Couple of Boneless Turkey Breast

[jimmyinsd]

I did notice that the wild turkey breast that I smoked last weekend had a very strong similarity in flavor to my brined/smoke pork loin. maybe because they are both white meat? the turkey had a better texture though for a cold sandwich, but both get eaten pretty quickly in our house.

 

[tallbm]

I have always gone with 1 cup of salt, 1 cup of sugar, to one gallon of water. If it takes more water I add the appropriate amounts of salt and sugar to get that additional water to the right concentration. If I add seasoning and flavorings that contain salt (like cajun seasoning or soy sauce) I back the salt down, If I add a sugary liquid like fruit juice or pop then I back the sugar down. Now I've seen some brines around here that call for 2 cups of sugar and 1 cup of salt to 1 gallon of water and I havent tried that much sugar yet, but I am sure I will at some point.

Yeah there are all kinds of options.
I choose the simple salt + water so that when I pull the meat out I then season with whatever seasoning route I plan to go. I failed to give any of that info/context.

So I brine salt + water, pull the meat when done brining and then usually add POG and expand from there as needed. I expand from POG by adding Cumin and Chili powder for Mexican flavor, or just Paprika for more BBQ color and flavor, or whatever I need to add for the flavor profile I'm going for. 100% control of flavor profile this way and is so simple my 16 year old nephew could do it :D

Now I do marinate when it is called for as well. Like if I do a margarita lime or Korean Bulgogi type flavor.

Many different ways to go and it is all wonderful! :)

 

[zwiller]

AWESOME. Huge fan of netting! I was getting in the mood to do some turkeys myself and this just got me fired up.

You guys that like to brine etc need to try phosphate. Games changer especially with white meat. Also, I really am taking to Dave Omaks method of injecting based on %. More consistent results and much less hassle and waste than brining too.

 

[tallbm]

AWESOME. Huge fan of netting! I was getting in the mood to do some turkeys myself and this just got me fired up.

You guys that like to brine etc need to try phosphate. Games changer especially with white meat. Also, I really am taking to Dave Omaks method of injecting based on %. More consistent results and much less hassle and waste than brining too.

I may have to look into it. As of now I'm on a 2 month smoking drought to do every moment of my free time away from work being spent on other nonsense. Thank goodness for slowness at work that allows me to check and participate on this forum :D
If only I could use this down time at work to handle all the other stuff I'm working on outside of work :(

 

[zwiller]

^ LOL. Similar but busy at work and this place is a great sanity check.

 

[Smkryng]

Good looking stuff! Smoked turkey is one of my favorites!

 

[tallbm]

I did notice that the wild turkey breast that I smoked last weekend had a very strong similarity in flavor to my brined/smoke pork loin. maybe because they are both white meat? the turkey had a better texture though for a cold sandwich, but both get eaten pretty quickly in our house.

I'm not sure, I have never eaten wild turkey since they've never been on a property I hunted or on a property where I could take one with me lol.

My guess is that the breast of a wild turkey is worked more than the breast of the farmed one and that is what makes it more like a pork loin. With wild hogs I have noticed that the pork loin isn't nearly as tender as farm raised but is still very good and has the wild pork flavor which is like a totally different meat compared to farmed pork!!!

 

[jimmyinsd]

I'm not sure, I have never eaten wild turkey since they've never been on a property I hunted or on a property where I could take one with me lol.

My guess is that the breast of a wild turkey is worked more than the breast of the farmed one and that is what makes it more like a pork loin. With wild hogs I have noticed that the pork loin isn't nearly as tender as farm raised but is still very good and has the wild pork flavor which is like a totally different meat compared to farmed pork!!!

wild turkeys live longer than farm raised so theres that aspect, but yes they do get to use their wings a lot more than a store bought turkey so they are a bit tougher, however they were still plenty tender and moist after brining.

someday I hope to go after wild hogs, thankfully we dont have to deal with them yet on a regular basis but once in a while one comes through up here.