Canadian Turkey Bacon Experiment

[NDKoze]

I was given a back of skinless/boneless Turkey chunks that I was in a quandary as to what to do with them.

After some ideas floating around in another thread in the Poultry section I decided to try our Canadian Bacon recipe with these Turkey Chunks. Here is the brainstorming thread for the Skinless/Boneless Turkey Breasts:
http://smokinitforums.com/index.php?topic=2452.0

This is the brine recipe that I am thinking about using:
• 1 Gallon Water
• 1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
• 1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
• 3/4 Cup Kosher salt
• 1 TBSP Minced Garlic
• 1 TBSP Onion Powder
• 1 TBSP Ground Black Pepper
• 1 Ounce (weighed) of #1 Instacure

Typically I brine the Canadian Bacon for 10 days. But with slightly smaller pieces of Turkey, I was thinking 3-5 days. Some of the pieces are still cut fairly thick. So, they are not a whole lot smaller than the Pork Loin pieces. They are basically the size of a very large Chicken Breast.

So, what are your thoughts on the amount of time to brine this turkey? Too much? Too Little?

Any other thoughts or suggestions? Like I said, this is an experiment.

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[Pork Belly]

I think the salt content should be about right. I was afraid you might have gone with a full cup. I think 3 days may bee too long though. Perhaps divot can help. He had a post on pork loin that showed a cross section displaying his fake smoke ring. you can judge that penetration and time frame.

I know my ham brine is 12 hours for each pound of fresh ham. that is where my thinking was for 6-8 or 8-12 depending on the size of the chunks.

[NDKoze]

There is going to be a lot more surface area with these chunks, so it will definitely penetrate faster. But they aren't a whole lot smaller than the Loin Chunks that I have brined for 10+ days.

We'll see what Divot and others may have to say. I'm going to start the swim tonight.

[DivotMaker]

Hmm...that's a bit of a poser, Gregg.  I brine whole loins for 10-12 hours, and get about 3/8" penetration of the curing salt.  Like you, the Canadian bacon loins go for 10 days.  If you consider about 3/4" per day, you can calculate the time in the pool based on the thickness of your chunks.  But, you have to halve the time, since it penetrates both sides.  So, if your piece is 3" thick, it would be fully-penetrated with cure in 2 days. 

I've never really thought about it like this before, but I bet our CB loins would be done in much less than 10 days, too!  Gonna have to give this theory a try!

[Pork Belly]

I believe the ten is a bit long, using dry cure I only go seven. The best reference for this turkey project for me, would be the ham I brined. As I said it was 12 hours per pound, with less surface area. If they are 2.5 to 3 pound chunks I'm thinking 2 days would be fine and 3 shouldn't hurt anything.

[DivotMaker]

Curious, Brian - do you think the dry-brine method works faster or slower than the wet-brine?  I would think the extra water (in the wet brine) would speed up the penetration into the meat.  Something I never really thought about, just curious what your thoughts are.  Also, what's the advantage of one over the other?  Is it preference, or a reason?

[Pork Belly]

I'm not sure. I have always done the seven with the dry cure on bellies and loins. Although sometimes by feel and texture I think some batches were likely done at five days I just stuck with seven.

[DivotMaker]

I know lots of folks use dry brine on bacon, but I've never known why that method.  Looks like I have a little research to do now!

[Pork Belly]

I'd like to address the subject of dry-brining. There's been a lot of talk lately about this technique for flavoring and moisturizing a turkey. As with many other culinary inventions, it's hard to pinpoint who first came up with the idea. But numerous sources credit the famous roast chicken served by chef Judy Rodgers at her San Francisco restaurant Zuni Café.

The secret to Rodgers's chicken is a salt and herb mixture that's rubbed on the bird, then allowed to penetrate in the fridge before cooking. After the recipe was published in Rodgers's cookbook, other cooks started applying it to Thanksgiving turkey. Technically, this is not actually brining—by definition, a brine is a wet mixture of salt and water in which an ingredient is soaked. A dry salt mixture is actually more of a "rub" or perhaps a "cure." But proponents of the technique started using the term "dry-brine" to invite both a comparison and contrast with a "wet-brine" (soaking the turkey in saltwater), which had previously been a popular method for adding moisture and flavor.

I poached this quote off the internet but it clearly expresses my thoughts.

"Dry Brine" is a trendy term that doesn't make sense. A Brine; is WET.
Salt and Spices rubbed on meat is a rub or a cure. I have talked with some of the professional chefs at my work they agree with me, brine's are wet.

[DivotMaker]

You're right, Brian, the term "dry brine" really is misused.  I bet it started because of what happens when you coat the meat in a salt & cure mixture - it forms a liquid, in the bag, so it kind of makes a "brine" with the meat's own juice.  The chemical reaction, with the protein molecules in the meat, is the same, too.

[NDKoze]

Well, time got away from me this weekend and I didn't get the turkey breast chunks into the brine until this morning at about 2:30AM.

So, I am tentatively planning on smoking them on Wednesday evening around 7:30 or so after I get home from Church. That would be roughly 2.75 days in the brine.

I think I will try Brian's idea of cold smoking at 100 degrees for 3 hours, and then bump up the temp to 175 until internal temp of 160.

I'll use 2 ounces of Oak Whiskey Barrel Chips and 2 ounces of Cherry Chunk.

Then cool and vacuum seal.

[DivotMaker]

Can't wait to hear the results, Gregg!!

[NDKoze]

The Canadian Turkey Bacon expirement is done and I would say it turned out really well. I did learn a few things that I think I will do differently if/when I do this again.

1. Reduce the salt from 3/4 Cup down to 1/2 Cup. It wasn't terribly salty, but it could have used a little less. Maybe with whole breasts it would be OK to stick with 3/4. It depends on how averse you are to salty foods I guess.

2. I tried smoking at 100 for three hours and then 175, but it took FOREVER. I ended up cranking it up to 250 for about 90 minutes to get it up to 160. It held at 138 for so long that I ended up falling asleep and woke up a couple of hours later and it was still at 138.

3. Lastly, I didn't have a choice this time, but if I do this again, it will be nice to have whole skinless turkey breasts instead of the chunks that we got from the Hutterites.

So, the next time, I think I will smoke at 100 for two hours and then crank up to 240 until the internal temp hits 160.

I used my Excalibur Hickory Char & Thyme seasoning that I didn't really care for on ribs and it tastes a lot better on the poultry. I ran out of seasoning so ended up using a little bit of Montreal Chicken Seasoning as well.

[DivotMaker]

Nice looking spread, Gregg!  Well-done!

[BedouinBob]

Looks pretty lip smackin' Gregg! You are making me hungry!