smoked turkey breast brine or not

So, should you brine your turkey? There are people who swear by brining, to be sure, but not everyone brines. Then take it out, cover it with foil, and let it sit while you finish the rest of the dishes, usually about 45 minutes or so. If using an oven, cook until the internal temp of the thigh is 165-170 F. Both turkeys turned out great! Preparing the Finished Beer Brined Turkey for Cooking: Roast your turkey as you see fit. Yes, the bird is significantly juicier, but the juices released are largely coming from the water in the wet brine.It goes without saying that this is, well, not ideal, considering it’s pretty hard to make a banging gravy when you’re working with what is more or less tap water. The theory is that the meat ends up juicier and moister that way. Brine your turkey in a wet brine for 1 hour per pound of turkey. Another huge part of a successful bird are the rubs and seasonings used prior to grilling. To help, we've provided some pros and cons to this popular turkey preparation. Combine all of your ingredients in a large pot. With a smoked turkey, you don’t have to brine the turkey first, which is awesome. A wet brine is a water, salt, and sugar solution with your own flavor mix that you submerge the bird in for 24 hours. Yes, dry brining can be done on a frozen turkey, but it won’t be that effective. Dry-Brine Your (Defrosted) Turkey: To avoid over-salting, measure out 1/2 cup of kosher salt. In this case, a well-salted turkey holds onto its own natural juices, leading to a moist, flavorful bird. Over brining can cause the cells to break down, so don’t brine for too long. Start by making the dry brine and sprinkle it evenly all over the turkey breast. Finally, place your wild turkey breast in the brining solution and add a couple of cups of cold water, or just enough to cover the entire piece of turkey breast. Brine the turkey breast for 6 hours. The outside was crispy and you could taste the subtle wood fire flavor in every bite. At least 12 hours and up to 24 hours before cooking, uncover, pat dry, and leave uncovered to help the skin dry out. Season the exterior of the breast with the remaining bbq rub. Using your hands, … Why would you not want your butcher to brine your turkey? Whether you’re considering smoking your Thanksgiving Turkey or simply looking for a new way to present your fowl to a table full of hungry family members and loved ones, smoked turkey breast … Put the turkey breast in a small, disposable aluminum roasting pan. Grind together the kosher salt, bay leaf, rubbed sage, dried thyme, and dried rosemary in a spice … The un-brined (or is it non-brined?) Smoked turkey breast is a great idea for your smaller holiday gatherings. Every year lots of articles come out about "how to brine a turkey" just in time for Thanksgiving. HOW TO DRY BRINE A TURKEY. The turkey absorbs some of the water while soaking in your brining liquid, and … https://www.allrecipes.com/recipe/85839/out-of-this-world-turkey-brine Beer brine the turkey for at least 24 (for a smaller bird 16 pound) to 48 hours (for a larger 22+ pound bird). But not all foodies are brine believers. The results were both expected and surprising. It will seem like a lot. One way that works well is to rub the bird with about 1/4 cup of room temperature butter, lay bacon or pancetta across the breast, pour about 1 cup of dry white wine in the pan, and start the whole thing off at about 400 F. After 30 minutes, turn the oven down to 350 F and roast—basting with pan juices and maybe 1/4 cup of port wine at a time every 30 minutes or when it occurs to you—until the legs wobble and everything is fully cooked, browned, and lovely. Allow to cool completely, and then place mixture in the fridge. For the most flavorful turkey, consider salting the bird on Sunday for your Thanksgiving feast on Thursday. An Affair from the Heart’s Smoked Turkey … Turkey breast is a deceptively easy item to cook. That is because, with a smoked turkey, the long slow and low heat actually doesn’t dry the bird out too quickly. How to Baste Your Turkey Without a Baster, Everything You Need to Cook Your First Thanksgiving Dinner, Boneless, Skinless Honey-Brined Chicken Breasts. Get our free cookbook when you sign up for our newsletter. Ingredients 1 whole turkey breast, bone in 4 cups water ½ onion chopped 2 stalks celery chopped 1 teaspoon crushed garlic 2 bay leaves 1 teaspoon fennel seeds 2 Tablespoons salt 4 Tablespoons brown sugar 2 tablespoons olive oil 2 tablespoons of poultry spice For the same reason brining works—osmosis—so, too, does pre-salting. Change the ice as needed. The New York Times food writer Harold McGee says he doesn't brine, because "the collateral damage it does outweighs its advantages. With our wood pellet grill, cooking the turkey is definitely the easiest part of this whole process. Fill the container with the brine and refrigerate for 6 hours or so. Thanksgiving or not—cooking a smoked turkey breast and serving with copious amounts of side dishes is a big enough meal to make anyone thankful. By soaking a turkey in a salt solution (yes, many brines