Definitely Brine,
Here's what I use, I tweak sometimes but try to keep the ratios accurate somewhat
- Water to salt ratio is 1:16 or 1 cup of Kosher salt per gallon of non-chlorinated water.
- Sugar reduces the the taste of the salt, use the same ratio as the salt.
- Whole Birds brine for about an hour a pound.
- Breasts no more than 5-6 hours
Turkey Brine:
- 2 Gal Water
- 2 Cups Kosher Salt
- 2 Cups Sugar (1 Cup white + 1 Cup Brown)
- 4 TBS Black Pepper
- 1 TBS Dried Rosemary
- 1 TBS Thyme
- 1/4 Cup White Wine or dry vermouth. (not Cooking Wine)
Combine all ingredients to 1 gallon of water in a large pot and bring to a slow simmer for 10 minute stirring, remove from heat and cool in refrigerator. Reserve a few ounces for the beer can.
In a cooler add ice and the brine, submerge bird in brine, (weigh down if needed) add ice as needed, after brine period remove and rinse, pat dry.
Hey ...Just wanted to say thanks for the brine recipe above, and thanks to all for the info on smoking turkey breasts. I tried one in my 18.5
WSM this weekend that turned out fantastic! Super juicy, full of flavor, super tender ...awesome! Here's what I did:
1. Using the brine above (looked strong in black pepper ....one of our faves on turkey) and brined a whole bone-in 'all natural' turkey breast for 4 hours and 45 minutes.
2. When the brining was done, rinsed thoroughly in cold water and dried well with a paper towel, and let it sit for 30 minutes or so to finish drying ...close 'nuf. Then I sprayed the whole breast, inside and out with olive oil and peppered fairly heavily with medium-grind (sorta rough) black pepper ...nothing else.
3. Packed half an apple (2 quarters) and half an onion (2 quarters) into the chest cavity. Let the turkey sit while getting the smoker going.
4. Smoked with just 2 chunks of wood down deep in the briquettes (1 hickory, 1 apple, just medium sized) and one chunk of apple on top near the center area where I put the lit coals (minion method).
5. Ran smoker with vents wide open for 30 minutes then closed all bottom vents to 1/3- for the remainder of the smoke. Average temp in the smoker was around 250 F (ran hot yesterday for some reason ...breezy day). When the internal temp hit 158 F, I wrapped the turkey in foil tightly and put it back in ....intending to take it out when it hit the 165-170 range ...but goofed ...lost too much time on the computer checking for the 'perfect' strawberry-rhubarb pie recipe ...and ooops, turkey was up to 189 F (!!!!). I thought it would've been dried out ...but NO! It was perfect! I think wrapping it really kept the moisture in and kept it from drying out. The turkey was AWESOME!
Brian