Grilling Notes: Thanksgiving Turkey Breast in March - Tuesday, 9 March 2021

Sscottfitz

Well-known member
Messages
117
Location
Hot Springs Village, Arkansas
Grill(s) owned
  1. Trailblazer
  2. Bullseye
Wow...seems like it's been a while since I've posted a grilling note.....won't bore you with the excuses, I'll just leave it at #Cancersucks........ THAT SAID, so back in November, we'd procured a couple of Turkey Breasts for our Thanksgiving dinner, but due to 1) the Pandemic and 2) smaller guest list, we only smoked one and froze the other. As the master chef was going thru her list of "proteins we need to cook soon", Breast #2 popped up on the list, so here we go...

One other side note, we're trying a totally brine, rub, & baste for this one, we'll just call it an experiment for Thanksgiving 2021..... Also, I've literally not fired up our Trailblazer yet this year as we've been wearing out our Bullseye, plus I've overhauled my home network and wifi access points, so I knew I'd have do a little systems engineering magic to get the Trailblazer reconnected to the network......THAT turned out to be pretty easy...

This is a ~6 lb Boneless Turkey Breast on the Trailblazer (RT-340)

  • Grill Location: Hot Springs Village, AR.; 34 37 60.0N 92 54 55.4W - nice partly cloudy ALMOST Spring day, but perfect for a longer outdoor cook - no rain is forecasted until tomorrow.......I think.....
  • Weather at START time of Grill: Mostly to partly cloudy, Temp ~63F, Humidity 62% at the start if the cook.
  • Total Grill Times:
    • Trailblazer: 5 Hr 48 Min (12:26 - 18:14 CST)
  • Total Event Time: 6 Hrs, 13 Min (does NOT include Brine construct & execution - that started ~24 hrs prior to the smoke).
  • Grill Plates: No
  • Temp Probes:
    • Yes, x 2, probes seem to show about a 3~5 deg F delta - I can live with that
  • Pellets Used: Rec Tec Ultimate Blend

  • Meat & Meat Prep
    • Meat:
      • 1 x Boneless ~6 lb Fresh Turkey Breast (Clampits Meat Market) - brined in a Apple Juice, Orange Juice, & Pineapple concoction - I'll place a link to the Pinterest recipe the Master Chef was using as a start point.
      • Total Meat Prep Time: Turkey Brined for ~23 hrs
      • Just before gilling a soft rub was applied, the rub construct is also called out in the posted recipe.

  • Sides:
    • Raspberry Spinnach Salad w/ Vinaigrette Dressing
    • Roasted Veggie Mix: Potatoes, Onions, & Zucchini seasoned with S&P, Garlic Powder, & Italian Seasoning

Misc Grill Observations - all times are CST

  • Grill Start to Target Temp
    • Trailblazer: 66F to 250F ~ 12 min (12:26 - 12:43 CST)
  • Meat On the Grill
    • Trailblazer (Turkey Breast) ~12:46 CST, Breast placed on Rack over Drip Pan filled with ~50% of the Pineapple Juice & Water Mix - Target Temp 165F
      • Started off at 250 F, bumped it up to 275 F at the ~4 hr mark (14:46 CST), meat temp was at 140'ish
      • Bumped it up again (300F) at 17:02 CST, meat temp was at 145'ish (not moving up fast enough for the Master Chef....)
      • Bumped it up yet again to (350F) at around 17:30 CST, meat temps were still "stalled" at ~150F
        • At this point, I'm basting the breast every ~20 min'ish
      • Finally hit 165 at 18:13 CST - and claimed "success"!

General Comments:

 

Attachments

  • Breast in the Brine 20210308.jpeg
    Breast in the Brine 20210308.jpeg
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  • Puttin on th Rub 20210309.jpeg
    Puttin on th Rub 20210309.jpeg
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  • Rub is on the Breast 20210309.jpeg
    Rub is on the Breast 20210309.jpeg
    5.3 MB · Views: 87
  • Just on the Trailblazer 20210309.jpeg
    Just on the Trailblazer 20210309.jpeg
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  • Couple Hours into the Cook 20210309.jpeg
    Couple Hours into the Cook 20210309.jpeg
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  • Veggies Ready to Roast 20210309.jpeg
    Veggies Ready to Roast 20210309.jpeg
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  • Cutting into the Breast 20210309.jpeg
    Cutting into the Breast 20210309.jpeg
    2.2 MB · Views: 93
  • Just Roasted Veggies 20210309.jpeg
    Just Roasted Veggies 20210309.jpeg
    3.4 MB · Views: 109
  • Spinnach Raspberry Salad 20210309.jpeg
    Spinnach Raspberry Salad 20210309.jpeg
    1.5 MB · Views: 91
  • Plated Breast Steak ang Veggies 20210309.jpeg
    Plated Breast Steak ang Veggies 20210309.jpeg
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Thank you for sharing and always being so detailed. I am new and very much appreciate it. Based on what you said and your recipe, I have a couple of questions.
1-I always prefer bone in, but it is getting harder to get, have you tried this boneless?
2-On the salt comment, would you not use the kosher salt and leave it up to the chicken broth to do the job?
I am anxious to do some turkey breasts.

P.S. That is a good looking salad as well!
 
Last edited:
Appreciate the detail (I'm too lazy). A good looking cook. God bless🙏
 
Bookmarked for a happy day I will make.. wishing all the best 🙏

Your recipes are awesome. Use over & over again. Thank you..
 
Thanks for posting and looks fantastic.
 
Thank you for sharing and always being so detailed. I am new and very much appreciate it. Based on what you said and your recipe, I have a couple of questions.
1-I always prefer bone in, but it is getting harder to get, have you tried this boneless?
2-On the salt comment, would you not use the kosher salt and leave it up to the chicken broth to do the job?
I am anxious to do some turkey breasts.

P.S. That is a good looking salad as well!
Pops, 1 - this is a boneless breast we purchased from our local meat market - this one of two was actually purchased back in Nov, but has been sitting in the deep freeze since then. 2 - I'll have to defer to the master chef, I'm just the "grill operator"....but this was a new brine we found on Pinterest I think, we frequently experiment with new things, and as long as it works, we put it in our "use again" file. We've been very lucky that all of our Turkey Breasts on our Trailblazer have turned out great!
 

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