1/2 Turkey breast

[r2 builders]

Went to my local market for a whole Turkey breast to smoke this weekend.
No whole breast available but I found a 6lb 1/2 Turkey breast.
Not sure about brining, injecting and rubs.
Has anyone done one of these?
Looking for some pointers.

Thanks,

R2

 

[SmokinAl]

Just use the same method that you were going to use for a whole breast.

I'm assuming it's bone in & skin on.

Al

 

[r2 builders]

Ok, yes and yes.
I will let you know how it goes.
Thanks for the feedback.

 

[slipaway]

I have become a big fan of brining. Whether the breast is whole or half it would do well with a day of brining.

There are recipes on this site (to get the salt/water ratio correct. You can add some spices in the brine if you want to add flavor, in addition to the moistness.

Injecting can cause some bacteria issues, esp. with poultry, and if you brine you don't need to inject.

A rub is a good idea after brining. Make sure you get the rub under the skin as well as on the skin.

Good luck.................

 

[r2 builders]

Ok, yes and yes.
I will let you know how it goes.
Thanks for the feedback.

 

[r2 builders]

Thank you Sir.
All comments under consideration. : )

 

[phatbac]

A brine i used at thanksgiving with a turkey breast was salt, pepper, garlic, fresh thyme and fresh rosemary. it worked well on the breast i cooked. I made sure to rinse the turkey after the brine to get the surface salt off of it! after that i rubbed down with lemon pepper. Make sure to rub with a rub with no salt in it because you will have imparted plenty with the brine. Make sure to take some pics (as i forgot to do) and post so we can see how it comes out.

Happy Smoking,

phatbac (Aaron)

 

[r2 builders]

Thanks for the brine information.
Do you have your exact recipe?

R2

 

[phatbac]

I got that brine recipe from Jeff who owns this site. it was in the smoking meat newsletter let me go find it and i will copy and paste it here.  recomne4d the smoking meat news;letter. its a weekly recipe emailed to you on Thursdays!

 
Ingredients:

• 3 quarts of water (approx.)
• 1 to 1.5 quarts of ice
• A couple of 4-inch sprigs of thyme
• A couple of 4-inch sprigs of rosemary
• 1 tablespoon of course ground black pepper
• 1 tablespoon of red pepper flakes
• 8-10 garlic cloves smashed with the side of a knife to release lots of flavor.
• 1 cup of kosher salt

Directions:

Add 1 quart of the water, the rosemary and thyme, black pepper, red pepper flakes and garlic into a medium sized pot. Cover the pot and bring it just to boiling and then turn off the heat. Let the ingredients steep in the water for 20-30 minutes before removing the cover. Put the “tea” in the fridge to cool down. I recommend giving it several hours at least but overnight is best.

If you procrastinated, don’t worry.. I have your back. Simply pour the hot brine through a sieve into a gallon sized pitcher. Add about a quart of ice and stir the ice and brine mixture to cool it down.

Add more ice if you need to to cool it on down.

Finally, to the pre-cooled brine mixture, add enough cold water to bring it up to a gallon.. you should have a total of 1 gallon of liquid in the pitcher.

Add 1 cup of kosher salt to this liquid and stir gently for a minute or two until the salt is completely dissolved.

This, my friends, is your brine.

I didn't measure my ingredients closely putting more herbs and garlic and salt because i used about twice the water for what i did back in Nov.

Hope this helps,

phatbac (Aaron)