Turkey Breast Prep


 
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Chris C.

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Hi all,

Did my first smoke a few months back and the advice everyone provided was indispensible. So, I'd be remiss if I didn't ask the experts before I embark on my next adventure.

I'm planning to do a turkey breast (don't have it yet, but planning on bone-in, somewhere under 10 lbs.) on Christmas. I think from reading other threads that I understand the temperatures to cook at, the internal temp I'm looking for, etc. I'm still in the dark a little bit on prep.

Would using an injector (say, overnight) be a suitable subsititute for brining in terms of keeping the bird juicy and flavorful? I have used an injector in a fryer but wanted to make sure it turns out okay in the WSM. Would a dry rub in addition to an injection be a good idea? (If so, any suggestions? Just like a Tony C's maybe?) Any other mandatory prep for doing a breast? I'd like to avoid brining if at all possible.

Thanks in advance for your help!
 
Injecting the breast would be just fine as would be using a rub. I've injected butts and birds for the WSM and used rubs on them all. If you don't want to brine, injecting is great alternative and actually allows you to add more flavor into the meat. IMHO, turkey is a bland bird and any addition of flavor is a must. Go for it! Just watch the amount of smoke wood you add. Turkey sucks up the smoke. I use only one fist sized chunk of apple or cherry when I do a whole turkey and it adds plenty of smoke flavor to me. My first whole turkey I used 3 chunks and I thought it was almost too much. With just a breast, I would really hesitate to add more than one chunk. You can always add more wood next time, but you can't undo an oversmoked bird.
 
If you primarily want just turkey flavor, rub it with olive oil, salt and pepper. I lay bacon strips across breast and attach with toothpicks, but I don't know if this causes you to lose any juice or not. Seems that it would.

I haven't tried it yet, but Keri Cathey's method of starting it off breast-down, turning it breast-up half-way thru, then turning it breast down while it is resting makes sense to me. I've always just done them breast down and they are juicy, but I intend to try her method.
 
INJECT that sucker!!

I use a mixture of 1 cup honey, 1 cup dry white wine and one stick margerine.

Inject, then let it sit in the fridge overnight - I usually rub, then cook at 350* for about 3 - 4 hours.

MOIST and JUICY!
 
Any flavor advantage to leaving the bone in? I have smoked turkey breast six times or so and always deboned the sucker. Sure would mean a lot less work to leave it in. What do you think?
 
Flavor advantage-- not really. Moisture advantage-- definitely. Save the hassle and leave it in.
 
Oh dear... I'm stuffed! All of our multitudes just left, and the general concensus was that the turkeys that were brined in pure apple juice (1 gallon apple juice to 3/4 cup MORTON kosher salt to 1 cup sugar) were the best. They could tell that there was SOMETHING there that was giving it a great taste, other than being so nice and moist, but they couldn't identify that SOMETHING. I'm stuck on brining with apple juice and smoking it with apple.

I think I've come to the conclusion that it isn't the COOKING breast side down at the higher heat that's helping. I think it's the RESTING breast side down that's making for the more moist meat. I think that was Doug D's opinion a while back, and I now believe that I concur. I had the 13 lb whole turkey breast up on the top rack and the 8 lb breast on the bottom rack, both breast up the whole time at about 315 - 325. Breast took right at 2 hours, turkey took almost 3. They had about an hour and a half rest upside down in foil, towels, and cooler, and this time I made it a point to observe. I could tell no diffence in moisture content in the breast between these and the ones that I have started breast down and flipped during cooking.

Keri C
Still smokin (and CLEANING UP...) on Tulsa Time

PS - now that the Christmas meal is probably over, how did your turkey breast turn out, Chris C.?
 
Thanks for asking, Keri. I actually took a vacation afterwards, otherwise I would have posted the results sooner.

Christmas Eve, I injected each half of the breast with about 2 oz of Creole Butter marinade from Cajun Injector.

Fired up the WSM around 1:00 on Christmas Day, and the temps were really high - 400*+. After thinking it over, I added a full pan of cool water, and it came down beautifully to about 340* at the lid. Smoked the breast for about 3 hours, until it got to 165* internal.

I let the breast sit for about 20 minutes in foil, the temp got up to 169* but never hit 170*, which I was slightly worried about. But, it turned out just fine. Very juicy, slight pink-ish ring at the edges from the smoke. Everyone loved it.

Two things I learned from this smoke:

1) Should have injected even more marinade. Couldn't really taste it at all.

2) Should have thought to bring my Tel-Tru thermometer inside for a while before the cook. Darn thing's face cracked straight through during the cook - almost certainly because it had been sitting in the cold garage for some time, then put right on to the WSM at 400*. Duh! Any thoughts on whether it will work next time? I'll probably have to order a new one...
 
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