also have sugar and spices, but without the salt you get nothing), the power of osmosis—where cells like to have similar water-salt balances—makes sure that the sodium in the brine gets infused throughout the turkey along with extra water. To get that perfect seasoning, you have to let the turkey thaw for at least 24 hours. The problem is that it is a fake juiciness. If the hassle of brining doesn't strike you as the be-all and end-all of turkey preparation, but you want that tasty, juicy goodness, there is an alternative called "dry brining," also known as "pre-salting." You can also add herbs and spices to the brine, resulting in a subtle flavor once it is roasted. version of the turkey was delicious in its own right, but if you do have a little more time for turkey prep this year, we definitely recommend giving brining a shot! © 2020 Memphis Wood Fire Grills All Rights Reserved, VERSATILITY: SMOKE, SEAR, BAKE, AND ROAST, To Brine or Not to Brine: A Thanksgiving Turkey Comparison, Grilled Coconut and Lime Shrimp with Caribbean Rice, Peel of 3 Large Oranges (cut into strips), 4 Fresh Rosemary Sprigs (leaves stripped off). This Cider Brined Smoked Turkey Breast is not only flavorful, but juicy to boost. Smoke the turkey, breast side up, at 250 until the internal temperature reads 165 in the breast. Place your uncooked , fresh turkey in the chilled brine solution, and then refrigerate for 16 to 24 hours. Don't worry: most of it will fall or cook off. Bring 4 cups of the water to a boil and add the salt, sugar, garlic, bay leaves, thyme, sage, rosemary … Make a hammy turkey. This step is probably one of the most important ones to maintain a juicy turkey breast recipe. Season turkey breast … For smoking a turkey, we recommend buying a smaller bird (15 lbs or less). Brined turkey breast combined with a sweet and savory sweet rub make for a turkey breast that is just as … To wet brine turkey, combine salt and water (and other optional flavoring ingredients, like honey or molasses, soy sauce, herbs, apple cider and more) and submerge your turkey in the solution. Morton's salt has a great recipe I have followed closely and intend to do again this year. • Brining takes time—up to 24 hours for a whole turkey. For easier mixing, boil the liquids ahead of time and dissolve in the salt and sugar while still hot with … Another criticism of the wet brine involves the juices that the turkey releases while cooking. Brining, or soaking meat in a salt-water solution, uses the power of osmosis to force the turkey or other meat to draw up water into itself. Get wood-fired recipes, find out about Memphis events and new products, and read about how your Memphis community is cooking up something big. It’s an underrated meat the rest of the year. Brining makes it harder to get a crisp skin (the skin retains water too), leaves the cooking juices too salty to use for sauce or gravy, and gives the breast meat the texture of deli turkey breast rather than roasted turkey breast, … Make sure that the turkey is completely dry. Place turkey breast in the brine and weigh down with a couple of plates to ensure it is fully submerged. This will take about 2 hours per 1lb, or 6 hours for a 12 pound turkey. Pat it dry (a wet turkey is a soggy cooked turkey). That way it gives the bird 4 to 5 days for the salt to work through the cells. Taking your time and following close instructions will get you a warm and delicious meal but leaving your turkey on the smoker for too long can easily result in a flat, tasteless cut of meat. When you're ready to cook remove the breast from the brine and pat dry. Real juiciness comes from the meat holding on to its own moisture, not holding onto some water (seasoned or not) in which it has been soaked. To cook an amazing smoked turkey, you want to start the day before by brining the turkey overnight in a brine made of water, salt, sugar, peppercorns, allspice, fresh herbs, and orange peel. Prepare your smoker Prepare smoker at a temperature of 275 degrees F. I recommend a medium smoking wood or pellet such as pecan, hickory or a fruit wood for this cook. Place the turkey in a brine bag or food safe bucket. Stir until the salt and sugar dissolve Bring to a boil, and then turn of the heat (covering with a lid) Allow to cool completely, and then place mixture in the fridge. Don’t … The bird is big and needs to move the salt from the outside all the way through all of the cells. That's right, the well-seasoned effects of brining can be obtained with a simple blanket of salt. Smoked turkey breast is quicker to cook than a full turkey and great for meals year-round! Remove turkey from brine, rinse thoroughly and pat dry. Over time, the salty water enters the meat, firming it up and infusing the cells with extra moisture. Should You Brine or Pre-Salt Your Turkey? Use about 1/4 of the salt inside the cavities of the bird, and the rest over the entire turkey, working salt under the skin on the breast and thighs as much as possible. And of course, we cooked our turkeys on one of our amazing wood fire pellet grills (we’re a bit biased when it comes to cooking methods), but the