Finally nailed smoked turkey breast

jlsm

Until now, I haven't had a really good smoked turkey breast, and I know a few of you were in the same boat. This worked.

Half a breast brined, air dried for two hours, rubbed with a slurry of oil, sage and rosemary and a dry rub my SIL made. Smoked with hickory and cherry for 90 minutes at 300* grate until the breast registered 160. 

Fantastic.

Damn. Can't post the pic for some reason. 

rholt

What was your brine made up of? The problem I typically run into is that the outside of my meat has flavor but the inside is quite bland.

SGH

I was going to say that looks like a winner to me. But since I can't see it I'm going to say that it sounds like a winner to me my friend.

jlsm

Finally figured out my photo problem: 

@rholt: I used a half cup of TABLE SALT without iodine to 2.5 quarts of water. I brined it for an full hour. Seemed like a lot of salt, but it did permeate the meat. 

I made broth with the bones and used it in a smoked turkey pot pie the next night. Unbelievably good, though I baked it in the oven. 

SmokeyPitt

It looks great...love the color! 

SGH

Now I can say it. Looks like a winner to me my friend. Good job =D>

Carolina Q

Looks great!! I don't think I've done turkey since I got my egg over 5 years ago. Just before that, I remember doing a breast on my flower pot smoker. Likely my first ever. 220ish, soaked hickory chips, probably with oil, s&p and Herbes de Provence. I know it wasnt brined as i never brine anything. I remember thinking how great it was. For some reason, I've never done another. Thanks for the prod, time to try again. Maybe I'll use an egg this time.

uwing

Looks great

SkinnyV

i am going to try the frozen solid breast on the egg i saw someone post and see how it comes out.

longball5187

This sounds and looks fantastic. I will be attempting my first breast on Saturday (in preparation for hosting our first Thanksgiving).

Just got my L Egg about 2 months ago and everything has turned out great. This will hopefully be the next piece of meat to fall in line with that trend.

Thanks, for posting!

alynd

If you smoked something like this, how long would FTC keep it warm?

anton

Love the color and looks like skin was perfecto! Congrats on the great job!
:-bd

Brisket_Fanatic

Great color on that breast!

piney

SkinnyV said:

i am going to try the frozen solid breast on the egg i saw someone post and see how it comes out.

I think Nola does that...I need to find out more about this myself.

NDG

Looks Great, I got a large Turkey Breast in the fridge now waiting to hit my BGE later this week.  

I am surprised to hear so many of you use Hickory with Turkey?  I have found Hickory a little strong with Poultry so usually stick to Fruit Woods.  

Should I give the Hickory/Fruit combo a try on my Turkey later this week?

jlsm

I used mostly cherry (thus the dark color) but threw in a large chunk of hickory for the smoke. My other breasts were done with all cherry and they just didn't come out very smokey; 90 minutes isn't much time to absorb. 

jlsm