Home made deli meat?

[cooter79]

Has anyone smoked a turkey breast and sliced it liked deli meat?

 

[Murray]

Not specifically but the leftovers make excellent sandwiches.

 

[Bytor]

I haven't done with turkey, but have done so with a piece of round roast. It turned out pretty good. The only problem I had was in slicing it real thin. I just couldn't get to that sandwich deli style thickness. It actually turned out more like a shaved beef, still good though. I was thinking of trying on Turkey at some point.

 

[JC in GB]

Yes, I have done it a few times. I like making my own sandwich meats. So much tastier than store bought.

I didn't just smoke it, I cured it in a curing brine for a few days first.

I was going to do one this weekend but the store was out of them.

JC

 

[mike243]

I have learned if you want thin moist and very cold is needed or it will fall apart, also on birds i would find what temp you can safely SV at and smoke then SV it till its safe. Turkey only needs a hour or 2 of smoke depending on what kind of smoker your using

 

[chilerelleno]

People do turkey and all sorts of other meats all the time.
Got a lot of people here also practicing the art of charcuterie with various dry cured and fermented sausages and dry cured meats.
There's a whole lot of delicatessen style meat and cheese going on here.

 

[Steve H]

Get one of those boneless butter ball breasts and smoke it. It makes great lunch meat. Run it at 250 degrees until you get to 165 IT. Slice it thin. And enjoy.

 

[chopsaw]

I do . Mostly with chicken and beef , but also do hams and pork loin for whole muscle . Loins cured and un cured .
For chickens I'll buy 2 whole birds on sale . Break them down into parts , and cut the breast meat off the bone . I grill the legs thighs and wings , and use the breast meat for sandwiches .
This is what I do for chicken breast sandwich meat .
Get the breast portions , cut the meat off the rib cage and remove the skin .

I put these in Pop's curing brine over night .
Then I lay the skin out , and stack the breast halves thick to thin so it evens out .

Put the stacked breast ,, ,, meat on the skin and roll it up . Then I use netting , but you could tie it also .

I can't find the picture of the stack in the net , but these are singles . Same idea .
I sliced that for sandwiches also .

I don't roll a lot of smoke on this . Take it to 170 , get it done in under 4 hours .
If you stack the halves , you have " outside on the inside " No longer considered an intact piece of meat . 170 gives you some insurance on the final temp .

You can also use the whole breast section . Leave it on the rib cage . Get some Tony C's injectable marinade . Inject as much as it will hold . Fridge over night then smoke the next day .
Cool over night and slice . That comes out really good too .

 

[SmokinAl]

Looks real good!
Al

 

[Bearcarver]

I haven't sliced any Turkey that thin, but below is what I do with Beef Eye Round @ $3 per pound, instead of paying $15 per pound for Rare Beef Lunch Meat:
Link to Step by Step: Beef Lunchmeat from Eye Round

Bear

5 pounds of Beef Lunch Meat:

 

[zwiller]

To get close to store bought, you will need to brine or inject, smoke and/or cook to low IT (consult SV pasteurization charts), chill or par freeze, and slice. IMO the keys are the brine/injection and low IT. Get these nailed and it will make up for lack of slicer.

 

[tallbm]

Has anyone smoked a turkey breast and sliced it liked deli meat?

Hi there and welcome!

I did it once before and would do it again if the mood struck me. Mine came out very well. Keys to success (IMO) are to cure it in a brine and inject it all over properly. Then just smoke it till it hits 165F IT and pull it.

See my full detailed post here :

Smoked Turkey Breast for Sandwich Meat with QView!!!!

Ok quick description, qview and then write up. I decided I wanted to try cured Smoked Turkey Breast and slice it for sandwhich meat and it came out great! This was my first time doing so and I experimented with a few things that worked out well and I will go into that in more detail but first...

www.smokingmeatforums.com

 

[bbqbrett]

I have once before with a small boneless turkey breast and want to try it again. I don't have a slicer so I couldn't get the true deli meat thinness but it was still pretty tasty. I injected with a combo of apple juice and vinegar and put on a basic store bought rub. Sorry but not the greatest pics in the world.

 

[thirdeye]

Has anyone smoked a turkey breast and sliced it liked deli meat?

Absolutely, about every 2 weeks. We use it for sandwiches, but chilled turkey or chicken is awesome in a Chef's salad, and if you stir it into a pasta dish it's outstanding with the light smoky taste.

I either use a flavor brine (PatioDaddio) or Pop's curing brine, and in addition to immersion I'll inject some too. With Pop's brine, I get the additional safety net of having it last for a few days longer. Now, here is the BEST part. These are all skinless breasts. Turkey and chicken skin is generally rubbery when smoked. So I remove the skin and throw it away, then season the meat. It looks like skin, and you get to taste the rub. Experiment with a few chicken breasts but I'm hooked on this method.

I prefer to separate the whole turkey breast into two fillets... and I do the same with boneless chicken breasts (which are breast fillets). Having the fillets allows you to slice against the grain for better tenderness.



The sliced breast is skinless, the thigh does have skin-on.

