"Hammy" Turkey


 
J

John W

TVWBB Member
Hi all. One of the comments I heard about the turkey breast I smoked last year was that it tasted "hammy". It turned out well and everyone loved it, but is there a way to avoid it being "hammy" tasting?

I used the apple juice brine from this site under the bone-in breast section. I had a 7lb bone-in breast and I left it in the brine for 24 hours. I smoked at 325 for about 3 hours using probably about 5+ chunks of cherry wood.

Was the hammy flavor a result of being in the brine too long, too much smoke wood, or both? Does a bone-in breast need to be brined that long?

Thanks!
 
I think the combination of smoke + saltiness can be reminiscent of ham to some people's taste buds. 24 hours is not too long to brine a bone-in breast. Not sure how big your wood chunks were...for something like a 7lb breast, I would have used 2 or at most 3 fist-sized chunks so as not to overpower the meat. But to address your situation, you can dial back both the brine time and the smoke wood for less of those flavors to retain more natural turkey flavor.

Important question: How did you like the flavor?
 
Thanks Chris! I and 99% of the others liked it last year. I guess there's just no pleasing everyone :) I will be dialing back on the smoke wood though as it did end up being about 5-6 fist-sized chunks of cherry.
 
Yeah, 5-6 is a lot, in my opinion. But I like a light smoked flavor, and you can always add more chunks next time, but you can't undo oversmoked meat once it comes out of the cooker. :)

Good luck!
 
I used that same brine a few years ago and got the same comments about it being hammy too. I think it was just the combination of the salt and apple juice that made it that way. I thought it tasted like turkey but what do I know.
 
Chris Allingham said:
Yeah, 5-6 is a lot, in my opinion. But I like a light smoked flavor, and you can always add more chunks next time, but you can't undo oversmoked meat once it comes out of the cooker. :)

Good luck!
Click to expand...

I agree. I treat smoke wood like a strong spice: a little goes a long way. I add smoke wood only after the fire is burning clean, one chunk at a time, for a very thin ribbon of blue smoke.
 
I'm on a low salt diet and don't use brines so I can't comment on that. I do a few turkeys or turkey breasts each year on the performer and have found that because of the delicate flavor of turkey white meat a little smoke goes a long way. I use one fist size piece of cherry or apple and have been very happy with the hint of smoke that gives the meat.
 
Thanks all! I appreciate the input. I will cut down on the amount of wood used for sure. I'd rather have it under-smoked but still roasted as opposed to over-smoked.
 
John: You weren't using an "enhanced" or "self basting" turkey breast, were you? I know when I've done ribs, loins, poultry, etc that is enhanced, it comes out very "hammy", IMHO. And if you're not careful, it can be very salty.

I agree with dialing back the wood. Poultry doesn't need much, but again, it's all a matter of personal taste.

Jim
 
Hi Jim. It was actually a fully natural, free range, fresh turkey breast from Whole Foods. Now that I think about it though, I don't think I converted the salt ratios correctly since I used pickling salt. So that plus a combination of too much smoke was probably what did it. I can't wait to try again this year :)
 
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