Dry Turkey

Grillin and Chillin · August 09, 2005, 02:40:18 AM

Just performed a smoke of two wild turkey breast. I used Bassman's turkey recipe (which is great I may add).

I got the temp to 150 and checked it and it looked dry. So I took it out and it was dry.

I did this once before and did not have this problem. I thought I did the exact same thing but it didn't turn out as well as the first time.

Any ideas?

Work is for people who don't hunt

Chez Bubba · August 09, 2005, 03:37:09 AM

Off the top of my head, I'd say you need to bacon-drip them. Wild turkey is so much more lean, plus they aren't injected with brine like commercial cuts are.

Kirk

http://www.chezbubba.com
Ya think next time I check into a hotel & they ask "Smoking or Non?" they would mind?

jaeger · August 09, 2005, 05:24:03 AM

Grillin and Chillin,
I agree with Chez 100%. Also, a lot depends on the comparable sizes of the birds and temps that may have varied along with vent position.
I also was curious, did you use a cure?

Doug

Habanero Smoker · August 09, 2005, 05:48:43 AM

If you did this before and had good results; then I would have to suspect the meat probe you were using? It's pretty difficult to obtain dry turkey breast at 150 F. Which type of temperature probe are you using, and have you checked it for accuracy?

Can you explain what you did, or if you posted your results before, can you provide a link to that post? How was the turkey prepped and smoked? What were the weight of each breast? How long did you brine them? What temperature did you smoke at? Where both breast at 150 F, when you pulled them?

Grillin and Chillin · August 09, 2005, 01:23:03 PM

I should be a little more clear, sorry my fault. First, I should say that although I said two turkey breast, it was actually 2 halves of breast,so it would actually be 1 whole breast. ( I freeze them 1 half at a time because this is plenty for my wife and two kids. Then if we have guest, I can just use more packages.)

So I used two halves out of a 23# adult male bird. I'm not sure of the total weight of the meat I smoked but I will guess 3 to 4 lbs.

I followed Bassmans recipe as follows

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">SMOKED TURKEY BREAST

Brine: Per 1 gallon,
1 gallon of water (use as many as it takes to completely cover bird, deep plastic bucket works best)
1 Tlb Pepper
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Old Bay
1 Sprig of fresh rosemary (or 1 tlbs of powdered)
1 Bay leaf
1 cup of salt

Soak over night, rinse well and pat dry. Apply olive oil & favorite rub, on and under skin but leave skin on. I used this:
1Tbl Pepper, Onion powder, Salt, Oregano, Emerils Essence. Let sit for 30-45 minutes at room temperature. Pre-heat smoker to 200-220F. Smoke until internal temp is 175F. Approx. 4-5 hrs. Let sit for 10 minutes. Remove breast from bone,slice against the grain.<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

I soaked both breast in the above listed brine overnight.

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"> Off the top of my head, I'd say you need to bacon-drip them. Wild turkey is so much more lean, plus they aren't injected with brine like commercial cuts are.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Chez, I did not use a bacon drip. I'm not exactly sure what you mean. Do you place bacon above the breast and let it drip or directly on the meat?

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Grillin and Chillin,
I agree with Chez 100%. Also, a lot depends on the comparable sizes of the birds and temps that may have varied along with vent position.
I also was curious, did you use a cure?
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

jaeger, the vent position was about 1/4 open. The total weight of the breast, I'm estimating to be 3 to 4 lbs. I used Bassmans cure above.

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">If you did this before and had good results; then I would have to suspect the meat probe you were using? It's pretty difficult to obtain dry turkey breast at 150 F. Which type of temperature probe are you using, and have you checked it for accuracy?

Can you explain what you did, or if you posted your results before, can you provide a link to that post? How was the turkey prepped and smoked? What were the weight of each breast? How long did you brine them? What temperature did you smoke at? Where both breast at 150 F, when you pulled them?<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Habanero Smoker, I am using a Maverick ET 73 and it is consistent with two other probes I have. My pit temp was from 210 to 217. I used three hours of hickory.

The only thing different between this smoke and my first one, was on the first smoke I also did 6 whole chickens at the same time. The turkey was on the top rack and the 6 chickens were on the bottom three. So obviously there was a lot of moisture in the cabinet.

This smoke I did have a couple of small pieces of elk. I mean around a pound each. They were so small I considered grilling them instead. The turkey was on the second from top rack and the elk was on the rack below the turkey.

