Turkey Breast - Brining too long?

[JordanWilliamson]

Looking for some corrective advice. I'm planning to smoke two ~4lb boneless turkey breasts on Sunday.

I read one person's directions and it said to brine for 48 hours. I made my brine up today and put my meat in thinking I'd take them out around 12pm Sunday - roughly 43 hours from now.

Reading a bit more, I don't think I should be brining that long. I've brined before (pork collar, whole chicken and drums) and always find ~20-24 hours and it worked great.

Can someone confirm that 2 days is too long to brine?

If so, would the best course of action be to take the turkey breasts out of the brine tomorrow, pat dry and put my rub on. Return them to the fridge for another 24 hours just with the rub on?

Any other suggestions?

 

[chef jimmyj]

24 hours is plenty. Brine Strength plays a huge roll. The greater the salt content the less time in brine is needed or recommended. I like 1/2Cup Kosher per gallon and a 24 hours soak. At 1C per gal, 8-12 hours is plenty. Going too long can result in mushy meat. Pull the meat, pat dry and let it rest overnight. Sunday morning apply rub, No Salt, and rest until cook time...JJ

 

[JordanWilliamson]

24 hours is plenty. Brine Strength plays a huge roll. The greater the salt content the less time in brine is needed or recommended. I like 1/2Cup Kosher per gallon and a 24 hours soak. At 1C per gal, 8-12 hours is plenty. Going too long can result in mushy meat. Pull the meat, pat dry and let it rest overnight. Sunday morning apply rub, No Salt, and rest until cook time...JJ

Thanks for the advice. I'll take it out tomorrow around 12pm. I'll hold the rub until Sunday as you said, just going to be garlic powder, onion powder and then a honey mustard glaze.

My brine is just over two gallons of water, 1 cup of salt (85% kosher and 15 pink sea salt), 1/2 cup of sugar and then some bay leaves, peppercorns, mustard seeds, garlic powder and onion powder.

 

[chef jimmyj]

Perfect!!!...JJ