I will be smoking an 8# bone-in turkey breast tomorrow. I did a trial run a few weeks ago and everything went well except the skin was rather rubbery (which was expected).
Question: Has anyone removed the skin before smoking? Since I'm going to discard the skin on the finished bird anyway, wouldn't it be better to remove it all together at the beginning? Seems like I'd be throwing away a lot of smoke and flavor . . . .
BTW: I'm brining for 24 hrs, then fridge dry, then some combination of a rub and Carolina Treet (my first bottle ever!). Hickory and apple bisquettes.
Thanks for any responses - Happy Turkey Day all!
You can remove the skin, but you may find that the outer layer of meat will get a kind of tough skin on it as well.
It will also dry out faster.
I'd peel the skin back, put some rub on the meat, and put the skin back in place.
Or maybe remove the skin and replace it with bacon!
I see what you mean about an outer "crust" on the meat. But if that layer was comprised of rub and CT, maybe that's not such a bad thing.
The whole breast drying out would be my biggest concern. Do you think the brine would counteract that, or am I asking for trouble?
Maybe remove the skin 1/2 way through the smoke?
The brine will help the interior meat, as long as the breast has not already been "enhanced"
I hadn't thought of removing the skin halfway through.
As long you are not overly concerned with that outer layer, I'd go for it.
Having said that, the skin is staying on our bird, but it is going in the MAK where I can get a higher temp and good skin - It's also a whole bird.
Breast not pre-injected. Got it from a local poultry supplier, supposedly all natural, no chemical/hormones, etc.
I think I'll try the skin removal at the 1/2way point, although I hate to experiment on Thanksgiving. I'll update after tomorrow, in case anyone's interested.