Food Smokers and Smoking Tips/Tricks/Techniques

I prob wouldnt double brine, might be too salty

 

My point exactly.

 

13 pound bird spatchcocked, then 24-hour dry brine - salt, white pepper, and sage - then on the Traeger at 325. Only took about an hour and a half and pulled when the breast was at 160F and rested in the cooler for 30 minutes.

My best turkey yet!

 

I only buy raw, non brined breasts and drumsticks. You can brine a 10% or less packaged bird/parts for 14 hours without making too salty (1 cup kosher or coarse sea salt per gallon of water). Any added flavors seep into the bird via osmosis and the ongoing fight for equilibrium. I also add .4% curing salt (1 tbsp per gallon = 1/256). So... you pull excess moisture out and begin create a bacteria safe environment while maintaining a good amount of moisture throughout the cook.

This does, however, give it the “cured ham” texture with pull apart muscle fibers; it’s significantly different than the fried chicken/chicken wing full muscle pull.

I hope that helps!

 

Made apps for today

 

Nope. IF a turkey breast is brined by the maker, why would anyone brine it again. That was my question.

 

Because the brine is usually shit compared to what you can do with it. When brines range from 0-20 percent (most I’ve seen, chime in if others), there’s quite a bit of play. A low (or no) percentage means you have a significant amount of freedom with how you prepare your bird before cooking. Less sodium packaged = more freedom. You can pull sodium out of the bird with a mineral rich water (spring, unfiltered, etc.), but the higher salt content has likely already denatured the proteins (read: tender). At that point, it’s just flavoring meat and not softening any more. The goal with a sodium saturated bird is to meet the salt saturation and allow for pass through of other flavors via osmosis — it’s already salted, the meat only transfers flavors until the external water (you added) matches the water in the meat. If the salt content is too high, it will continue to break down (denature) the proteins until you only taste salt.

Match the salt content to include other flavors, increase the salt to retain more moisture during cooking or add “saltiness”. The higher the salt content at purchase, likely the longer the shelf life (denature proteins spoil slower — uncooked bacon, hams, etc.).

Maybe that helped?

 

225 for 4 ish hours total? I still have yet to tackle these. They look delicious!

 

not all are brined. Mine was not.

this is true. I wonder if you could do a lower salt brine number 2 and it would be the right amount of salt but still add the flavors. I don’t know I am far from a turkey or brine expert. This was my first bone in turkey (breast) and first brine so, I knew the basics and went with it.

 

Yep! I spray with apple juice every 30-40 and test for temp after 3 hours. Usually they’re ready to throw in a pan and sauce and put back on for another 30-40 until the bbq sauce caramelizes.

 

Nope, it's over my head.

Since I started paying more attention to IT and not 'looks', turkey has always turned out moist and tasty. Even unbrined ones.

Thanks for the post, very informative.

 

Semi-related to brining a Turkey: if you inject a brined Turkey, omit the salt or it will be too salty. The brine pulls the salt in and that’s plenty.

 

I tend to buy the frou frou brand of bird so I can get something that isnt processed any further than them getting the guts out and packaging it for retail

 

You'll want the feathers off too lol

 

thats for additional fiber and they really hold in the smoke

 

Turkey on the pellet grill. Dry brined overnight. Came out very juicy and flavorful. One of our guests who never eat turkey went back for seconds.

 

Turkey enchilada something or other....

 

Stuffing. Since it's right after Thanksging,and a lot of us had stuffing with Turkey, has any one had bacon in thier stuffing? My girlfriend made some from a reciepe off the internet and I could not eat it. Now I love stuffing, it is one of highlights of Thanksgiving, but I think bacon belongs with eggs for breafast. Luckily She mande it separtely, and not stuffed in the Turkey.

 

I put bacon on my turkey and sausage in my dressing.