Mesquite turkey breast


 
One of the easiest smoke sessions one can do. Set it and forget it. Just monitor the Signals.

Just under 3 hours start to finish.

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Cling wrapped so all the juices stay inside the bird. Then wrapped in aluminum foil. And to the fridge.

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I’ll slice this up tomorrow for sandwiches for this week.
 
Looks amazing. Do you need to let it cool at all before hitting it with the cling wrap? Don't imagine it'd melt, but am curious. I have a boneless turkey breast in the fridge and this sounds like a good way to cook it.
 
JimK said:
Looks amazing. Do you need to let it cool at all before hitting it with the cling wrap? Don't imagine it'd melt, but am curious. I have a boneless turkey breast in the fridge and this sounds like a good way to cook it.
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Nope. Breast was 164° off the grill and right into cling wrap. And then foiled immediately. The whole plan is to trap all moisture and make the breast soak it back in as it sweats, cools and absorbs.

If you were to cool it all the moisture would evaporate out of the meat.

Cling wrap can handle high temps. I do a trayed rice thats baked. The tray is covered with cling wrap and then aluminum foil atop the cling so the cling keeps in all the liquids and the foil stops the cling from melting in a 350° oven.
 
DanHoo said:
Kpro and mesquite chips?
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KPro nd the smaller pieces from the bag of mesquite chunks. So slightly larger than the chips bag would be. More like smaller splits in thickness. Around 8-10 of theses pieces located close to each other just near where I started the coals. This way the smoke came early in the session to perfume the meat. The cook was rather short and I wanted to be the mesquite flavor early versus late.

I should be slicing this up for club sammies tonight. Gotta pick up a sourdough loaf to hand slice.
 
Good looking cook on that Turkey breast!! And that sandwich ain't bad either!! :cool: Also reminds me I have Turkey breast in the freezer! I plan on following your method on the cook, hope my results are as good as your!!
 
Dave_C said:
Good looking cook on that Turkey breast!! And that sandwich ain't bad either!! :cool: Also reminds me I have Turkey breast in the freezer! I plan on following your method on the cook, hope my results are as good as your!!
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Only recco I’d have is do an overnight or 24 hour dry rub brine and then smoke it. You can do this easily. Just keep that temp between 250°-275° and pull at 162° instead of my 164° and immediately cling wrap and fridge it in foil.

Post pics how yours goes. I have one more turkey breast for a future cook.
 
Brett-EDH said:
Only recco I’d have is do an overnight or 24 hour dry rub brine and then smoke it. You can do this easily. Just keep that temp between 250°-275° and pull at 162° instead of my 164° and immediately cling wrap and fridge it in foil.

Post pics how yours goes. I have one more turkey breast for a future cook.
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Why not go down to 155° or ever 150°? Turkey needs barely a few minutes at that temp to be good to go. See Kenji Lopez Alt's article: https://www.seriouseats.com/how-to-take-the-temperature-of-your-turkey-video
 
ZachMendel said:
Why not go down to 155° or ever 150°? Turkey needs barely a few minutes at that temp to be good to go. See Kenji Lopez Alt's article: https://www.seriouseats.com/how-to-take-the-temperature-of-your-turkey-video
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I’ve read it and am aware of that theory. My recco to anyone seeking to try that temp method would be to do so on a cheap chicken breast and see if it’s coooked enough and correctly 24 hours after the wrap and cooldown. I’d hate to offer those temps and see a large meat cut be inedible or rare in the center.

I’ve undercooked chicken breast, bone in, and it’s quite gross. The meat texture is wrong. I’ll have to experiment with a concurrent chicken breast on my next turkey breast cook so I can have a contained and exact environment to generate a more valid comparo.

My recco of the 162° is seeing how my 164° did. I think that the internal temp rise on the 162° will get the breast to 164°+ easily. But I didn’t measure the carryover temps on this cook.

What’s your experience(s) at 155-160°? Please.
 
Brett-EDH said:
I’ve read it and am aware of that theory. My recco to anyone seeking to try that temp method would be to do so on a cheap chicken breast and see if it’s coooked enough and correctly 24 hours after the wrap and cooldown. I’d hate to offer those temps and see a large meat cut be inedible or rare in the center.

I’ve undercooked chicken breast, bone in, and it’s quite gross. The meat texture is wrong. I’ll have to experiment with a concurrent chicken breast on my next turkey breast cook so I can have a contained and exact environment to generate a more valid comparo.

My recco of the 162° is seeing how my 164° did. I think that the internal temp rise on the 162° will get the breast to 164°+ easily. But I didn’t measure the carryover temps on this cook.

What’s your experience(s) at 155-160°? Please.
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I've taken turkey breasts to 155 and the result is juicy beyond your wildest dreams. I 100% agree on bad meat texture being a total turn off, but that's something I've only run into with chicken. Turkey breast handles the lower temp beautifully in my experience.
 
