Smoked Turkey Breast

[tom in nc]

The Mrs. got me a boneless, skinless turkey breast, at least she thought it was a turkey breast. She got it from Wal-Mart and the wrapper said "Includes Dark Meat". Both of us were a bit confused by this but I'm sure you guys will pick out the dark meat in the pics. Guess it was a pressed loaf and not a true turkey breast.

Anyway, I mixed up a fresh batch of Jeff's naked rib rub. After drying the turkey I rubbed the turkey "breast" on all sides with the rub. I filled my WSM charcoal chamber 1/2 full of unlit briquettes and threw in 2 chucks of cherry wood (each chunk less than the size of my wife's fist.) Lit 30 pieces of charcoal in my chimney and then added it over the unlit charcoal. Got my smoker assembled, filled the water pan, let it come to temp and settled down to TBS. I put on the turkey and monitored the temps. I spritzed the turkey with a 50/50 mix of apple cider and water at 100*F, 125*F and 150*F. When the turkey hit 160*F I pulled it off the smoker, spritzed it with the apple cider/water mix, wrapped it in foil, and threw it in a cooler with towels for an hour. It took just over 3 hours with the top grate temp at 260*F +/- 10*F to finish the turkey.

After we walked the dog the Mrs made a couple of salads and had a baked sweet potato ready for dinner. Now on to the Q-view.

Turkey rubbed down with Jeff's rub...


Turkey @ 165*F and ready to come off smoker...


Sliced on the cutting board...


Plated. Wife's is on the left (with ranch salad dressing) and mine is on the right.


Thanks for looking!

 

[fire it up]

Looks like a great meal.
Turkey looks similar to the Butterball boneless breast roasts I usually buy.
Delicious injected with honey and smoked, they make delicious turkey pastrami as well

 

[tom in nc]

I haven't tried injecting the breast yet. Was planning on doing it this time but ran out of ingredients. Never thought of just injecting honey.

Turkey pastrami sounds delicious. I'll have to try that next!

 

[chisoxjim]

nice looking meal there Tom. I gotta start eating turkey more than just around thanksgiving..

 

[fire it up]

Forgot to mention that with the honey you will want to mix it with a little water,otherwise it will be too hard to pull into the injector and inject into the meat, add a touch of salt and poultry seasoning to the honey and little bit of water and you will never think about ordering deli honey smoked turkey again

 

[tom in nc]

I'm a big fan of pork and steak, but my blood pressure doesn't like 'em. My wife knows I love to smoke so she encourages me to smoke chicken and turkey. It's a healthier alternative (but nothing beats some good ribs!) and I get to experiment with different brine, injections, rubs, etc. I was pleased with the taste of the turkey tonight.

 

[tom in nc]

Thanks for the tip. I was wondering how the honey flowed in the injector...

I'll definitely give it a try!

 

[rdknb]

I too have the blood pressure thing going so lots of chicken and turkey, yours looked great and very juicy.

 

[caveman]

The bird looks really good. Question: How long did it take for your TBS until you actually put your meat on?

Thanks for the pics.

 

[nwdave]

Agree with FIU, definitely looks like the turkey roll meats you can get at Costco. They are on the list after I make a couple of mods to the GOSM. We try to have turkey 3 - 4 times a month. Easy to do, with turkey wing drumsticks, this turkey roll, regular drumsticks, all smoked, of course. And, unfortunately, it's good for you.

for your venture.

 

[slim]

looks real tasty

 

[bottomline]

Good job Tom. Gives me another idea. I have recently bought a King Kooker Smoker. Got it assembled yesterday and plan on seasoning it today. Hope to get started smoking something this week.

 

[tom in nc]

Sircave - I put the turkey on the smoker about an hour after I dropped the hot coals on the unlit charcoal. I've got a WSM and I filled the charcoal ring about 1/2 way full. I put a couple fist sized dry chunks of cherry on the unlit coals. Then I lit 30 coals in a chimney and when they were ready, I dumped them on the unlit coals and assembled the smoker.

Over the next hour or so (It was actually about 50 minutes) I brought the smoker up to the temp I wanted and let the billowing white smoke turn into TBS.