Juicy Smoked Turkey Breast

[OldeSmoker]

I had a craving for some juicy smoked Turkey Breast for sandwiches last night.
So I headed to the market and picked up two 7 LB bone in Turkey Breast. This will be my first Turkey Breast smoke although I smoked a whole Turkey for Thanksgiving which turned out well according to the family.

I added about a quart of water to a saucepan and added 1 tsp. garlic powder,  1 tsp. onion powder, 1 tsp. Chili powder and a half tsp. thyme to the water. I brought this to a boil to release the flavors of the spices and let it simmer for a few minutes covered while I got the Turkey Breast ready to take a dip. I added the hot mixture to my 12 qt. brining container and added 1 cup of Kosher salt and 1 cup of brown sugar to dissolve. After stirring and allowing most of the salt and sugar to dissolve in the hot liquid, I added about a quart of ice to cool it all down. I added cold water to bring the liquid to the 6 quart mark and I added 1.5 tsp. of curing salt. After rinsing the breast I placed it in the brine and put a heavy plate on top to keep the breast submerged. The Turkey Breast was in the brine for about 12 hours. I took it out about 12:30 today and rinsed it well, dried it with paper towels, rubbed it with a little canola oil and applied my rub.
 
I placed the Turkey Breast on the top rack of my 3DW and inserted the IT probe and then filled my water pan and placed it on the floor next to the heating element. I started the smoker at 1:00 this afternoon after adding 1.5 ounces of hickory and 1.8 ounces of wild cherry. The starting temperature was 150. After reaching 150 I ramped up to 200. At 200 degrees I increased to 240 which the smoker will remain at until the Turkey Breast reaches an IT of 165 degrees. The smoker has currently been running for just over 2 hours. The meat IT is 103 degrees. I will give updates as it progresses and when it is finished after resting and tasting. I can’t think of a much better way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Smoking and Football.

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[OldeSmoker]

Update: At the 3 hour Mark the smoker is at 241 degrees, the Turkey Breast IT is 138. There is still good smoke coming out of the stack.

[barelfly]

Man! Smoked turkey sounds wonderful right now! This is going to be great!

[OldeSmoker]

Update: 4 hour mark. There is still smoke at the stack although a little lighter than last hour. (See photo)

[OldeSmoker]

The Turkey Breast reached it’s finish temperature of 165 degrees at 4 hours 54 minutes. I removed it from the smoker and intended to let it rest for 30 minutes but the grandkids were “starving” so it rested about 20 minutes. I carefully removed each side of the Breast meat from the bone and sliced across the grain so it would remain in slices. The meat is very moist and super tender. My wife and grandkids really liked it but I felt like the flavor imparted by the brine could have been a little stronger. Next time I will brine it a few more hours or increase the salt and spices a little. I am glad that I increased the smoking wood to 3.3 ounces from the recommended amount of 2-2.5 ounces. Next time I will bump it up to 4 ounces. The smoke flavor was good but for me it could have been a little stronger. Overall it was a successful cook plus the experimentation is half the fun.

[lcdearman]

Looks good! I've done a few turkey breasts. I like Tony Chachere's creole butter injection, but too much will make the turkey turn out mushy. The jalapeno one is popular at my house.

[barelfly]

That looks great! And nice slicing off the bone as well!

Here’s a good article on the “science” of brining. interesting read that may help as you go - perhaps you know this already as well, but just in case. There’s a few different articles you can read as well that are linked in this article.

https://amazingribs.com/tested-recipes/salting-brining-curing-and-injecting/salting-and-wet-brining

[OldeSmoker]

Looks good! I've done a few turkey breasts. I like Tony Chachere's creole butter injection, but too much will make the turkey turn out mushy. The jalapeno one is popular at my house.

Clay, I really like Tony Chachere's creole butter and actually have a bottle on hand. I mentioned using it to my wife and she was afraid it might be to spicy for the grandkids. A friend used it to inject a turkey he was deep frying, and it was the best fried turkey I ever ate.

[OldeSmoker]

That looks great! And nice slicing off the bone as well!

Here’s a good article on the “science” of brining. interesting read that may help as you go - perhaps you know this already as well, but just in case. There’s a few different articles you can read as well that are linked in this article.

https://amazingribs.com/tested-recipes/salting-brining-curing-and-injecting/salting-and-wet-brining

Jeremy, thanks for the link. I'm kind of a fanatic when it comes to BBQ. I enjoy reading just about anything about it I can get my hands on.