I noticed there's a lot of chicken on this thread, but not whole lot of turkey. Since there's only 2 of us here, a whole turkey doesn't make sense but a turkey breast sure does. It's one of the first meats I learned to smoked, and if you brine it, it comes out pretty much perfect every time. Adding bacon to the turkey takes it to whole new level of awesomeness. Make sure you get a bone in turkey breast - it's the only way to go, IMO.
First, you thaw your turkey breast (s) and then you brine. (I bought plastic lidded buckets for just this purpose on Amazon.) A simple brine solution is really 1 gallon water with 1/2 cup table salt (or 1 cup of Kosher Salt). I add handfuls of rosemary, garlic, thyme and even a cup of orange or lemon juice depending on whether the breast is already "pre-basted" or not. If the breast is "prebasted" by the supplier, I will skip brining overnight and instead just shorten it to a couple hours.
Once I have taken the bird out of the brine, rinsed and dried it, I'll coat it with mayo. Yes, you read that right, mayo and not the "light" kind either. Only Hellman's in this house. You can choose to coat it with your favorite rub, or as I like to do, take toothpicks and pin bacon strips across the breast. (You're laughing, but I'm telling you, it rocks the bomb when you're done. ) I've used peppered bacon, Oscar Meyer bacon, any kind of bacon and it comes out fantastic no matter what bacon I use. Yeah, everything is mo' betta with bacon!
I used a combo of apple and cherry woods (even pecan works in this case) for turkey. Slip it in your smoker and smoke at 225F. You're looking at 3-5 hours, depending on the weight of your turkey breast. Once it reaches 161-163F take it out of the smoker and wrap it foil and towels for hour - you can also place it in a small cooler, just as you would pork. Don't skip this - it really makes a difference. Slice and serve.
First, you thaw your turkey breast (s) and then you brine. (I bought plastic lidded buckets for just this purpose on Amazon.) A simple brine solution is really 1 gallon water with 1/2 cup table salt (or 1 cup of Kosher Salt). I add handfuls of rosemary, garlic, thyme and even a cup of orange or lemon juice depending on whether the breast is already "pre-basted" or not. If the breast is "prebasted" by the supplier, I will skip brining overnight and instead just shorten it to a couple hours.
Once I have taken the bird out of the brine, rinsed and dried it, I'll coat it with mayo. Yes, you read that right, mayo and not the "light" kind either. Only Hellman's in this house. You can choose to coat it with your favorite rub, or as I like to do, take toothpicks and pin bacon strips across the breast. (You're laughing, but I'm telling you, it rocks the bomb when you're done. ) I've used peppered bacon, Oscar Meyer bacon, any kind of bacon and it comes out fantastic no matter what bacon I use. Yeah, everything is mo' betta with bacon!
I used a combo of apple and cherry woods (even pecan works in this case) for turkey. Slip it in your smoker and smoke at 225F. You're looking at 3-5 hours, depending on the weight of your turkey breast. Once it reaches 161-163F take it out of the smoker and wrap it foil and towels for hour - you can also place it in a small cooler, just as you would pork. Don't skip this - it really makes a difference. Slice and serve.
What do you think might be a reasonable substitute that doesn't involve the "M" word?