Here is a turkey breast I entered in a competition, the meat in the middle is pulled thigh meat, and this breast is skinless too.

 

[cooter79]

Absolutely, about every 2 weeks. We use it for sandwiches, but chilled turkey or chicken is awesome in a Chef's salad, and if you stir it into a pasta dish it's outstanding with the light smoky taste.

I either use a flavor brine (PatioDaddio) or Pop's curing brine, and in addition to immersion I'll inject some too. With Pop's brine, I get the additional safety net of having it last for a few days longer. Now, here is the BEST part. These are all skinless breasts. Turkey and chicken skin is generally rubbery when smoked. So I remove the skin and throw it away, then season the meat. It looks like skin, and you get to taste the rub. Experiment with a few chicken breasts but I'm hooked on this method.

I prefer to separate the whole turkey breast into two fillets... and I do the same with boneless chicken breasts (which are breast fillets). Having the fillets allows you to slice against the grain for better tenderness.
View attachment 467717
View attachment 467718
View attachment 467719
The sliced breast is skinless, the thigh does have skin-on.
View attachment 467720
Here is a turkey breast I entered in a competition, the meat in the middle is pulled thigh meat, and this breast is skinless too.
View attachment 467721

That looks excellent. If my schedule and weather cooperate I will give this a try.

 

[sw53983]

Absolutely, about every 2 weeks. We use it for sandwiches, but chilled turkey or chicken is awesome in a Chef's salad, and if you stir it into a pasta dish it's outstanding with the light smoky taste.

I either use a flavor brine (PatioDaddio) or Pop's curing brine, and in addition to immersion I'll inject some too. With Pop's brine, I get the additional safety net of having it last for a few days longer. Now, here is the BEST part. These are all skinless breasts. Turkey and chicken skin is generally rubbery when smoked. So I remove the skin and throw it away, then season the meat. It looks like skin, and you get to taste the rub. Experiment with a few chicken breasts but I'm hooked on this method.

I prefer to separate the whole turkey breast into two fillets... and I do the same with boneless chicken breasts (which are breast fillets). Having the fillets allows you to slice against the grain for better tenderness.
View attachment 467717
View attachment 467718
View attachment 467719
The sliced breast is skinless, the thigh does have skin-on.
View attachment 467720
Here is a turkey breast I entered in a competition, the meat in the middle is pulled thigh meat, and this breast is skinless too.
View attachment 467721

How long do you find using the pops brine do you leave chicken breasts submerged?

 

[sw53983]

P

Also, what temp are you smoking them at and how long roughly? Do you hit a certain internal temp and then finish them off at a higher temp? I was thinking about starting them on a low temp in an electric vertical smoker then transferring to the big green egg to finish.

 

[thirdeye]

How long do you find using the pops brine do you leave chicken breasts submerged?

Also, what temp are you smoking them at and how long roughly? Do you hit a certain internal temp and then finish them off at a higher temp? I was thinking about starting them on a low temp in an electric vertical smoker then transferring to the big green egg to finish.

I've made some subtle changes / improvements in the last 3 years, which is a good thing. For some background, there is some leeway in Pop's recipe (for instance the salt, sugar and brown sugar is listed as 1/3 cup to 1 cup, and Pop's also included Splenda option in a later post)... so I have refined "my" preference of how I mix Pop's Brine. Next, I've incorporated a sous vide option for finishing. So, I'll bring you up to speed.

~thirdeye~ version of Pop's Brine
This version is a low salt and less sweet mixture. I generally use it on chicken breasts or pork chops with a 15 to 24 hour brine time, however a brine time of up to 3 days works fine. You need to experiment with the brine time to find your 'sweet spot'.

You can use any non-reactive container (like a plastic pail) to cure your meat, I like a one-gallon zipper bag in a pail for easy clean-up.

1 gallon jug of water (I like purified)
125 grams canning salt
25 grams white sugar
25 grams brown sugar
20 grams Cure #1 (heaping tablespoon)
3/4 teaspoon black pepper
In order to keep the concentration the same, mix a 1 gallon batch, then use as much as possible in a plastic pail or a one-gallon zipper bag to cover all the meat, discard the rest. TIP: Put the zipper bag into a plastic pail and pour about a pint of water into the bag (you need room in the jug for ingredients and for proper mixing). Using the funnel in the jug.... add salt, shake 1-minute to dissolve, add sugars, shake 1-minute to dissolve, add Cure #1, shake1-minute to dissolve. Add meat to zipper bag. Pour as much brine as you can fit into the zipper bag, remove air, seal. Discard the remainder.

For cool smoking, I start off in the 150° range in my Big Chief smoker, and look at the color at 90 minutes, and generally pull at the 2-hour mark. Now I have 3 options for finishing: Move to my grill or my oven and cook until the internal is around 155° - 158°. Remember you have some Cure #1 on board, plus an internal of 155° on non-cured chicken only requires holding at that temp for 1-minute to achieve bacterial death. Option 3 is using my sous vide @ 147° water bath temperature, for 90 minutes. Here is a more recent photo using a 3-day brine time and sous vide finish. These are skinless, with cracked pepper only.