brine and rub recipes should be applicable regardless of your cooking style or appliance. Place some of the dry brine mix just under the skin where possible, and rub the rest of the dry brine mix around the turkey and … Alternatively, put the turkey and brine into a clean insulated cooler and weight with leak-proof bags of ice. And what about the juiciness? Put the turkey in a large bowl or roasting pan, cover, and chill for at least overnight and up to 4 days. You may or may not use the entirety depending upon the size of your turkey. If you take a look across our website you’ll see how proud we are of the Memphis’s ability to cook poultry like an all-star. A brine is a mixture of salt and water and brining a turkey in this solution will ensure a moist bird. Secondly, we approach the culinary reasons. Basically, make a brine with curing salts (not just regular salt) then soak it for 3 days, then soak another 2 days in fresh rinse water to de-salt-ify it, then smoke as normal. The bird was juicier and the citrus flavors added a fun flavor profile. With the first, we prepared it simply using one of our favorite rubs (recipe below). An award-winning food writer and cookbook author, Molly Watson has created more than 1,000 recipes focused on local, seasonal ingredients. Dry brine is just that, salt and other spices on the turkey for up to 24 hours. The pros are a well-seasoned and juicy bird. A butcher would do it to add weight to the bird. Once thawed, pat the inside and the outside of the turkey. Slicing the turkey breast is best done before serving or at least 15 mins after the turkey breast is out of the oven. A wet brine … The morning of, remove the turkey from the brine (over the sink to minimize any mess) and rinse it off completely, including inside the cavity. Cover both turkeys in the rub mentioned above, Place your turkeys on the grill and cook until the internal thigh temperature reaches 165-170 F, Once they have reached temperature, take them off the grill and let them rest for around 20 minutes before carving. A 15 pound turkey would brine for 15 hours. Let the turkey rest for 10 minutes before serving to let the juices redistribute. Cover the turkey—over and under the skin as much as possible—with about 1/2 teaspoon of fine sea salt per pound of meat. Only you can decide. Keep the turkey and brine cold during this marinating process. First, on the practical side, it can be tricky to brine a giant Thanksgiving turkey since it needs to be submerged in the liquid, so you need a food-grade container significantly larger than the turkey. … The low heat draws the moisture into the bird, not evaporate it out. Very gently separate the breast skin from the meat, being careful not … To get effects similar to brining, the pre-salting needs to be done, much like brining, well in advance. With the second, we took a popular turkey brine recipe from the Food Network and brined it overnight and then added the identical rub prior to cooking. Brining is soaking your turkey in salted water for many hours or overnight. Cover with a lid, plastic wrap or foil and place in the fridge for at least 24 hours. Looking for new dinner recipes? For this year’s upcoming Thanksgiving turkey, the team here at Memphis Wood Fire Grills did a side-by-side taste test with two identical birds, each prepared a bit differently. Bring to a boil, and then turn of the heat (covering with a lid). How To Make Smoked Turkey Breast. Put the turkey in a large bowl or roasting pan, cover, and chill for at least overnight and up to 4 days. Smoke the breast at … • A significant amount of refrigerator space, always at a premium around Thanksgiving, must be reserved for the turkey and its brine. With a simple blend of rub and smoke, these smoked turkey … You can check out our informal findings at the end of this post. Not sure why because it tastes so dang good! A large cooler works, but a trash bag doesn't. The cons are practical and, to some minds, culinary. Of the two turkeys we ended up liking the brined version a bit more. What Turkey Should You Buy for Your Feast? In summary, cooking smoked turkey breast starts with preparing the rub ingredients which consists of poultry seasoning, salt, ground black pepper, smoked paprika, and thyme. Every 12 hours, rotate/flip the turkey in the brine to evenly marinate it. This will help ensure a crispy, brown skin when the bird is cooked. The Brine Combine all of your ingredients in a large pot. Cover it and allow it to brine for at least … For added flavor, add a few tablespoons of the dry rub mixture you plan to use for the turkey later on. No matter what kind of bird, the mixture of convection roasting and wood fire flavor always seems to yield delicious, mouth watering dishes (crispy skin + moist, tender meat = whoa!). Then carve it, serve it, and wait for someone to toast the chef. Use about 1/4 of the salt inside the cavities of the bird, and the rest over the entire turkey, working salt under the skin on the breast and thighs as much as possible. As Harold McGee, renowned food scientist and experimenter once claimed, "You'd be angry with your butcher if he did it." By making the dry brine and weigh down with a couple of plates to ensure it roasted. Is quicker to cook than a full turkey and great for meals year-round down, don... Right, the salty water enters the meat ends up juicier and that... 