Greetings!

[Donw]

Welcome from Maryland

[Purc]

Welcome to The Pit from Texas.

[DavidNorcross]

Welcome from Virginia!

[-Rudy-]

Have you tried cooking your turkey breast at a really high temp? What you’re describing won’t happen cooking 250 or 275F.

I've never tried smoking it to put a crust on it. But I've smoked it more traditionally at 275°F (I think) and it came out plenty moist. I'm wondering if it might help to do it at a lower temp to bring it up to a specific temperature, then finish it over much higher heat, even if I have to transfer to the kettle. I even might go so far as to say it may not have even been a "crust" like we get on pork, but it did have more seasonings and a darker surface than the turkey at the other location we tried it at. I wouldn't say it was glazed, but anything is possible.

That's a "next week" problem though. Next up are some prime sirloin steaks and a couple of russets.

[-Rudy-]

Welcome from Colorado. I am on the same mission to do a boneless skinless turkey breast. Had it at Big Dougs BBQ in Creede CO this summer, absolutely fantastic. On the forum Meathead has a recipe which I am going to follow exactly. The hardest part will be finding the boneless breast.

We have a rally next year through CO, but I don't know if we'll be going past Creede. (We don't know the route until rally day, but it starts and ends in Denver, with overnights in Craig and Grand Junction.) But most years, we're out there for vacation at least once a year. The last BBQ place we visited was in Old Colorado City (we often stay in Manitou Springs).

We have a market near us that has the turkey breast available all year long, so we'll get it there. Thankfully it's not injected with anything. That's why I'm afraid to buy it anywhere else.

[captainlee]

If you get to Creede definitely stop by for lunch. He is originally from Texas. The brisket and ribs are through the roof too. smokenoob to verify. Lucky you for having the turkey available.

[58limited]

Welcome! Two local BBQ places here (both Top 50 on the Texas Monthly BBQ list this year) make excellent boneless skinless turkey breasts. One place seasons with S&P, mostly pepper since the breasts come already brined and don't need much if any salt. The other place seasons with Cajun seasoning then they smoke at 275^o - 300^o to an IT of about 135^o which gives a nice color and smoke flavor. Then they wrap in foil with a whole stick of butter until the IT is about 160^o - carryover will get you to 165^o easily. They reserve the juices/butter and slice the breast to order, dipping each slice into the reserved juices and butter.

[Sweaty Paul]

Salutations from Hays, Kansas!

[RichieB]

Welcome from Western Massachusetts.

[BKYDBBQ]

Welcome from White Stone, Va...

[Mosca]

I just did a turkey tailgate boot camp. This site recommends dry brining over wet brining (so do I), but that doesn’t mean wet brining doesn’t work. We wet brined overnight.

INCREDIBLE TURKEY BRINE
 2 Gallons Water
 1 ¼ Cup Kosher Salt
 1/3 Cup Light Brown Sugar
 ¼ Cup Worcestershire Sauce
 6 Cloves Garlic – Chopped
 4 Sprigs Fresh Thyme
 1 Sprig Fresh Rosemary
 1 Tblspn Whole Black Peppercorn
 1 ½ Teaspoon Whole Allspice Berries
 1 Bay Leaf

Add 2 gallons water to large pot, heat to a steep – steaming, not boiling. Add
remaining ingredients to pot – one at a time – while continuously stirring.
Once all ingredients are added, continue to stir until all sugar and salt is
dissolved into liquid. Stir another 3-4 minutes to get everything blended
well – this will smell incredibly good! Place pot into refrigerator or cool
place (outside with lid on it) and allow to cool down.
Place turkey in brine and make sure fully covered with liquid. Brine for 6-12
hours. Remove turkey from brine and rinse thoroughly. Prep and cook
turkey.

We used a variety of rubs, 26 different ones for 26 different campers. I used an SPG variant. It was fine. I’d prefer going either full bbq, or full poultry rub. But Blues Hog High Flyin’ Chicken was fine.

We injected our birds with competition injections. I didn’t care for this. The turkeys were extremely moist and tender, but had an overly processed taste. I make a better turkey at home by using Meathead’s method of using an in-breast probe to measure at 90°, then injecting with melted butter. (My experience is that you can inject the melted butter into a cold breast, as long as you pull the needle out while you are also pushing the plunger, creating a channel full of butter that will harden in the cold meat, then melt as the bird warms up. Work fast!) We cooked the birds at 275°. I get better results at 325°, but 275° works, too. Using a LBGE, I didn’t put any smoke to mine; birds suck up a lot of smoke, so if you use it, use maybe one medium chunk.

The free side’s turkey tutorial is great, by the way. I make holiday turkey using The Meathead Method (^tm). Except my “muffings” are terrible. I’m sure his are much better!

[RonB]

Welcome to The Pit.

[Huskee]

Welcome! Nice to see another MI pitmaster. You sure are right, been dreary and rainy all day, night, and half of yesterday.

[mcook2201]

Greetings from North Carolina.

[J-Melt]

Welcome from Chicago!

[cruiseplanner1]

Welcome from Northern Michigan. You will love this site if you are smoking proteins. I learned so much here and became a member some years ago. Good folks