Smoking meat for sandwiches

joeman

Hey all, In trying to be cash and health conscious I wanted to try smoking some meats on my XLBGE to then slice in my deli slicer. I figured I could smoke up a boneless Turkey breast, slice some off for the week then freeze the rest. Then thaw and repeat as needed.

So, not sure what to season or how to go about the smoking. I found some great info about how to integrate the smoking (unsoaked) into the lump so as the lump burns down in encounters fresh smoking chips to keep a consistant smoke on.

So do you mop, marinate or rub the meat or is it all personal preference? Anyone ever try this? Any success or failures? Hoping to get this on the egg tomorrow morning and let it smoke throughout the day.

Any and all comments welcome!

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

civil eggineer

Poultry, including turkey can absorb too much smoke so stay light on the chips. Fruitwood generally has a lighter smoke flavor compared to Mesquite, hichory, etc. I would place a small amout of chips (1 handfull) throughout the lump before lighting. Also make sure all the VOCs have been driven out before you place your meat in. Smell the moke/exhaust, if it smells good it is ready...if it smells acrid wait.

Mainegg

Like Tim said go very light with chips on any poultry. It really absorbs it fast and heavy. I did an eye of round a week or so ago and sliced it thin for lunch meat and vac sealed the rest and froze. I sliced it all though and did it up in one lb packages. not to sure about freezing and slice and refreezing?? I like Italian dressing for a fast and easy soak or your fav rub or marinade. Julie

thirdeye

Welcome to the neighborhood. Sandwich meats are a great way to explore your new Egg. Both of these cooks use an indirect set-up with a heat shield like a plate setter or pizza stone. With an XL you might as well pick up some wings or brats to snack on while the other stuff is cooking.



Boneless turkey breasts are an easy cook, your first choice will be to use a flavor brine or injection, or just season and roast it with some flavor wood. It might be a good idea to do one without getting too involved just to set a baseline for the flavors you are playing with. I'm guessing this one has the elastic net on it? I would remove that, and season under the skin then on the surface. Re tie the roast with twine and cook at 325° until the internal is about 165°. Rest, then chill it overnight before slicing. I prefer to cook the bone-in ones (but I do some prep work on the plate and remove the backbone) so the re tie will look real close to my photo above. Unlike the others, for sandwiches I give them a good dose of smoke, since the flavor will be diluted with your sandwich toppings, onions, tomato, etc. A really simple turkey rub is Montreal (sometimes called Canadian) steak rub. It's very flavorful and coarse.





For beef, get yourself a nice rump roast, I just season with salt, pepper, celery salt and a little garlic powder. I cook them pretty hot like around 350° until the internal temp is 150°. Then I tent with foil, rest about 45 minutes, then into the fridge until the next day. It will slice like a dream.

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Big George's BBQ

Why the tooth pics in the turkey. Why and how do you take out the backbone. Nice tying job

joeman

Gad-freakin-zooks!! Great responses, everyone!! Thanks so much!!

Thirdeye, how do you brine your turkey? Water and salt? How much of each? Anything else? How long do you brine it for?

I picked up a rump roast as well at your recommendation. Can't wait to fire up the egg tomorrow morning!!

I am going to do some searching for brining as I suspect you won't be getting this until tomorrow.

Again, thanks everyone!! I will let you know how it goes.

thirdeye

The recipe is here on my Flavor Brine page.

Brines

I use Flavor Brine #2 on turkey, but it calls for Tenderquick, which you most likely don't have. So I would go with Brine #1, with any of the adders you feel like throwing in.

thirdeye

I put dry seasonings and in this case fresh basil, where it does the most good..... under the skin. The toothpicks hold the skin in place. If you don't secure it, it looks like this.





I go with the full prep mostly on breasts that are dedicated for slicing, or ones that I give away. Less bone and breast plate makes the slicing easier. Here is the full process.

Turkey Prep

As a minimum I take out the backbone and some of the ribs, and also the wishbone. They don't require tying and are still reasonably easy to slice.

Charleston Dave

Go very light on the smoking wood. Hickory and mesquite have particularly strong flavors.

I like to include some pecan along with cherry or applewood when doing poultry. The pecan brings a striking mahogany color to the bird.

joeman

~thirdeye~, after looking at your link I realized I don't have the right container to do the soaking in so I am just gonna do a rub and go with that.

So for the smoke, do you soak the chips or don't you? Do you put the chips in after the egg gets to the proper temp?

Getting ready to fire her up.

thirdeye

Yeah, ask at the supermarket deli or bakery for a 2 or 3 gallon bucket. They will most likely just give you one. They get all kinds of stuff in them, and they will be food grade plastic.




I don't soak wood. I mix chips within the lump, then add layers of splits like this. I repeat if I'm building a long burning fire. Then I light dead center. As the fire grows over time it finds new wood.

joeman

Ok, I dont have any splits. Where do you get those? Online or do you just have a log pile of pecan etc at your disposal?

I got the bird on the grill. Looking good so far. I am photo documenting my progress to share in hopes it helps other newbies.

Once I got the grill up to temp, I put in the chips and put on the indirect plate and then got it back up to temp and then added the bird. Was that the right way to do it? The smoke has seemed to die down a bit. Do you add more chips throughout the process?

Again, thanks for all the help!!

thirdeye

Well, I buy chunks and you get splits from them, I use a little construction hatchet. Some wood dealers sell splits. Some folks use 1 or 2 chunks instead of splits.

I put the wood in before lighting, because I have chips mixed in within the lump (several handfulls). But you are right in that you need to let the fire settle down a little before putting in the bird.

You shouldn't have to add more wood during the cook but since you have only chips they will burn up quicker. It's possible to drop some chips into the lump at the edge of the plate setter and push them toward the lit coals. However, you will loose a lot of heat while the lid to the cooker is open.

When you get a few minutes read this page. If nothing else it will give you some fuel for more questions.

Intro to Barbecue