Smokin-It User Forum!
Recipes => Poultry => Topic started by: CUTiger80 on November 25, 2014, 08:51:10 AM
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I have been scouring the forum for brine & rub recipes, cook times, smoker temp, wood preferences, etc. and have been bugging you guys with questions and now I am ready to try my first bone-in turkey breast but thought I would run my plan by you “veteran smokers” and get some final input before it is “too late”.
First of all, my turkey breast is 8.5 lbs and is thawing in the refrigerator (it has been in there for about 2 days and still seems pretty hard to me).
I plan to brine the breast with the skin on for about 8 hours in the following brine (which is a combination of Tony’s & Ed’s brine recipes)
1 gallon water
1 C Kosher Salt
1 TBS granulated garlic
1 TBS onion powder
1 TBS rosemary
1 TBS thyme
1 TBS Old Bay seasoning
1 C brown sugar
1 C orange juice
After 8 hours in the brine, rinse well and dry.
Apply olive oil and rub (I decided to go with a commercial rub I picked up at the local meat market for this smoke). Pull up skin and get rub under the skin and then on the skin. Use toothpicks to hold skin in place if necessary.
Cover and put back in refrigerator overnight.
Put half and half water and apple juice in a water pan in the bottom of the smoker.
Use about 2 ozs of cherry wood in foil boats.
Put breast on rack near top of smoker and insert Maverick probe in breast.
Start smoker at 150 deg for 30 minutes then crank up to 240 or 250 deg.
Take off the turkey when the internal temp reaches 160 deg. (I have budgeted 5-1/2 hours for this).
Double wrap breast in foil, then towels, put in cooler and transport to my Mom’s house and eat about 3 hours later.
(Should I plan to put the breast in her oven for 20-30 minutes or so right before cutting & eating? Is 3 hours from smoker to table too long?)
Any comments or suggestions would be appreciated.
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I haven't smoked a turkey, so I will let the specific turkey questions to the experts. But, I can tell you that if you are using foil boats there is no need, nor should you bother ramping up the temp for 30 minutes. Just go full board at 240 right off the bat. The ramp up is only needed if you do NOT use the foil boats.
Good luck on your smoke!
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You may want to consider not using the water pan. I smoked a turkey breast two weeks ago and used a pan with apple juice. Both my wife and I thouugh tthe meat was too moist.
Others on the forum have noted that added moisture is not necessary for turkey since the skin keeps the meas from drying out. I am smoking a turkey breast for Thanksgiving and do not plan to use a water pan.
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Cool mod on the brine recipe, Ravel! Here's a couple of my thoughts:
First, don't use a water pan for poultry, unless it's skinless.
Next, after the brine, rest in the fridge uncovered. This helps the skin dry out a bit. No need to cover poultry that's resting in the fridge.
Also, go to 165 internal temp, vs. 160.
Finally, since you're foiling your wood, just crank the temp to 250 right off the bat. No need for the 150 step. It will only delay the cook, and you probably won't even get smoke (depending on ambient temp). I skip this step since discovering the foiled wood method.
Hope this helps!
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I agree with Gregg...I do the foil boat on the wood and skip the slow start up. However, I did have some really dry hickory wood a couple of weeks ago, and even with the foil, I had a blast of belch! Unreal.
Tony...after the brine, do you put the turkey in the fridge uncovered first and then rub, or do you rub and put the turkey in the fridge uncovered? I have always washed off the brine, rubbed, covered with plastic wrap and into the fridge. The idea of leaving it uncovered is intriguing, but I am not sure if you are applying a rub first.
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I put the rub on right before it goes into the smoker after letting it sit in the fridge to dry.
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Steve, I rub before going in the fridge. This allows the rub to penetrate, and lets the skin dry out a bit. You still won't get really crispy skin, but it's much better than not letting it rest uncovered.
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Many thanks! I will give this a try...assuming the 12# turkey that I bought yesterday thaws in the fridge in time! I will probably be doing the water thaw method tomorrow night to get it ready for smoking on Thursday by noon. I keep telling my wife...smoking meat requires planning, this is not beep-beep microwave!
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Yep, no "instant" microwave life for us smoker! ;) ;D
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Guys, again many thanks for all of the input, and patience with me as I try to figure out this new found hobby. Maybe one of these days I will be confident enough to not have to ask a ton of questions before I smoke something.
