Turkey breast on the drum!

[sincitydisciple01]

Picked up a 6.5 pound bone in turkey breast at the store last weekend. Gonna throw it on the drum this Saturday. Will brine the night before w/ a combination water/kosher salt/brown sugar. Just going to cook to temp (165) and not worry about how long it actually takes. Right now, the plan is approx 225-250 degrees w/ only a small chunk or two of hickory or apple (don't want it to get bitter). Having said all of that.... one question: do I need to worry about having moisture in the drum? I would assume the bird is pretty lean. Is brining enough, or do I need to put some sort of water pan in the drum at the same time? thanks!

[TheRancheroGuy]

Turkey breast is my "go to" meal, and you are on the right track. Brining should be enuf.

[firecracker jack]

I've really only done two whole turkeys before, so I'm no expert. But just brining them and taking them to 160-165* has worked out well on my drum.......Thinking about doing a trial birdie before thanksgiving gets here......Now there's an idea.....Thanks!!!!!

firecracker jack

[hamiltont]

Man I gota get a bird on the Q for sure! Local store has them for $.59 a pound this week. Gonna grab a 10-12 pounder & give it a try, brine & all. Cheers!!!

[boogiesnap]

i cook on a WSM. use water for pork butt(lonslo)and foiled pan for everything else(hotnfast).

honestly i think it is just habit to put water in the pan for the lonslo butts. i doubt it really adds any moisture to the actual meat itself.

although, now that i write it out, i think a full cooker of food turns oput better than a single peice alone(could it be the extra moisture from more meat evaporating inside the cooker?)...so maybe some liquid in there would be a good idea.

ok, so that didn't help AT ALL did it?

i'd say just go ahead and add some liquid.

this way, if it is dry you know the liquid DIDN'T help and next time around you can try to cook it differently.

if its moist you got a great meal and can experiment without liquid later on if you feel like it.

[MushCreek]

Read the label and see if that breast is already brined. It's getting hard to find turkey at a supermarket that doesn't says something like "Contains up to 15% broth" or some such. Brining it could make it too salty.

My go-to procedure on turkey breasts lately has been to soften a stick of unsalted butter, and mix it up with your favorite rub. Loosen the skin on the breast so you can get your hand WAY down there, and slather that butter/rub under the skin. Put more rub on the outside of the skin. I use a small skewer to hold the skin in place while I smoke it. I put a drip pan on the next grate down to catch all of the goodness dripping out (mostly butter) and the wife makes gravy out of it. Smoky, buttery gravy- YUM! This makes the juiciest turkey I've ever had.

[Southern Home Boy]

Brining may not be necessary as Mushcreek indicated. And I have had great success w/o using a water pan in my drum with turkeys.

That being said, when I do my cook for T-Day, I will put a liquid pan under my spatchcocked bird to collect the drippings for gravy.

This is one I did last weekend for practice:

[boogiesnap]

fark, thats a nice looking bird.