First Turkey Breast No Que View though

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mnfred

Fire Starter
Original poster
Jun 22, 2009
32
10
Brooklyn Center, MN
I smoked my first Turkey Breast the other day and it was the best Turkey I have ever had. Here is what I had done, borrowing from my Thanksgiving Day routine, I do every year. I did a split breast as my wife is a vegetarian and it is just the two of us.
Brine:


[font=Courier New, monospace]Fruit and Spice Brine Mix (makes about 3 cups): [/font]

[font=Courier New, monospace]Ingredients [/font]

[font=Courier New, monospace]1 cup sea salt [/font]
[font=Courier New, monospace][font=Arial, sans-serif]¾ [/font]cup sugar [/font]
[font=Courier New, monospace]3 or 4 star anise [/font]
[font=Courier New, monospace]1 tablespoon whole black or pink peppercorns (I used black) [/font]
[font=Courier New, monospace]6-8 cardamom pods [/font]
[font=Courier New, monospace]1 tablespoon dried orange peel [/font]
[font=Courier New, monospace]1 tablespoon dried lemon peel [/font]
[font=Courier New, monospace]2 tablespoons dried rosemary [/font]
[font=Courier New, monospace]5 whole allspice berries, crushed [/font]
[font=Courier New, monospace]4 juniper berries, smashed [/font]
[font=Courier New, monospace]1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper [/font]

[font=Courier New, monospace](Dried spices, everything but salt and sugar, blended into a powder to be able to reduce the recipe amounts and still have the correct proportions of spices.) [/font]


[font=Courier New, monospace]Used 5/8 Cup of above spice mix and brought to a boil in a mixture of 3 Cups Apple Cider and 3 Cups of water. Cooled the Brine Mixture and added the turkey breast. Brined in the refrigerator for 8 Hours.[/font]


[font=Courier New, monospace]Rinsed well with cold water and patted dry with paper towels. Then put it in the refrigerator, uncovered, for 7 hours to air dry.[/font]


[font=Courier New, monospace]Started the smoker and added 3 oz. Apple Wood Chunks. When at 225 degrees added the turkey breast which had been taken out of the refrigerator to lose the chill. Used a probe thermometer set at 157 degrees. Added another 3 oz. Apple Wood Chunks 35 minutes later. (No smoke was seen chunks looked exhausted.[/font]

I hope I haven't been to long winded. Let me know if I have. Thanks.
 
I hope the information is/was helpful. Be sure to pay close attention to the steps of rinsing well after the brining and patting dry with paper towels. Otherwise you will get a black coating on the skin. Also you may have to use a high temp finishing step or the skin will not get much color. Enjoy.
 
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