Doing a Boneless Skinless Turkey Breast on Sat.

[ballagh]

It is only a 3.5 pound breast. Would you still brine it? And if so how long? I have never brined them before and they turned out pretty damn good. I plan on putting a rub on it the night before it goes in. They get a hair on the dry side when you eat them as leftovers, not sure if the brining will help with this or not? but I plan on slicing this one a hour or so after I pull it.

So yeah, to brine or not to brine?

There will also be two fatties going on with it. Tried that for the first time last weekend, Holy Smokes that is freakin awesome! Nice tip guys!

 

[up in smoke]

brine for 24 hrs. Taste your brine before you use it. If itâ€[emoji]8482[/emoji]s too salty, adjust. see forum for brines

 

[q3131a]

See my thread here:

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/viewtopic.php?t=2238

Brine = yes

 

[ballagh]

Got it soaking in it now in the fridge. Smells really really good already. Bout ready to pull up a glass of the brine! LOL Any secrets on how to keep the breast totally submerged in the brine in a stock pot with a lid? Did you go ahead and heat up your brine after mixing it all up together? Some posts say yes and other dont really say. I brought mine to just under a boil, then cooled it off before introducing the breast to it.

Thanks for the recipe!

 

[up in smoke]

Put a plastic butter tub or some tupperware thing big enough to hold down chicken when you put lid on.

Also your brine should be 38° to 42° or less before you put meat in it.

 

[q3131a]

I have a stainless steel strainer that fits in the pot perfectly. It pushed the meat down below the surface.

I don't chill my brine before I put the meat in. But once the meat is in, it goes immediately into the fridge. I don't have an issue with room in the fridge. I have 4 of them.

 

[ballagh]

Got it brined last night (Nice brine recipe q3131a) got it on the smoker along with a 3 pound boneless loin, and two fatties! WOOT!

 

[ballagh]

Everything turned out great. The weather sucked, 40 degrees and drizzling, the hawkeyes sucked the big one again this year in a bowl game. But the meat is perfect. Got it wrapped up and sitting in the fridge waiting to be sliced tommorrow for sandwiches and BBQ sauce.

 

[ballagh]

I ran the turkey breast to 167 degrees, loin to 163ish, and fatties to 175. For some reason the fatties I do always seem to be not done in the middle yet??? Guess it would be more like a store bought linked sausage rather than when you pan fry crumbled or chunked? Anyone else have this problem?

 

[vulcan75001]

ballagh

Hello there...
I only had that problem once...that was when the sausage was frozen, and I thought I had them thawed out enough...obviously they weren't....175* internal should be more than enough to be cooked ..
Never had any problems when they were never frozen..

Later
Richard

 

[ballagh]

I always have them thawed out and sitting on the counter getting close to room temp before throwing them on. These seem to be better than the last batch I did. We will see in the morning. LOL

 

[smokin' hawkeye]

Ballagh -

Not to get off subject here, but didn't you think the Hawkeyes did much better than we were all expecting? Although Humpal was pathetic. Too bad Kinkenborg couldn't go. Was suprised by Brodell, where was that speed all year?

Oh well, your Q looked delicious!!

 

[cheech]

An other thought on how to keep the meat in the brine is to keep it in a ziplock bag

 

[foxmanisu]

What else do you recommend putting in a ziploc bag Cheech?