Turkey Pause?

[Buckeye]

I smoked an 8# bone-in, non-enhanced breast yesterday in my new DBS6.  Everything turned out great.  However, when the IT hit 142 it stayed there (actually dropped to 138) for 75 minutes.  I'm accustomed to the "pause" with pork butts.  But I thought poultry didn't have a pause.  I did a practice turkey breast a couple weeks ago and it didn't pause.

Anyone else ever get poultry pauses?  Just curious . . .

Side note:  gave my OBS to a friend.  Got a text last night.  All it said was "best turkey ever - I'm hooked!"  I' guessin he'll be showing up here in the not too distant future.

[ArnieM]

I haven't seen a stall on turkey breast.  Some of the "breast people" will probably check in with better info.

[Jim O]

I've had a slight pause,maybe 10-15 min but never 75 min.,but I'll bow to the knowledge of the Forum.

Jim O

[squirtthecat]

What were you measuring the IT with?  A Maverick remote?   Mine 'pauses' sometimes when the batteries are getting low, or the signal was interrupted.

Was the breast still partially frozen?  Maybe there was a cold spot near the probe.

[BuyLowSellHigh]

I've seen that same thing happen when roasting a turkey in an oven and in the Bradley on other cuts of meat.  It is usually quite temporary - 15-30 minutes, and when it ends temp rise usually resumes quickly until you hit the stall zone if you're going that far.  Typically you won't see it unless you're cooking at a fairly low temp and paying close attention to IT and watching for it.

My suspicion is that it is related to the start of collagen denaturing and the rapid release of water from within the muscle fiber cells.  That process takes place around 140 °F and will soak up some heat (which can lead to an apparent temp drop), and as the juices flow and move will also redistribute the heat locally.  It is not the same as the classic "stall" as in cooking a pork butt or a brisket, which happens when collagen begins to gelatinize.  The denaturing part that causes the moisture release from within the cells is the prelude to the stall.  So "pause" is a good description.  At high cooking temps (hot oven, grill) you probably won't see a little drop as heat transfer is much faster and the pause is comparatively short lived.

One thing to watch out for - placement of the temperature probe can lead to some weird readings at times.   So when you see a pause it's well worth checking it out by moving the probe a bit.  Don't take for granted that a bit of a temp drop in the 140-150 °F range is a "pause", it may just be sign of needing to move the probe a bit.

[Buckeye]

Breast was never frozen.
Temp measured by Maverick.  Nearly new unit with only about 10 hrs on batteries.
I moved the probe around and nothing changed.
Overall cook time was as expected - about 5.75 hours at approx. 240F.

[Habanero Smoker]

I agree with BLSH, I found the same thing occurring.

The 140°F Stall