How Smoked Turkey Breast Ruined Thanksgiving

Last Thursday morning I woke up with a plan. Sunday's dinner would be smoked turkey breast, something I'd never made and had only once. I don't understand why I have these thoughts, I just do. I spent time researching how to prep it Thursday evening and acquired one, actually 2, on Friday.

Saturday evening the thawed turkey breast was put in a brine I concocted from a variety of online sources. It ended up being about 8 cups of water, 1/2 cup kosher salt, 1/2 cup brown sugar and some spices - dried shallots, allspice, cayenne, parsley and Worcestershire sauce. I then popped the whole thing in the fridge for the next 12 hours.

Sunday morning, bright and early I got up, rinsed the turkey, patted it dry and hit it with my somewhat standard poultry rub - paprika, cayenne, onion, garlic, thyme and rosemary. At that point I put it on a rack and placed it uncovered in the fridge for about 6 hours so that the rub could take hold and the skin could dry a little for later crispy deliciousness.

I turned on the left burner on my grill, popped some wood chips down beside it and a tray of beer above the burner. Once the chips were smoking a little bit and I had the temp hit about 250 degrees, the turkey hit the grill. I didn't do a whole lot more from that point on, just turning the bird a little bit every 30-45 minutes or so since the side near the burner was obviously hotter. After a few hours I added the meat thermometer to the mix to make sure I didn't overcook. At 155 degrees it came off and let sit for about 10 minutes. The whole thing took about 3.5 hours.



Then it was time for carving and eating with homemade coleslaw and corn on the cob (also grilled) - more pictures below.

While this was the best turkey I've ever made and had, forever ruining roast turkey for me, I'd mix things up a little next time with a different brine (I like a poultry brine with V8 juice in it) and I'd put the beer tray underneath the turkey next time.

Some pictures of the finished product: