Sunday, January 6, 2013

Back Again and Buttermilk Brined Turkey Breast

Welcome back! I know it's been awhile. My laptop died and typing on an iPad is not the easiest thing to do so I was lazy and gave up. For Christmas, I got a bluetooth keyboard case for my iPad so I am back in business with lots of recipes to share! 
     One of my favorite foods is BBQ. We have a few sit down BBQ restaurants up here in the north but BBQ is generally expensive and paying a tip on top of that deterred us most of the time. I had just commented to my husband that they should have a BBQ fast food restaurant of sorts when we noticed a sign on a restaurant being built. It read City BBQ and wouldn't you know, it is exactly the type of restaurant I was talking about! 
     For the last two years, we have frequented City BBQ a lot of times. In fact, while I was pregnant with G, we ate there at least once a week and that was my first meal after her delivery. About a year and a half ago maybe, my brother in law got a smoker and smoked pork for my nephew's birthday party and a turkey at Thanksgiving...the flavors were amazing! I began wishing for our own smoker. My wishes were granted this year for my 30th birthday when my husband bought me a little charcoal smoker. The pork was delicious but it took a really long time as it was hard to keep the smoker up to temp. We decided to go ahead and upgrade to a propane smoker and I'm so glad we did! We've now smoked a few pork butts, a chicken, and a couple turkeys. We still enjoy going to City BBQ for delicious food but we also enjoy making our own at home as well. I saw a picture of a buttermilk brined turkey on Pinterest (I told you I was addicted) but after discovering the brine to be a mix you were supposed to buy from Williams and Sonoma, I ran to my next recipe source: The Food Network. Hooray! I discovered a buttermilk brine created by Guy Fieri. You can check out the original page here
     Fieri's recipe has you baking the turkey but if you have a smoker I highly recommend it! We used a mixture of cherry, apple, and hickory chips. The fresh turkey breast I bought at Target was a little over 6 pounds so I doubled the brine.


Buttermilk Brined Turkey Breast



 

Ingredients
  • 1 (2 1/2 to 3-pound) turkey breast, bone-in
  • 3 cups buttermilk
  • 1/2 cup hot sauce (recommended: Crystal; I used Frank's)
  • 2 tablespoons kosher salt
  • 1 tablespoon dried basil
  • 1 tablespoon granulated garlic
  • 1 tablespoon fresh cracked black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1 teaspoon ground white pepper
Directions
Combine all the ingredients together in a large resealable plastic bag (or box in my case). Place in a bowl, to catch any leaks, and refrigerate for 12 to 24 hours. Take out, pat dry and smoke (see link above for oven directions).

Prep work is done!


Turkey is swimming in the buttermilk brine.

Into the fridge we go...goodnight!

Turkey is out and warming up slightly before going into the smoker.

Love our smoker! We are able to cook several things at once which comes in handy sometimes. 

About 3 1/2 hours later we reached the magic temp for turkey
Beautiful golden brown!
Nice and juicy... and look... a nice pink smoke ring!
Dinner was delicous and there's plenty of leftovers for sandwiches!

I'll try to get back to my weekly posts; enjoy! 

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