BRINING A TURKEY BREAST FOR SMOKING RECIPES

Steps:

• Using your spice mill or pestle and mortar, grind together your peppercorns and transfer to your medium mixing bowl. Add the rest of your dry brining ingredients and sieve through your fingers to ensure all components are mixed and the powder looks like a homogenous mixture.
• Place your turkey breast, skin side up on the wire rack set on top of your baking sheet lined with tin foil. You can either grab handfuls of your salt mixture and sprinkle onto the breast. You won’t need to use all of the mixture so expect some to be left in the bowl. Make sure to rub the salt mixture into the meat without ‘massaging’ it; which can break down the meat fibers. Some of the salt mixture will inevitably end up on the baking tray so don’t fret.
• Leave the turkey breast uncovered in the refrigerator for 24 hours to dry out the skin and allow for the brine mixture to penetrate the meat.
• Separate the turkey and the wire rack and rinse out any juices left by the turkey. Replace the foil and place the breast back onto the wire rack, in the tray. The extra foil makes it so much easier to clean up after the fact.
• We recommend leaving the breast out of the refrigerator for an hour or 2 before cooking, to allow it to come up to room temperature and reduce overall cooking time.
• While your turkey breast is resting outside of the refrigerator, mix your glaze components in the small saucepan and place them over a medium heat. Stir the mixture occasionally to ensure all of the sugar is dissolved. After about 10 minutes the glaze should thicken and barely coat the back of a spoon. Remove it from the heat and make sure it is ready to be used in the cooking process.
• Preheat the oven to 425 °F.
• Rub your, now room temperature, turkey breast down with some oil and pour a cup of water into the bottom of the baking tray, we like to throw a halved head of garlic and some of the orange into the water to add some extra aromatics to the breast.
• Place your turkey in the center of the preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes or until the skin is mostly golden brown.
• Reduce the oven temperature to 300 °F and cover the turkey in the first layer of glaze and don’t be stingy.
• Continue cooking the turkey at this lowered temperature for another 50 minutes to an hour or until the thickest part of the breast registers 150 °F (the turkey will continue to come up to temperature during the resting phase). Make sure to reglaze your turkey every 20 minutes and refill the water in the baking tray ½ a cup at a time.
• The skin should be deep golden brown and shiny. Transfer the turkey to a cutting board; tent loosely with foil. Allow to rest up to 1 hour for the best results.

Steps:

• Using your spice mill or pestle and mortar, grind together your peppercorns and transfer to your medium mixing bowl. Add the rest of your dry brining ingredients and sieve through your fingers to ensure all components are mixed and the powder looks like a homogenous mixture.
• Place your turkey breast, skin side up on the wire rack set on top of your baking sheet lined with tin foil. You can either grab handfuls of your salt mixture and sprinkle onto the breast. You won’t need to use all of the mixture so expect some to be left in the bowl. Make sure to rub the salt mixture into the meat without ‘massaging’ it; which can break down the meat fibers. Some of the salt mixture will inevitably end up on the baking tray so don’t fret.
• Leave the turkey breast uncovered in the refrigerator for 24 hours to dry out the skin and allow for the brine mixture to penetrate the meat.
• Separate the turkey and the wire rack and rinse out any juices left by the turkey. Replace the foil and place the breast back onto the wire rack, in the tray. The extra foil makes it so much easier to clean up after the fact.
• We recommend leaving the breast out of the refrigerator for an hour or 2 before cooking, to allow it to come up to room temperature and reduce overall cooking time.
• While your turkey breast is resting outside of the refrigerator, mix your glaze components in the small saucepan and place them over a medium heat. Stir the mixture occasionally to ensure all of the sugar is dissolved. After about 10 minutes the glaze should thicken and barely coat the back of a spoon. Remove it from the heat and make sure it is ready to be used in the cooking process.
• Preheat the oven to 425 °F.
• Rub your, now room temperature, turkey breast down with some oil and pour a cup of water into the bottom of the baking tray, we like to throw a halved head of garlic and some of the orange into the water to add some extra aromatics to the breast.
• Place your turkey in the center of the preheated oven for about 20-25 minutes or until the skin is mostly golden brown.
• Reduce the oven temperature to 300 °F and cover the turkey in the first layer of glaze and don’t be stingy.
• Continue cooking the turkey at this lowered temperature for another 50 minutes to an hour or until the thickest part of the breast registers 150 °F (the turkey will continue to come up to temperature during the resting phase). Make sure to reglaze your turkey every 20 minutes and refill the water in the baking tray ½ a cup at a time.
• The skin should be deep golden brown and shiny. Transfer the turkey to a cutting board; tent loosely with foil. Allow to rest up to 1 hour for the best results.