What I’m going for here is something similar to smoked turkey deli meat, the sweeter version, like maple or honey smoked. Slightly pink, moist, tastes kind of like honey ham. I decided to try Pop’s Curing Brine, since it has a high sugar content, and the flavor profile seemed like what I was looking for. I noticed Gregg (NDKoze) has posted a very similar brine recipe on this forum (looks like a variation on Pop's) that uses a little less sugar. If you want to reduce the sugar, I would suggest reducing the white sugar, and keeping the brown sugar as is.
Pop’s Curing Brine (from SmokingMeatForums)1 gallon of water
3/4 cup of kosher salt
1 cup granulated white sugar
(If you prefer less sweetness, I would suggest reducing the white sugar to 1/2 cup or even none.)1 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon cure #1
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon onion powder
1 tablespoon molasses (mild flavor)
(I used full flavor)1 whole boneless/skinless turkey breast (left and right halves)
Maple syrup or honey for glazing
(optional) (I used maple syrup)DirectionsCure breast halves for 2-3 days
(I cured for 3 days). Rinse off cure and soak in plain water for 30 minutes. Pat dry. Put the two breasts together, insides facing, thin end of one to thick end of the other, and tie into a uniform cylinder shape, so it will smoke evenly. Refrigerate on a rack for 24 hours to form a pellicle.
Smoke at 200 using 3 ounces of cherry (no water pan). After two hours, glaze with maple syrup or honey. Glaze once per hour after that, 1 or 2 more times. Smoke to an internal temperature of 160. Tent loosely with foil and let cool for 1 hour. Wrap and refrigerate for 2-3 days before slicing. I sliced thin, and vacuum sealed in one or two sandwich-sized portions.
Lessons LearnedAfter 5-1/2 hours, my internal temp was at 147, and had been sitting at 147 for well over an hour. I feel two things contributed to the IT taking so long to rise. 1) Opening the door to apply the glaze, and 2) Tying the two halves together making a fairly large meat mass. I was starting to get concerned about the meat drying out, so at that point, I decided to wrap the turkey log with foil, and turn the smoker up to 250. The internal temperature then rose quickly. If I were to do it again, I would do the entire smoke at 225, and maybe wrap with foil at around 145 or 150 IT. If I were smoking a single breast (not two tied together) then I would stick with smoking at 200.
TasteI tend to like things on the smoky side, so it was just right for me. Those who like a lighter smoke might want to go with 2 or 2-1/2 ounces of wood. It was definitely on the sweeter side, a lot like honey ham. It was fine as is, but next time I will probably try reducing the white sugar to 1/2 cup if using a honey or maple glaze. I was also pretty happy with the salt level. Deli meat is fairly salty, and it was comparable to that. Not overly salty, but well seasoned, and when used on a sandwich, the salt level and flavors were very balanced with the other sandwich ingredients. All in all, I’ll be putting this in my regular rotation. 2 days would probably be adequate for the brine/cure, but based on the results I had, I'll probably stick with 3 days unless I am pressed for time.
