To brine, or not to brine......?


 
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Arthur Squires

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Hey all,
I am thinking about trying a turkey breast this Sat. and am wondering if the brining actually kills something that might be harmfull or is it just to help keep the meat moist? This breast would be mostly sliced thin for lunch meat (and I like that a bit on the dry-ish side).
I am thinking of just marinating the breast in a carib. jerk marinade and smoking it to 180F, would that be ok?
Thnks for the help

Arthur
 
IMO the brining would only serve to add moisture. I think marinating would be fine. 180 will dry out the breast. I would pull it off at 160 in the breast.

Paul
 
Arthur,
I agree with Paul 180* is too long, the breast will be dry. Cook it to 165*. Yes, brining is the way to go. Or you can use a turkey that already has the solution in it. Do not brine a turkey that has the solution in it. It will be too salty. The brine mixture I use for whole turkey is 3 cups salt, 1 cup of sugar to 3 gallons of water. I would halve the brine solution for just one breast. Let soak overnight. I know it sounds like a tremendous amount of salt, but I do 10-15lb turkeys in that solution and they come out awesome. This is a brine not a cure so it does not kill any bacteria. The funny thing about brining the turkeys, is that they actually come out weighing about 1lb more after they have been brined. Let me know if you try it and how you like it. Good luck
 
Arthur,

I agree with pulling the turkey at 160-165 max. With breast meat and carryover cooking you're safe at those temps.

Check your product label closely- I don't come across many turkey breasts that are not injected with a salt solution these days.
 
Hi,
I always brine my turkeys. If the temp. gets higher than the 165 degree mark, the meat will still be moist. That's the reason for brining in the first place.
I substitute apple juice for the water in my brine recipes, it gives a hint of sweetness.It also offsets the slight saltiness imparted by the brining. Recipe: 1 cup kosher salt and 1 gal. apple juice. I usually brine for 12 hours rinse well, dry well with paper towels and then apply a rub (without added salt) under the skin as well as on the skin.Then I let the bird stay in the fridge for several hours to let the skin dry out completely before cooking.
Try apple for your smoke wood, it works really nice if you make the brine with apple juice.

Good Luck

Al
 
Actually I up the sugar in my brine to 2 cups of brown sugar and 1 cup of Kosher salt per gallon of water. It offsets the salty taste and makes it a sweet tasting turkey, not candy sweet but the sweetness it there along with the savory taste. This does work well with turkeys already in a solution.
 
Definitely brine. I'm doing a whole turkey right now in the smoker. I also put a rub under the skin of the breast. Spray your breast with apple juice to help keep it moist.
 
Try 1 cup Diamond Kosher salt (OR 3/4 Morton Kosher salt OR 1/2 cup table salt), 1 cup white or brown sugar, and 1 gallon cheap apple juice. Makes an absolutely OUTSTANDING flavor in turkey breasts. We did quite of few of these for people last Thanksgiving, and got rave reviews. We've done this with both pumped and unpumped birds.

[Moments pass...] Sorry, Al - I didn't see that you had already posted the apple juice thing. Great minds think alike... /infopop/emoticons/icon_wink.gif
 
Well ladies and gentemen,
I have decidide(?) to go with the marinade.
I thank eveyone that had some input, but the marinade is easiar and that was the decideing factaor. I am currently soaking the breast in a carib. jerk and will put them on the WSM at noon Sat., wish me luck!!!!
I will let everybody know how it worked out tommorow afternoon.

Arthur
 
Good morning all,
The turkey breast are done. And according to the couple next door they are "Faboo". I liked them too.
I marinated them for 15 hrs and then put them in the pit at about 270-290F, at noon Sat. I expected them to go about 4 Hrs and they actually took 6, but now I know. It was 2 7.5# Jenno turkey breasts and I put both of them on the top grate, when they hit 170F internal temp. I pulled them off and let them rest for 45 mins. sliced for lunch meat.The neighborhood deli has lost a customer-but hey, he may have a new supplier!
/infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gifHAPPY FATHERSDAY /infopop/emoticons/icon_cool.gif to all who do the job
Arthur
 
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