problem.

For smoke I use a combo of apple and cherry. About 4 parts apple and 1 part cherry. Using a little more cherry gives your skin a nice color.
 
I agree with the others. I would not use Mesquite with a bird. Hickory would be ok but not so much as it's pretty strong. I've had excellent flavor with cherry and apple as they are mild sweet woods. I like a very smokey flavor so I use 3 chunks of cherry or apple. Anything more would be overkill for a bird. As far as dryness goes the brine should have taken care of that. I've overcooked my birds a few times and the brine saved me.

I recommend trying Keri C's Apple Juice brine recipe. Follow it exactly and you will be very happy with the results. I use that recipe as my base when doing a turkey. I modify it a little bit each time to see what flavors I can pull out of it.
 
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