ZachMendel said:
I've taken turkey breasts to 155 and the result is juicy beyond your wildest dreams. I 100% agree on bad meat texture being a total turn off, but that's something I've only run into with chicken. Turkey breast handles the lower temp beautifully in my experience.
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from my chicken experience, and some turkey, it's that tenderloin (when bone in, specifically) that never gets enough heat and is mushy at lower temps. this was my first boneless turkey breast, as we didn't want a traditional thanksgiving dinner this year, as it solved our thanksgiving conundrum.

now being boneless, i can see the even heat penetration not being an issue so i can "see" how the 155F could yield a juicier breast, especially that it's going to be wrapped and cooled which traps in more moisture.

now you got me thinking a saltwater brine, 6%, and overnight might make for an even juicier breast. i might have to seek out a kosher turkey breast as those are already salt brined. thanks @ZachMendel for the new rabbit hole.

for anyone following along to emulate this cook, i can share that when i unwrapped the breast last night, there was noticeable moisture in the foil and in the cling wrap. slicing was effortless with a 12" very sharp carving knife. i'd rate my cook as moist and tender. to me, juicy would have been the breast giving up its moisture and a more wet texture. i'd say i had a balance of moist and firmness on the breast.

my home eating judges agreed it was a great cook and definitely worth adding to the list.

on a second half sandwich, i put some vinegar thinned SBRs on one side and mayo the other. i could see making a spread of mayo, SBRs and vinegar and putting it in a squeeze bottle and having on hand. it was a good blend of fat, acid and sweet. and the dill pickles and red onions complimented the turkey. easily could have added bacon, cheese or slaw for a next level sammie.

hopefully someone here will do this cook and experiment with more sammie styles.
 
Brett-EDH said:
from my chicken experience, and some turkey, it's that tenderloin (when bone in, specifically) that never gets enough heat and is mushy at lower temps. this was my first boneless turkey breast, as we didn't want a traditional thanksgiving dinner this year, as it solved our thanksgiving conundrum.

now being boneless, i can see the even heat penetration not being an issue so i can "see" how the 155F could yield a juicier breast, especially that it's going to be wrapped and cooled which traps in more moisture.

now you got me thinking a saltwater brine, 6%, and overnight might make for an even juicier breast. i might have to seek out a kosher turkey breast as those are already salt brined. thanks @ZachMendel for the new rabbit hole.

for anyone following along to emulate this cook, i can share that when i unwrapped the breast last night, there was noticeable moisture in the foil and in the cling wrap. slicing was effortless with a 12" very sharp carving knife. i'd rate my cook as moist and tender. to me, juicy would have been the breast giving up its moisture and a more wet texture. i'd say i had a balance of moist and firmness on the breast.

my home eating judges agreed it was a great cook and definitely worth adding to the list.

on a second half sandwich, i put some vinegar thinned SBRs on one side and mayo the other. i could see making a spread of mayo, SBRs and vinegar and putting it in a squeeze bottle and having on hand. it was a good blend of fat, acid and sweet. and the dill pickles and red onions complimented the turkey. easily could have added bacon, cheese or slaw for a next level sammie.

hopefully someone here will do this cook and experiment with more sammie styles.
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Save me a seat at the table! I’m on my way!
 
So, I just ordered my WSK and I'm going back through older threads looking for WSK info. This cook looks amazing and I particularly love turkey. My wife is a ham person when it comes to the holiday meals so I make the turkey myself and have been doing breasts like this for the last few years. This cook looked amazing and makes me ready to get my WSK so I can get rolling with it.
 
MikeLucky said:
So, I just ordered my WSK and I'm going back through older threads looking for WSK info. This cook looks amazing and I particularly love turkey. My wife is a ham person when it comes to the holiday meals so I make the turkey myself and have been doing breasts like this for the last few years. This cook looked amazing and makes me ready to get my WSK so I can get rolling with it.
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This one is super easy. Set it and forget it. Do a dry brine if you prefer. Either way this was a big hit with the family. I have one BS turkey breast in the freezer right now. And the sandos it makes are super good.

Enjoy your new WSK. I’m sure you’ll love cooking on it.
 
Brett-EDH said:
This one is super easy. Set it and forget it. Do a dry brine if you prefer. Either way this was a big hit with the family. I have one BS turkey breast in the freezer right now. And the sandos it makes are super good.

Enjoy your new WSK. I’m sure you’ll love cooking on it.
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I'm looking forward to it. I've had my SSP Performer for years and never ever thought of not using it until I saw the $625 off on the S6. Finally helped me pull the trigger. The more I research and watch videos about it the more excited I get.

We are in the process of building a new house and I'm working on details of my covered outdoor grilling area. I was thinking of going with the gas Summit Grilling Center as the center piece and the SSP Performer and my Weber griddle as the side saddles on either side. The Center would provide under cabinet space and a grill for warming area, finishing area, quick cooks, and mass cooking when needed.

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Then I started thinking about how maybe I needed to go with the Summit Kamado instead of the Performer and when I saw sale it got me. I see you've had a Summit gas as well.... Thoughts on a setup with the gas and charcoal versions of the Summit together?
 
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