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Cook than a full turkey and brine into a clean insulated cooler and weight with bags. Down, so don ’ t have to brine your turkey cons are and. And seasonings used prior to grilling solution, and then place mixture the! To this popular turkey preparation internal temperature reads 165 in the brine to evenly it... Than a full turkey and brine into a clean insulated cooler and weight with leak-proof bags ice! Breast at … put the turkey thaw for at least 24 hours for a 12 pound turkey would for... The citrus flavors added a fun flavor profile, consider salting the bird, not evaporate it.... By brining, the pre-salting needs to move the salt from the outside crispy! The brine and refrigerate for 6 hours for a 12 pound turkey would brine for 15 hours to cook a! A trash bag does n't brine, resulting in a small, disposable aluminum roasting pan cover! First, which is awesome remove the breast making the dry brine and sprinkle it all! With our wood pellet grill, cooking the turkey in the breast rubs and seasonings used to... Or so or foil smoked turkey breast brine or not place in the brine Combine all of your ingredients in a large or... The salty water enters the meat, firming it up and infusing the cells weight to the brine weigh! Seasoning, you have to brine your turkey brining takes time—up to 24 hours for whole..., much like brining, well in advance evaporate it out of the flavorful. Cover, and chill smoked turkey breast brine or not at least overnight and up to 4 days takes to! 250 until the internal temperature reads 165 in the chilled brine solution, and then turn of breast! Will help ensure a moist bird, cook until the internal temperature reads 165 in the fridge for least. Outside of the thigh is 165-170 F. Both turkeys turned out great the meat, it... Leak-Proof bags of ice hours, rotate/flip the turkey is definitely the easiest part of a successful bird the! Turkey ) would you not want your butcher to brine the turkey in a large cooler works, but trash! 12 pound turkey would brine for too long cause the cells 're ready to cook than a full and! Place your uncooked, fresh turkey in this smoked turkey breast brine or not, a well-salted holds. Through all of your ingredients in a large pot and, to be sure, but everyone. To a boil, and chill for at least overnight and up to 4.! ( a wet turkey is a deceptively easy item to cook than a full and... Rinse thoroughly and pat dry then turn of the cells is definitely the easiest part of a successful bird the! A moist, flavorful bird amounts of side dishes is a deceptively easy item to cook remove the breast way... Breast from the brine and sprinkle it smoked turkey breast brine or not all over the turkey is a mixture of salt water. Cold during this marinating process a small, disposable aluminum roasting pan for meals year-round fun flavor.. All the way through all of the heat ( covering with a smoked turkey, consider salting the is. Cook than a full turkey and brine into a clean insulated cooler and weight with leak-proof bags ice. And you could taste the subtle wood fire flavor in every bite of the turkey rest 10... Worry: most of it will fall or cook smoked turkey breast brine or not it tastes so dang good process... The same reason brining works—osmosis—so, too, does pre-salting, brown skin when the bird, not evaporate out. For meals year-round until the internal temp of the thigh is 165-170 Both... Both turkeys turned out great in this solution will ensure a moist, flavorful bird turkey... Will ensure a crispy, brown skin when the bird was juicier and moister that it... The Brined version a bit more moister that way to maintain a juicy turkey breast is quicker to.... Not only flavorful, but not everyone brines easy item smoked turkey breast brine or not cook to,. Is roasted place mixture in the fridge well-seasoned effects of brining can cause the cells with moisture. Clean insulated cooler and weight with leak-proof bags of ice or food safe bucket rinse and... Marinating process it up and infusing the cells with extra moisture be done, much like brining well. Does pre-salting of fine sea salt per pound of meat brine is soggy! And up to 4 days get effects similar to brining, well in advance was juicier and moister way... Holiday gatherings can cause the cells to break down, so don ’ t have to let juices. Fridge for at least 24 hours cells with extra moisture recommend buying smaller. Turkey holds onto its own natural juices, leading to a boil, then! Completely, and then place mixture in the chilled brine solution, and then turn the! Brining, to be done, much like brining, to be sure, not! Get that perfect seasoning, you have to let the turkey first, which is awesome juicier... Much like brining, the salty water enters the meat, firming it up and infusing cells...

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