Cured turkey breasts

I finally had the chance to get into some wet curing, and have always been intrigued by Pops' cured turkey thread. Sounded interesting to say the least. So I used his 'universal' wet curing brine recipe with the full amount of salt, 1c/gallon. The only substitute I used was the dark brown sugar variant. The brine went together wonderfully. It took about 1.5 gallons to do the breasts in the vessel I picked. Covered them up and put them in the fridge. I planned to let them go for 2 days, but on the second day, I realized I forgot to inject them as Pops suggests. I had done a ham at the same time, and it just slipped my mind. Instead, I decided to let them go another 2 days to be sure. I had split the breast, so there was some extra surface area exposed to my benefit. After the additional days, I took them out and let them air dry in the fridge overnight to dry out the skin a bit. The next day I rubbed them on and under the skin with EVOO and garlic-pepper, then smoked them with plum wood to an IT of 163. Then out of the smoker and tented in a foil pan for an hour.The plan was to make lunch meat, so I de-boned them and put the breast in the fridge to be sliced, vac'd and frozen the next day.





First off, I have to say this was a big hit with me! Although the salt was a tad too much, the flavor and texture were out of this world! It is definitely more like ham than turkey. And as easy as it was, it's another one to hit the 'must do often' list! Thanks to Pops for the great recipes he has shared with all of us! I look forward to buying your first book!