Brining Recipe?

[Papa Rick]

I am looking for the recipe that you use when doing turkey breast in the smoker.  I have not tried to brine a turkey breast before smoking but I want to move it up to the next level and try that next time.

I also saw where sometimes you put vegetables in there any particular type in the cavity?

Any advice and or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.


Thank you so much in advance.

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[DivotMaker]

Hey Rick, great to see you ready to try brining!  This is what I use on poultry"

DM's All-Purpose Poultry Brine

A whole breast should brine for 8-10 hours.  I brine whole turkeys for about 12.  Brining really helps!

Not sure if the mire poix is applicable, for breasts (sorry, but I've never done one, so excuse my ignorance).  Whole birds get a mix of chopped celery, onions and carrots.  This is "mire poix."  You use aromatic veggies.  You can also add apple, and lemon or orange pieces to the mix.  Some folks even add spices.  In a whole bird, the mire poix helps the bird cook more evenly (no empty cavity), and gives the meat a wonderful flavor.  If a whole breast has a cavity, then, by all means, fill it!  This kind of "stuffing" will not go bad, like a bread stuffing will.  And, the flavor it gives the meat is great!

Good luck with the brined breast!

[SconnieQ]

I usually stuff the cavity with onion, celery, and apple. And whatever fresh herbs I have on hand from my garden. The ones that go good with poultry include parsley, rosemary, thyme and sage. I use all of those because they are free, but if you have to buy herbs, I would just buy the sage. Buying all of those for mire poix is too expensive. It's mid-November in Wisconsin and my herbs in the garden still have not frozen. Normally I cut them all by now because we should have had a hard freeze a long time ago. I wash, spin dry, wrap in a paper towel and into ziplock bags in the crisper drawer in the fridge. The rosemary, thyme and sage stay good all the way into March! If you are smoking just the breast, you won't have a cavity to stuff, so you won't need the mire poix.

I'll be smoking a turkey for Thanksgiving this year, and using DM's poultry brine. I usually use my own brine recipe, but I'm looking forward to trying the orange juice in the brine. Bet that tastes good. I also like to add several slices of fresh ginger to my brine.

[DivotMaker]

I bet the ginger is a nice addition, Kari!  I'll give it a whirl!

[SconnieQ]

Ginger has that kind of lemony, sweet, spicy flavor. Great for poultry.

[Kutch98]

So glad others are asking about this as well.  I have a 7.12lb turkey breast I wanted to smoke Thursday. 

So brine 8-10 hours, check! fill cavity if there is one with veggies and herbs, check!  Any need for a binder/rub combo or just put her in as is? What should my cook temp and goal internal temp be?  Estimated cook time?

[SconnieQ]

So glad others are asking about this as well.  I have a 7.12lb turkey breast I wanted to smoke Thursday. 

So brine 8-10 hours, check! fill cavity if there is one with veggies and herbs, check!  Any need for a binder/rub combo or just put her in as is? What should my cook temp and goal internal temp be?  Estimated cook time?

You won't need any kind of binder. Just sprinkle with your favorite rub. If you have brined it, go with a low or no salt rub if you have one. Otherwise just lightly sprinkle. You don't need much rub at all if you use a flavor brine. Keep in mind, the skin will not be crispy. There are various methods to crisping the skin, none of which I use, or are worth the trouble in my opinion. I love crispy skin on poultry, but when I'm smoking, I don't worry about it. It is a difficult, if not impossible expectation. The meat is so tasty and moist, it is not worth the trouble. Many of the methods used for crisping the skin risk overcooking the meat in the process, so I would skip it. I'll let the other experts here estimate your cook time!

[es1025]

I have found 1 hour/pound is perfect.

I use 1 gallon of cold water, 1 Cup of Kosher salt and 1 Cup of brown sugar place into the briner jr.  That's it. 

I usually do this on Wednesday morning and once finished let sit on the fridge until Thursday am.

I have a poultry rub, its in the rub section.

Planning on starting around 630-700am.  Running temp at 275.

Good Luck!

[Kutch98]

So I got my turkey unpackaged, looks like I'll be adding some mire mix!  Just shove it in until full? Good to eat when done? What about bread? Just veggies and apples?

For the brine I used DMs then I added some powder ginger and some fresh herbs.  We will see how it turns out.  If all else fails we have a honey baked ham as well! 

[Papa Rick]

Thanks Tony, first time I have ever did the Turkey Breast brine you put on here.

One thing I found out today was (My wife actually found this out)  If you buy a Butterball Turkey Breast it has the Breast in a Brine Solution in it.  I have smoked them before and never did anything special to them, but decided to try and see what the difference would be.  This year I did two in the brine solution Tony gave out and the third one I did not.

The Butterball Turkey Breast has on the package that if you do another type of brine to CUT THE amount of SALT called for in 1/2 as it has some in it already.

[DivotMaker]

Jake - yep, stuff the cavity full of the mire poix.  I discard it, but some folks use it in their stock.

Rick - I've brined turkeys with as much as 6% solution added, with no problems; not too salty.  The Butterball solution is no different from anyone else's, they just have better marketing.    Our company hauls a lot of turkeys, and they all come off the same lines at the processing plants.  You can halve the salt, if you like, but I don't find it necessary.