Here they are, boneless and skinless. One on the left is just salt and pepper; one on the right is Rudy's Turkey Rub (Rudy's BBQ is a place out of Austin). Notice how the rub is heavy in some places and almost nonexistent in others? Yep, I'm a true amateur.
Put the rub on both of them about 7 hours before the cook and kept in the fridge. I've done a brisket and a turkey breast before this one, and I could never keep the temperature down. Always had to close all three vents on my WSM 18.5 to keep the temp below 270 (even with an almost full water pan). With so little oxygen, my wood chunks never had a chance to properly ignite, so I never had a good "smokey" taste on my food. This time, I wanted to use as little fuel as possible, so here's what my setup looked like...
Used Stubb's briquettes and, from left to right, three hickory and two oak chunks. Put about 10 briquettes in the chimney starter, and dumped the lit coals next to the left side of the fuse. During the entire cook, I had all three vents open 100% but the cooker could never get above 210 degrees (I wanted to cook them in the 225-250 range). On the plus side, turkey breasts cook relatively fast anyway, so 2 hours later when the turkey hit 140 degrees, I brought them in, put a stick of butter on them, foiled, and then put in the oven at 225 until the internal temp hit 160 (probably 30 minutes later). Then I let them rest for about 45 minutes as the temp came down to 140. And here's what we got...
Wasn't as juicy as I would've wanted, but it still tasted great with good smoke flavor. Put them in between two slices of white bread with some pickles and BBQ sauce and went to town.
And here's what happened with all the charcoals. As you can see, only about two-thirds of the coals got lit.
So, for next time (and briskets going forward), if I want to keep the temp between 225-250 (which I couldn't do this time), what do you suggest? Pile the charcoal higher so more get lit? Don't fill the water pan? Other suggestions/thoughts for better cooks in the future? Thanks!
Put the rub on both of them about 7 hours before the cook and kept in the fridge. I've done a brisket and a turkey breast before this one, and I could never keep the temperature down. Always had to close all three vents on my WSM 18.5 to keep the temp below 270 (even with an almost full water pan). With so little oxygen, my wood chunks never had a chance to properly ignite, so I never had a good "smokey" taste on my food. This time, I wanted to use as little fuel as possible, so here's what my setup looked like...
Used Stubb's briquettes and, from left to right, three hickory and two oak chunks. Put about 10 briquettes in the chimney starter, and dumped the lit coals next to the left side of the fuse. During the entire cook, I had all three vents open 100% but the cooker could never get above 210 degrees (I wanted to cook them in the 225-250 range). On the plus side, turkey breasts cook relatively fast anyway, so 2 hours later when the turkey hit 140 degrees, I brought them in, put a stick of butter on them, foiled, and then put in the oven at 225 until the internal temp hit 160 (probably 30 minutes later). Then I let them rest for about 45 minutes as the temp came down to 140. And here's what we got...
Wasn't as juicy as I would've wanted, but it still tasted great with good smoke flavor. Put them in between two slices of white bread with some pickles and BBQ sauce and went to town.
And here's what happened with all the charcoals. As you can see, only about two-thirds of the coals got lit.
So, for next time (and briskets going forward), if I want to keep the temp between 225-250 (which I couldn't do this time), what do you suggest? Pile the charcoal higher so more get lit? Don't fill the water pan? Other suggestions/thoughts for better cooks in the future? Thanks!
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