Smoked Cajun Turkey Breast

Griffin · February 11

As I suspected, I wasn't able to get back on the computer yesterday. Brunch was followed by errands, which were followed by some "Honey Do's" which was followed by a nap which was followed by spending some quality time with the Mrs. She's flying to Germany today for work and won't be back till the 20th and the day after that, she'll be flying out to Denver till the 23rd, but when she gets back I'll be in Austin for my friend's Beer and Diaper party (anybody else do those? A baby shower for the guys. All you bring is beer and diapers and it usually involves getting drunk, or playing golf, or other activities?). So I wanted to spend some time with her while I could.

That's probably enough rambling from me. I picked up a turkey breast last week for the sole purpose of having lunch meat this week. Used the Tony Chachere's Jalapeno Butter injection for some kick and rubbed it down with Dizzy Pig's Swamp Venom.

Threw it on the Egg with some apple wood chips for smoke. I had some serious issues with temperature. I was shooting for 400 (which the dome temp was reading). I'm used to having the dome temp not match the probe temp at the grate, but for most of the cook it was reading under 300....more like 250ish. I gave it plenty of time to heat up, but still. Oh well, it wasn't dinner and we weren't doing anything but watching movies so I wasn't in a rush. Here's one hour in.

IN the hour and a half it took to cook, my Maverick finally hit 300. I'm just not trusting this thing anymore. Its old. Probably should check the probes to see how accurate they are. Oh well, like I said, we weren't doing anything.

Pulled it at 160, double checked with my Thermapen. Loosely covered it with foil and let it rest on the counter for about 30 minutes. Did snag a few small slices, quality control and all that. Once it had cooled a bit, into the fridge it went to sleep overnight. Next morning, I got up, pulled out my slicer and went to town.

Made quick work of it. Really digging the slicer. Not the best in the world, but its gonna do just fine for us.

That should keep me in lunchmeat for awhile. Think I might have to freeze some for later as I won't be able to eat all that by myself before it goes bad.

Flavor was spot on for what I was looking for. Nice amount of smoke, not overpowering. Had a bit of bite from the DP and the injection. Texture was right on and sliced paper thin. Way better than any store bought stuff. Definitely gonna make some good sandwiches for the week. I am one happy camper.

500 · February 11

Very nice work. Question. Can you just purchase the turkey breast already in the cooking net, or do you have a stock of that for these purposes. Seems like it would stay together and cook more evenly that way. A slicer is on my birthday list. Warming the wife to the idea.

Griffin · February 11

It was already in the net. I figured they do that for even cooking.

Dyal_SC · February 12

Looks phenomenal!

MrCookingNurse · February 12

Amazing cook. I've been wanting to do turkey breast. At the store I saw a little turkey breast wrapped like one of those game hens, plastic and frozen. Just said turkey breast. Prolly 2 lbs. then next to it was a big one prolly 15 lbs, same packaging and just said turkey breast.....
What do you buy?

Mickey · February 12

Bet that was good. One question: does anyone of you guys at any time put on a dipper?

Griffin · February 13

@Mickey - what's a dipper?

500 · February 13

Maybe Mickey meant diaper. I only put one on when I want to watch the race all the way through.

jfm0830 · February 13

Looks really good Griffin! Boy do I have a question for you. Many roasts or turkey breast I buy come in netting that's exactly like yours. In the past I've always cut the net off and retied the roast with butcher's string myself. I always worried about taking the mesh net off at the end and having it pull off lots of the rub & bark with it. Did you have any such problems? TIA.

MikeP624 · February 13

Did you brine the turkey breast first? Or just inject and cook?

Griffin · February 13

@jfm0830 - yeah, it did pull some of the rub off. I've never cooked anything in a net before, so this was a first for me. I wasn't real worried about it, though. Once you slice it super thin for sandwiches, there isn't much of an outer edge anyway. makes me wonder if I should ahve even bothered to rub it down.

@MikeP624 - no, just an injection this time. I've brined and injected whole turkeys before, but I think its really overkill. Just pick one or the other.

Eggcelsior · February 13

That looks fantastic. This is pushing me more and more towards doing lunch meat myself. I have the feeling that I will save a lot of money once the progeny are school-aged.

Solson005 · February 17

What are your thoughts on your slicer now that you have used it a few times? For the past three weeks I've made two turkey breasts and a baltimore pit beef for sandwich meat for weekly lunches and am starting to look at slicers.

I might have a inside track to one from a sandwich shop that went to slicing everything at the corporate office. So they could cut down liability and have 11 slicers just collecting dust, but if they don't want to part with one I'll need to buy one and yours is on my radar.

Griffin · February 17

i like it. only used 2x, but it'll be fine us. price right, small in size (relative to some, so won't take up a ton of room. probably not the fastest out there, but quick enough. just take your time and last the blade do work.

Chubbs · March 4

Solson005 said:
What are your thoughts on your slicer now that you have used it a few times? For the past three weeks I've made two turkey breasts and a baltimore pit beef for sandwich meat for weekly lunches and am starting to look at slicers.

I might have a inside track to one from a sandwich shop that went to slicing everything at the corporate office. So they could cut down liability and have 11 slicers just collecting dust, but if they don't want to part with one I'll need to buy one and yours is on my radar.

@Solson, hard to slice by hand? Any pics? I want to do deli meat too but a meat slicer is way down on my list.

tjv · March 4

where did you get it. I use to buy them at Costco but they quit carrying them couple years ago. Just kinda gave up on em........I like em because they are a simple straightforward cook and beats the $8.99/lb junk at the deli counter.........

t

Griffin · March 4

Found it at the grocery store (think it was Tom Thumb) right next to all the other frozen turkeys.

r270ba · March 4

Remember roughly the price?

Solson005 · March 4

@Chubbs I use a electric knife and can get it pretty thin so it works but not as quick or as thin as a slicer. I don't have any pictures and didn't do one this weekend. Photobucket is not liking me after my last post and I have to wait until the bandwidth resets tomorrow to post any more pictures. But I will take one next time I do it for you.

Griffin · March 4

@r270ba - unfortunately, no.

jrf316 · March 4

just curious what does the Mrs do? that she travels so much

ajridge35 · March 4

I get these turkey breasts and smoke them ALL the time, great for lunch meat and they last a long time. They are usually about $9-$10, depending on the brand. There is also a butterball brand turkey breast that already comes seasoned, which is great by itself. Each turkey comes with a gravy packet that I always throw away - doesn't help my case in trying to go Paleo/Primal anyway.

Another question for OP: Do you discard the fat cap that is always tacked on? I smoked it once with the fat, and it was unedible, and ever since, I've got rid of it before I put it on the smoker (or season, for that matter.)

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