Per my current plan, the breast will come out of the brine about 12 hours before it goes in the smoker. Following Tony's suggestion to rinse, dry, rub & put in the fridge uncovered, is 12 hours too long to sit uncovered in the fridge? I could delay the brining and cut this to about 6 hours, if that makes any difference.
Also, after smoking, is a 3 hour rest period (covered, wrapped & in a cooler) too long or potentially dangerous?
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(Should I plan to put the breast in her oven for 20-30 minutes or so right before cutting & eating? Is 3 hours from smoker to table too long?)
If the meat has been resting foil wrapped in a cooler covered in towels you should not have to reheat. I would rather use some scalding hot gravy to warm the sliced meat that to risk drying it out with a trip to the oven. Also you don't want to slice hot meat. By putting it into the oven you are negating the affect of the rest time in the cooler.
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CU...I think 6 hours in the fridge after rubbing will be sufficient for the rub to penetrate the turkey breast, so you could cut the time down. I plan to brine a whole 12# turkey overnight tonight, and rub it at 6am for a trip to the smoker at noon.
The rest period can be shortened too; I would go for an hour in foil and then serve it up! The turkey breast should not need a lot of time for juices to redistribute. Good luck!
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I finally had some time today at lunch to post some results from my first turkey breast smoke. Thanks again to everyone who helped me to somewhat refine my process before the smoke.
First of all, the turkey breast was excellent and I received compliments from all of the family. An overall success!
These are the things I changed/adjusted from my original plan:
I think that the brine was too "complicated". In the end, I didn't notice much flavor from all the spices, etc. in the finished product. The breast was very moist. I'm wondering if salt & water would be sufficient?
I delayed the brining process and let the breast sit uncovered in the fridge overnight (about 7 hours).
I did not add water/apple juice to the smoker based on some comments from others.
I did not ramp up the temperature, but turned the smoker up to 250 immediately.
These are my observations with reference to a few photos that are at the end of the post:
(I put the breast in the smoker at 05.15. I kept the time reference in the photo titles showing the smoke from the smoker so that it will be easier to see where I was in the process.)
I started getting smoke at 05.31 (see photo). Smoker temp was about 120 deg.
Between 05.31 and about 05.50 I had intense smoke (see photos). I had a "smoker belch" at 190 deg and again at 205 deg.
At about 05.50 smoker reached 250 deg (35 min after starting) and smoke became less intense (see photo).
At 09.00 (3:45 after starting) IT of breast reached 160 deg.
At 09.30 (4:15 after starting) IT of breast reached 165 and I took it off (sorry no photos).
I removed breast from smoker, wrapped in foil, put in a thick styrofoam cooler, covered with towels and put the lid on. I didn't remove the breast to slice until about 12:30 (3 hours later). Meat was still very hot and moist.
My questions are about the smoke intensity & belching:
The smoke was very intense for about 20 minutes and then tapered off for about 15 minutes and then all but disappeared. Is this normal?
I did get 2 intense "belches" that were fairly loud and forced smoke out from around the door. Is this normal? If not, should I change my process somehow?
I included before and after pictures of the wood chunks in the foil boats. Do these look normal?
If I had to do over, without any comments from you veterans, I would probably ramp up the temp of the smoker (against the recommendation of Gregg, Tony & Steve) and see if the smoke is less intense and continues for a longer duration and if that will eliminate the belches.
Thanks for reading through this long post and for any comments/suggestions.
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Yes, Ravel, everything you have described about the start up time, initial smoke, and the lighter smoke after the first hour or so is pretty normal. I have minimized the "belches" by using the foil boat method and setting the smoker at my desired temp (no ramping up). I did have a big belch, even with the foil, a couple of weeks ago, but I am sure that the wood I was using was very dry. The dry wood catches fire, and I believe it was around 180F in the box when that happened. I am now using hickory from fruitawood and with the foil I have not experienced the huge "belch", but I do get a couple "puffs" at around 200F where the smoke stops for a couple of seconds and then returns. My wood chunks after the smoke look like yours in the picture.
After the first hour or so, the smoke does taper off to where it is not visible, but I believe the wood is still producing smoke, albeit light.
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Steve,
Thanks for the insight.
My wood was dry because it is Weber brand I ordered from Amazon.
Do you think it would help to soak the chunks in water for a while or should my "boats" be a little tighter at the top?
Or should I just throw away the wood chunks that I have and buy some that is not so dry?
