smoking two 5lb turkey breasts this Saturday. was thinking of doing a cajun butter (homemade, not bought) injection and a rub. am I overthinking it by doing the injection?
I smoke my turkeys on the Traeger. Brining >>>>>> injecting. Find a good brine recipe and you can always tweak it. My go to brine is as follows: 1 Quart Water 1 Quart Apple Cider 3/4 cup Sea Salt or Kosher Salt Add additional spices to your liking (Pepper, garlic, curry, onion powder, etc.) Boil to let all spices and salt dissolve Chill Brine prior to applying to bird Let bird soak for at least 8 hours prior to cook You're welcome.
So got a 14lb turkey today. Frozen. How long will it take to thaw? Hoping I can start prepping Tuesday
Made it last weekend. My roast took forever. Threw in extra jalapenos and a few habaneros and while hot, I think it turned out really well (but on the spicy side for sure). Got good reviews. Also made Taques charro beans, which were also great (threw habs in there too). 1 lb of beans is a whole lot so taking the leftovers to a friend's pig roast tomorrow.
Another thing to note.... Using butcher twine to tie your bird also helps with moisture retension and provides a better texture to the meat. I tie in four locations. Two across the breast. One across the legs / thighs. One two tie the legs together. See photo above.
I dry brined this 12lb turkey for 72 hours last week as a practice run for the real deal. 325 until the breasts were 160 and the thighs were 170. It took a little under two hours. Considering it was my first smoked turkey, it turned out great.
I have never tried a dry brine before. I will make that my next experience. I have heard the pros and cons to twining and not twining. As for me, I like the effect twining has on the meat. I'm certainly open to hearing preferences for not twining though.
dry brining creates a crispy skin, skipping the twine allows a uniform crispiness to the whole bird. I smoke over a gravy pan and have never had a moisture issue.
for my two turkey breasts decided to dry brine for 10 hours (would have done longer, but lacked fridge room), injected with tony chacheres, onion powder, garlic powder, butter, broth...seasoned with parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme right before smoking. smoked on charcoal, little bit of hickory, and mostly apple. basted after first hour with butter, olive oil, and Simon and Garfunkel pulled at 155. super moist and delicious. best turkey ever. smoked drippings gravy is the tits. no pics because I'm a fiend.
I too will be making that amazing ribs turkey. Really looking forward to that smoked gravy, and he stock I’ll make with the leftover gravy and carcass on Friday
FWIW, salmonella dies in less than 4 minutes at 150. If you pull it when the breast is at 150 and let it rest > 10 minutes it’s going to be safe and not dried out. If you’re a worry wart, just let it go to 155.
Turkey is salted and in fridge uncovered to brine. Gravy is prepped and ready to go. Now I have to hope the turkey fits on my WSM. Made some watergate salad and cranberries, may make Mac and Cheese tonight so I don't have to fuck with it tomorrow and I'll be good to go. Looking forward to just watching football and having everything ready to just go in the oven
Doing two turkeys tomorrow both are in the brine. The other half insists on doing one in the oven (though everyone ate the smoked last year) and smoking mine with apple wood. Most of the sides are ready outside of the mashed potatoes. Ready to drink bourbon and wait for chip to make up his damn mind.
Fuck injecting meat. Just brine them. I smoke turkey breasts all the time and I always brine them overnight. Rub them and smoke them. They always come out juicy.
Put my birthday present together today: Didn’t get it ready in time to use it today, smoked a pork butt on my WSM but the picture won’t load because somehow the file is too large...idk
Couldn’t get my smoker to get temps high enough so I’m sitting at 153 after about 3 hours cooking. Sides were done 45 mind ago because I thought the temp was climbing fast enough to go ahead and heat them. Sweeet.
In the future, give yourself 45-60 minutes resting time for your bird. It's such a large piece of meat that it'll keep under a foil tent for quite some time before carving.
Yeah it’ll probably be the last one I smoke. Just not that into turkey to do all that work again. The stock from the drippings pan was the best part. I like fried way better. A big easy is probably on my list of toys to get. I recommended it to my parents and they liked it way better than oil fried.
Did a bird in the Big Easy which turned out great, injected and smoked one which came out perfect but my injection did nothing. I self ground (dried) peppers and stuff but it had no zip. I was pretty pissed. Back to the drawing board on that.
For those who smoke their turkeys (as I did) for thanksgiving, is there a trick to get the skin crispy? I brined my bird so I know I didn't help there but I took it out the night before and rinsed/dried and put rub on it and left it overnight. Is that just a casualty of brining?
Baking powder, regardless of preparation and cooking method. Rub it on the skin before you put it on the smoke. Same trick can be used to mimic deep-fried chicken wings when they’re actually just oven-roasted.
Turkey from yesterday. Wet brined for 36 hours then dried it out in the fridge for a day before smoking. It was a real hit. Smoking the Thanksgiving turkey is such a boss move.