Thursday, May 7, 2009

Smoked Turkey Breast

This past weekend Sunday was my birthday & we decided to spend the day smoking a turkey breast on the grill. It was a perfect day for sitting in the sun and drinking a beer with the smell of apple wood smoke wafting around us. We debated whether to cook the turkey on the rotisserie or smoke it but I'm glad smoking won because the flavor was really amazing.
Smoked Turkey
We brined the turkey overnight which helped it stay nice & moist. The herb wet rub, along with melted butter basted on while smoking, gave it an incredible color and flavor as well as a crispy skin. The smoke flavor really penetrates the meat.
Smoked Turkey
As good as it was warm I think it might even be better later on cold. We've been enjoying it on sandwiches & in a pasta salad.

Smoked Turkey Breast

1 turkey breast, with bone, about 6 lbs

Turkey Brine

10 c water
1/2 c brown sugar
1/2 c soy sauce
1/2 c kosher salt
1 t cayenne pepper

In a container large enough to fit the turkey breast mix together the brine ingredients. Stir to dissolve the salt & sugar. Put the turkey in the pot, cover & place in the refrigerator. Let sit for at least 8 hours.

Remove the turkey from the brine. Rinses & dry.

Wet Rub

2 T brown sugar
2 T kosher salt
1 T paprika
2 t mustard powder
2 t dried sage
2 t dried thyme
1 t dried marjoram
1 t garlic powder
1 t onion powder
1 t ground black pepper
2 T olive oil

Combine all the ingredients together in a small bowl to make a paste. Add more olive oil if it seems to dry.

Rub all over the turkey including under the skin.

Smoking
(These instructions are for smoking on a gas grill. I imagine you can do a similar method with a charcoal grill or smoker but since we don't have either I don't know the exact instructions.)

Apple (or other fruit) wood chips
melted butter

Soak the wood chips

Heat the grill to about 300 F with the flames only on one side. Add the wood chips in a smoker box to that side. Let them heat
until they start to smoke then put the turkey in the side of the grill with no flame.
Smoking the turkey
Let the turkey smoke for about 3 hours or (30 minutes per pound), basting with melted butter occasionally.
Basting the turkey
Add more wood chips to the box as needed. Smoke until the turkey reaches 165 F. Let rest about 10 minutes before carving.

If you are not reading this post in a feed reader or at http://agoodappetite.blogspot.com OR at http://agoodappetite.com then the site you are reading is illegally publishing copyrighted material. Contact me at katbaro AT yahoo DOT COM. All recipes, text and photographs in this post are the original creations & property of the author unless otherwise noted.
© 2007-2009 Kathy Lewinski

15 comments:

HungryinSW said...

Nice smoke ring! My family does a whole turkey every year for Thanksgiving. There's nothing better! We do pork roast up at the lake too, and it's really good.

Nancy Cook said...

That looks absolutely wonderful! I have never smoked anything before- I am going to have to try this.

Finla said...

Belated happy b'day greeting to you.
The smoker turkey breast looks really yumm.

vanillasugarblog said...

well happy birthday darling!
I doubt I would want to cook on my birthday--I'd rather go out to eat french or japanese.
Wonderful turnout on the smoked turkey breast.

grace said...

happy belated birthday! digging into a big ol' turkey breast is a wonderful way to celebrate. :)

PG said...

Happy belated birthday! Sounds like a good day outdoors.

Love the colour on that turkey. One of these days, I'm going to try smoking something...well - food on the bbq to be more specific.

Like the sounds of the rub too!

MrOrph said...

Turkey, as well as ham, are two of my favorite things to smoke. Your's looks perfect!

Nice smoke ring.

Leslie said...

Happy late Birthday!
I bet your turkey was amazing

Peter M said...

Ahh, nice to see you in full grilling mode. The slow cooking is the key to this succulent turkey. I feel like making this turkey pastrami again.

Alicia Foodycat said...

Happy Birthday! That's the best looking turkey I have ever seen! Will you be cooking out in the snow for Thanksgiving this year?

Anonymous said...

I do a lot of smoking of all meats and poultry. When I googled for different recipes yours popped up. I like it and I am going to try it. I will let you know how it goes

Anonymous said...

next time you post a recipe dont abbreviate the quantities!!!! T can mean tblsp or teaspoon

Unknown said...

In response to anonymous' statement regarding the use of T and t in the recipe. Any time someone uses T and t in the same recipe its common sense that the capital T is tablespoon and lower is teaspoon at it is smaller.

As far as this recipe , I just have say that this recipe was used by us Yesterday on 2 chickens and 1 8 lb turkey breast. I used a propane smoker with apple chips. Cooked for about 4 hours and 15 minutes at 250 degrees F and it turned out absolutely fabulous. The best tasting turkey I have EVER had. We had many guest come over and partake in this meal and NOONE left unsatisfied. The meat was moist and extremely tasty. Thanks soo much for posting this recipe, was super!!

Chris and Michelle from Maryland

kat said...

Chris - Glad to hear it! Now that we have a real smoker I can't wait to try it again.

lev said...

Unreal turkery breast! added worchestershire sauce, dried rosemary and thyme to the brine as well and left it overnight and then smoked it using hickory as I had no applewood. awesome

That wet rub is unbelievably tasty too! Gotta use it on some other meats as well. turkey came out juicy and delicious. I tried to keep it as healthy as possible and didnt use the butter and it was still good... gonna give the butter a go next time.

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