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I have tried soaking wood from time to time, but I doubt it really works. I suspect you would have to soak the wood for a long time to get any real moisture into the wood itself. The dampness on the outside of the wood will probably not avoid the belch, but would likely delay it until the moisture evaporates. I threw away my dry wood, but it wasn't that much. If you have a lot of wood remaining, then you might want to try soaking to see if it helps. The other option is to wrap the foil a bit higher on the wood to lower the airflow impact on the wood, but when the wood gets hot, it will probably catch fire! The other option that you might want to try is foil and ramping up the temp. Set the smoker for about 80F and let it cycle through one time (ie, the lights goes out) and then raise the temp to your desired level.
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I have 4 bags of chunks (about $40 worth) and I hate to throw it away.
I have ramped up the temp on previous rib smokes (although I went to 150 for about 30 minutes and then on up to 235), but several on here stated rather emphatically that it was unnecessary. I don't mind spending a little extra time doing that if I can prolong the smoke and eliminate the belch.
I have thought about experimenting with several options (without food in the smoker) to see what may work the best. I think within an hour or so (or until the smoker reaches its set temp) I would have a good idea of how it is going to behave for each experiment/method.
I wonder if insulating the wood chunk from the metal portion of the smoker box with one of those ceramic tiles like you put in a gas grill would have any effect? It should slow down the transfer of heat.
I am just anal enough to spend a Sunday afternoon watching football and experimenting with smoking options to determine if one method works better than another.
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Personally, I haven't really bought into the foil method yet. I tried it once and it didn't work for me. Although in my case it was for a low temp jerky smoke. The my smoking temp of 160 was too low to get any smoke out of my foiled wood boats and one of them was even chips. Based in this experience, I would only use the foil method for regular 225+ degree smokes.
I still do the ramp up method with no foil and do not really have any belch problems.
I run at 140-150 for about 45 minutes, and then increase to my desired temp and don't really have any belch issues anymore.
For me, the foil boat is just more hassle. I love going out to smell the smoke anyhow. So, I don't mind the walk to the smoker to bump up the temp after 45 minutes.
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Sounds like you have a lot of wood to support multiple experiments! I would be interested in hearing about the insulated wood box approach. I have also tried wrapping the wood completely in foil and punching little BB sized holes in the foil; you might try that as well. I am thinking of trying the ramp method again. Let us know how your experiments turn out!
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Ravel, I would order some better wood. Also, wrap your foil tight around the bottom and sides of the chunk; yours looked pretty loose. The idea is to keep the air from the bottom and sides (where the intense heat is). The only way you'll probably ever get the Weber chunks to not combust is to wrap them completely in foil, with a couple of holes in the top.
Check out fruitawood.com and mainegrillingwoods.com - great wood.
Tight foil on the bottom of good wood and you'll never get the belch again!
As for the brining - Yes, a simple salt water brine accomplishes the same thing. I, personally, can tell a big difference in the meat that has also been infused with different flavors, like garlic, onion, rosemary, citrus, etc... It's all a personal preference, though. Maybe I missed it, but what brine recipe did you use?
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I do not, foil ramp or worry. I haven't had a negative result yet. But you should buy or cut some better wood.
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Tony,
The foil is actually wrapped tight to the bottom & sides. I think that the excess foil left after wrapping that is sticking up makes it look loose. I'm going to experiment this weekend with wrapping completely in foil with some holes.
I will also check out the web sites that you suggested.
The brine that I used is in my initial post and it is a combination of yours and Ed's. I left out the Rosemary (my wife thought that she had some but actually did not) and I added crushed bay leaves and parsley flakes. Have you ever tried substituting a white wine for the juice in your recipe? I saw that someone else posted that and it intrigued me.
Back on the wood, I have access to hickory, pecan, apple and peach trees. I could easily cut a few limbs and make my own chunks. Do you know how long to let the wood dry? Is it ok to use cut lengths of a 1" diameter limb or does it need to be larger pieces that are split?
Thanks again for your help.
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Ravel, if the foil was tight, it's your wood. No problem with cutting your own, but it takes several months (or more) for it to cure enough to smoke. I'm sure you know to never use "green" wood. I would cut some of those branches, and store them in a garage or somewhere with good airflow around them. Leave them to season, and order some good wood for the interim.
I haven't tried white wine in a brine, but have thought it might be good. Give it a try and let us know what you think!