Why Just the Breast

I decided to smoke a turkey on Sunday. I’ve smoked whole turkeys five or six times in the past and they always turned out good. This time, I decided to smoke just the breast. I purchased the frozen product a couple of days in advance, and thought it had thawed completely, but when I went to prepare it, there was still ice inside. I did proceed and planned to smoke it near oven temperature, 325°F, and based on that it should have taken about 2½ hours. I got a late start and began smoking on the new 14″ WSM shortly after 3 PM, using cherry and maple wood.

Running Long

Cooking to the proper internal temperature is critical, and since it was just a turkey breast, the target internal temperature was 165°F. By close to 7 PM it was still not up to temp. Looking back, this was a brand-new smoker for me at the time, and I didn’t yet have a good feel for how it held temperature — that inexperience probably played a part in how long it took to get there.

So we made alternate dinner plans, and I moved the turkey to the oven to finish. It cooked in the oven for another 45 minutes until it reached 165°F internal.

Since we’d already eaten, I let it cool and finally sliced it up after allowing the meat to rest, then put it in a big zip-lock bag. Mission accomplished — it took longer than normal, but it sampled good.

The Fail Part

By this point it was already late, and I stayed up later still. That’s where the normal cooling step turned into a mistake — the bag sat out on the counter overnight, and I never got it into the refrigerator. I woke up the next morning to find I’d left the zip-lock bag on the counter overnight, and had to throw the whole thing away.

Prefer to smoke the whole bird instead? Here’s how that one turned out: Cherry and Apple Smoked Turkey