Smoked Soy Marinated Turkey Breast

gregbooras

Moderator
My wife and I have rented a cabin in the mountains for the holiday and since I don't plan to bring along my smoker I have decided to smoke a turkey a few days early. Once the turkey is done, I will vacuum seal it and keep it almost frozen until out dinner on Thursday.

Ingredients:
1 8 lb. turkey breast (smoke 250 degrees)

Marinade:
¼ cup Olive Oil
¼ cup BBQ rub
1 cup Moore’s Marinade
1 cup water

Wood:
1.5 oz. cherry
.5 oz. pecan

In a large zip lock bag add marinade and then the rinsed turkey. Seal the bag and place in the refrigerator, for 1.5 hours, flipping every 20 minutes or so.

Remove turkey from the refrigerator, drain and then coat with mustard and BBQ rub. Place back in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or until you are ready to smoke.

Remove when turkey reaches 165 degrees, cover and allow turkey to rest for 20 minutes or so.




Greg
 
Total smoke time ended up being 3.5 hours, pulled at 165 degrees.

Let sit for 20 minutes and then cut in half and then vacuum sealed.

This will be dinner on Thursday and on the weekend.





Greg
 
swthorpe said:
Looking great, Greg!  Enjoy your trip and Happy Thanksgiving!

Steve,

I am interested to enjoy the end results for this smoke. Since the plan was to smoke and then semi freeze for a few days, I went lighter on the wood.

This is the first breast only turkey I have done and it did not seem as juicy as the whole turkeys I have done in the past.

Tomorrow night will be the test and I will post the results.

Have a very Happy Thanksgiving Steve!

Greg
 
The turkey turned out pretty good, but it needed more smoke and it was not as juicy as a full bird.

Next time, I will just smoke a whole bird!





Greg
 
Greg, looks great. Do you think a longer dip in the brine would have helped? It's a pretty big piece of meat.
 
BedouinBob said:
Greg, looks great. Do you think a longer dip in the brine would have helped? It's a pretty big piece of meat.

Hey Bob,

I decided not to brine the turkey breast since it was already injected from the store (18% solution). It was a good dinner, but they whole turkey was cheaper than just buying the breast. So next time I will just smoke the whole bird.

I actually have two 12 lbs birds in the freezer that I picked up for .59 cents a pound.

Greg
 
gregbooras said:
Hey Bob,

I decided not to brine the turkey breast since it was already injected from the store (18% solution). It was a good dinner, but they whole turkey was cheaper than just buying the breast. So next time I will just smoke the whole bird.

I actually have two 12 lbs birds in the freezer that I picked up for .59 cents a pound.

Greg

I brine ALL pre-injected birds. They've NEVER been too salty! I don't think that pre-injection really does much, other than add water so the bird weighs more  ;)
 
SconnieQ said:
gregbooras said:
Hey Bob,

I decided not to brine the turkey breast since it was already injected from the store (18% solution). It was a good dinner, but they whole turkey was cheaper than just buying the breast. So next time I will just smoke the whole bird.

I actually have two 12 lbs birds in the freezer that I picked up for .59 cents a pound.

Greg

I brine ALL pre-injected birds. They've NEVER been too salty! I don't think that pre-injection really does much, other than add water so the bird weighs more  ;)

I am willing to be wrong here, but when they inject these babies the salt level is already more than I would use and cook with.

Greg
 
gregbooras said:
SconnieQ said:
gregbooras said:
Hey Bob,

I decided not to brine the turkey breast since it was already injected from the store (18% solution). It was a good dinner, but they whole turkey was cheaper than just buying the breast. So next time I will just smoke the whole bird.

I actually have two 12 lbs birds in the freezer that I picked up for .59 cents a pound.

Greg

I brine ALL pre-injected birds. They've NEVER been too salty! I don't think that pre-injection really does much, other than add water so the bird weighs more  ;)

I am willing to be wrong here, but when they inject these babies the salt level is already more than I would use and cook with.

Greg

I'm actually not a big salt fiend. I don't like snack foods, etc, and I commonly complain about things being too salty. But my pre-brined birds, that I brine, always seem to come out just right for salt level. The pre-brined birds always seem a little bland to me if I don't brine them.
 
Divot might know the answer to this but my suspicion about turkey parts has always been that they might have been birds that didn't pass grade as a whole bird.  But taking it to 165 and having it continue to cook could also had an effect.  I'm sure that it still made good sandwiches. 
 
SuperDave said:
Divot might know the answer to this but my suspicion about turkey parts has always been that they might have been birds that didn't pass grade as a whole bird.  But taking it to 165 and having it continue to cook could also had an effect.  I'm sure that it still made good sandwiches.

You're right about where they get the bone-in breasts, and you don't want to see the birds they came from. :o  I think you're right on the time, too.  I would have probably taken a lone breast to 160, to allow for cooking when it was reheated, but not sure.
 
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