8# Turkey Breast Overkill?

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jc03

Smoke Blower
Original poster
Jan 9, 2012
81
11
Columbus, Ohio
I've read through the threads on turkey breasts and keep going back and forth on brining versus injecting. I guess my question is, could i do both? I was thinking about a short, mild brine then injecting it with a butter/garlic mix and a dry rub. Would this be too much? Thanks.
 
I would just brine it, and then rub the outside with butter and herbs right before smoking it. Tip's Slaughterhouse brine is really good on poultry and a lot of us have had great success with it.
 
I always Brine...But never bothered injecting...However, lots of people do Both...Totally up to you...JJ
 
I don't think injecting adds anything to a brined bird
 
Well I guess I disagree with most of you, I brine & inject. My brine is similar to Tip's, and the injection is butter, broth, Cajun seasoning, & garlic powder. The injection fills the area between the skin & meat & IMHO makes the meat more tender & juicy.
 
Well I guess I disagree with most of you, I brine & inject. My brine is similar to Tip's, and the injection is butter, broth, Cajun seasoning, & garlic powder. The injection fills the area between the skin & meat & IMHO makes the meat more tender & juicy.


X2...I did my first 14 lb turkey at Thanksgiving and it was the most tender and juicy bird I've ever had.
 
Thanks for all the tips. This is a good problem to have. I'll have to get another one and try both ways. I'm going to start tomorrow morning and will try to post some pics if I can figure out how to do it.
 
Well I guess I disagree with most of you, I brine & inject. My brine is similar to Tip's, and the injection is butter, broth, Cajun seasoning, & garlic powder. The injection fills the area between the skin & meat & IMHO makes the meat more tender & juicy.
I agree with Al on this. I have done it both ways and must say When I just brine I get good results but if I inject after brining I get better results.

Now with this said I have another method I use and get VERY GOOD results better then just brining and injecting. I inject the brine then soak in brine like this Pickling a Turkey with Pops Curing Brine. My brine isn't exactly the same one used in this post (less salt and sugar, added spices, and apple juice replacing water) but the method is the same. I then inject my marinade/flavor mix. I did this at Christmas as well as New Years, and everyone said these were the BEST turkeys I had done. I have since done a turkey without the marinade/flavor injection as I was out of a few ingredients and the results were very good it just lacked that WOW factor. 
 
Well I guess I disagree with most of you, I brine & inject. My brine is similar to Tip's, and the injection is butter, broth, Cajun seasoning, & garlic powder. The injection fills the area between the skin & meat & IMHO makes the meat more tender & juicy.


I use Al's recipe also. I have done three bone in breasts about 8# each this way and they were very good. I brine overnight and inject just before I put the turkey in the smoker. A little of the injection liquid oozes out of the injection holes while the turkey is smoking and the turkey seems to self baste itself.
 
I have come to the decision that BOTH are fantastic, for flavor and juiciness.

Checkout my post 'Leaping Frog Turkey #2' . 

The difference between the right side of the bird and the left side was VERY noticeable, and gooooooood!

Lots of Q-View, hope this helps..

By the way where u at??

Larry
 
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