Perfect Smoked Turkey
We love smoked turkey. It’s just a great way to prepare such lean, mild meat. It's easy to like and is extremely versatile in meal planning- make some sandwiches, serve with gravy, salads, wraps, pot pies, anything really.
This method uses a sous vide device to get the perfect texture and doneness. We use this “cold smoke & sous vide” method a lot because we like the consistent results (and because neither one of us likes manning a smoker for hours). The issue with cooking a whole turkey breast with traditional heat application in a smoker is due to the breast’s shape. Because the breast is tapered, one end is much thicker than the other. With traditional methods, the thin side will be overcooked by the time the thicker part is done. Sous vide solves this issue by only applying the target temperature of heat to the meat. This means the meat never goes over 147F while in the sous vide.
The temperature we use, 147F, is preference, but in our opinion it’s the ideal temperature for turkey breast. Yes, it is under the recommended temperature of 165F for poultry, and no, you won’t get sick. By cooking for a longer time at a lower temperature, you achieve the same level of food safety as if you had brought the meat all the way up to 165 for 15 seconds. At this temperature, the meat is tender, but lacks the appearance of being undercooked, and doesn't have that rubbery bounce of overcooked turkey and chicken. For a lean bird like turkey, the worst thing you can do is overcook it.
Perfect Smoked Turkey
Cook time: 1 hour active, 48 hours inactive
Method:
To make this, we use our basic brine and submerge the breast(s). Keep refrigerated for 48 hours. Remove from brine, pat dry and put into a cold smoker for 2-4 hours, depending on how smoky you want it.
Once out of the smoker, we vacuum seal the breast(s) with a few splashes of vegetable oil and place in a sous vide set at 147F for 90-120 minutes. (the general guideline we use when trying to reach a target temperature via sous vide is 1 hour per inch of thickness). We ice bath the bag when done if not eating right away. When ready to serve, we remove from the bag and broil the skin side for 2-3 minutes to get some color. Slice thin, and as with all wild shot birds, watch out for stray shot.
We served some over cleaver pasta with some garlic mustard pesto, both greens that we foraged while out scouting for birds.