To be honest, I was going to get the temp of the turkey higher, but the small elk pieces got finished first, so when I pulled the elk, I noticed that the bird looked dry, so I pulled it as well.

The flavor of Bassman's recipe is to die for, so I really want this to work out better. Plus, wild turkey is hard to come by so I want to make it as good as possible.

Hope this is enough info to help you better understand how I performed the smoke.

Thanks guys.

Work is for people who don't hunt

MallardWacker · August 09, 2005, 02:25:29 PM

To me Turkey is probably one of more difficult things to smoke and have come out nice juicy. Just my opinion.

SmokeOn,

mski
Perryville, Arkansas
Wooo-Pig-Soooie

If a man says he knows anything at all, he knows nothing what he aught to know. But...

Bassman · August 09, 2005, 08:25:08 PM

G'n & C'n,
I'm glad you have enjoyed my recipes. I just made 2 more turkey breasts this past weekend using the same method. After reading about your dilema with the dryness I would also agree with Chez and contribute the dryness to wild turkey being more lean.I have never smoked a wild turkey only domestic, and it NEVER came out dry. Hope this helps.[:)]

Jack

Grillin and Chillin · August 09, 2005, 08:34:55 PM

Bassman, I was hoping that you would join in. Your recipe is amazing!

I got to thinking, when I clean a bird, I skin it and take out the breast fillet. So when you smoke a domestic bird it probabally has the skin on, mine does not. I always skin out the breast, because prior to your recipe and me buying a Bradley, I just cut the breast up in bite size pieces and deep fried it in peanut oil.

So, do you think not having the skin on would contribute to the dryness? Also, do you think that the first time I did this and it turned out juicy was because I had whole chickens in the cabinet the same time and had a lot of moisture?

What internal temp do you get your turkey before pulling?

The bird tasted great this time, I just thought it was dry.

With the way your recipe taste, IMO your are the king of smoked turkey[:D]

Work is for people who don't hunt

Chez Bubba · August 10, 2005, 04:06:56 AM

<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Originally posted by Grillin and Chillin
 So, do you think not having the skin on would contribute to the dryness? Also, do you think that the first time I did this and it turned out juicy was because I had whole chickens in the cabinet the same time and had a lot of moisture?<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Yes, yes & yes.

Top rack has bacon fat dripping down. Whole chickies are 10% added water. Skin protects the meat from drying out, as it's basically fat. Peel it off before eating if you like, or gorge like a pig because it's the tastiest stuff there is![:D][:p]

Kirk

http://www.chezbubba.com
Ya think next time I check into a hotel & they ask "Smoking or Non?" they would mind?

Habanero Smoker · August 10, 2005, 10:54:10 AM

I agree with Kirk, removing the skin will cause the breast to loose moisture faster, but still at 150 F. the breast should not be dry, especially if you had brined them. If I am only doing breast meat, I pull it at 150-155 F.

I don't believe in the idea that moist heat equals moist meat; so I would say that having more moisture in the cabinet the first time had little or nothing to do with the meat being moist.

I would still check the accuracy of you probe. For the Maverick this thread gives detail instructions on how to check the accuracy of your probe. You can't calibrate the Maverick, but you can note how many degrees off it is, and factor that in when you take the temperature http://www.bradleysmoker.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=1399

MallardWacker · August 10, 2005, 01:50:42 PM

I am glad to see that some of you have this down. You might, just might get me to try another someday. But don't get your hopes up.

SmokeOn,

mski
Perryville, Arkansas
Wooo-Pig-Soooie

If a man says he knows anything at all, he knows nothing what he aught to know. But...

Bassman · August 10, 2005, 07:36:59 PM

G'n & C"n
Thanks for the compliment on the recipe, I love it too.
<blockquote id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"> IMO your are the king of smoked turkey
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">
well I always thought I should be king [:D]But my wife doesn't![V]
Along with everyone else, Yes taking the skin off will let out moisture. I buy fresh domestic turkey breasts on the bone. I reach my hand under the skin and pull it away from the meat, but leave it on. apply rub everywhere, on skin, under skin, everywhere.I'll smoke it till internal temp of 170. FTC for a good hour or so then remove from breast bone and enjoy. By the way, I have never used the bacon drip method. I don't know what good it would do considering the skin is still on.

Jack

Chez Bubba · August 12, 2005, 02:41:59 AM

It's a pork fat thing![;)][:D]

Kirk

http://www.chezbubba.com
Ya think next time I check into a hotel & they ask "Smoking or Non?" they would mind?