Hickory Smoked Turkey Breast

 You don't have to wait for Thanksgiving dinner to enjoy turkey. This hickory-smoked turkey breast is tender, juicy, and full of flavor. This bone-in smoked turkey breast makes a perfect Sunday dinner that your family and friends will enjoy.

I started with a 6.5 lbs. bone-in turkey breast; you can use boneless, but I prefer bone-in. This made a perfect meal for six people with just a little left over. 

I only used two ingredients to season my turkey breast. Tony Chachere's Injectable Butter, and Cuisinart Roasted Chipotle Garlic Seasoning.

When you buy this butter, it comes with an injector, so you don't have to worry about buying one. I injected the butter in two places on both sides of the turkey breast.

Then I rubbed the seasoning all over and under the turkey breast's skin. It is best to do this the night before, but if you can't, do it at least two hours before you are going to smoke it.

I prepared my fire box on my Char-Griller Smokin Champ with charcoal and hickory wood splits, then brought the temperature to 250 degrees.

I smoked my turkey breast at 225-250 degrees for 4 hours, until the internal temperature reached 165 degrees.

When I took it off the smoker, I covered it with tin foil and let it rest for about 30 minutes before slicing it.

This was a perfect Sunday family dinner; everyone loved this smoked turkey breast. It was so tender, juicy, and full of flavor. I will definitely use the injectable butter again on turkey or chicken. You can certainly make this in your oven, but you won't get that hickory-smoked flavor.

As always, thanks for stopping by, and I hope you enjoy it.

TempPro TempSpike 1000FT Wireless Meat Thermometer Digital with 2 Upgraded Ultra-Thin Probes, Kitchen Food Thermometer Cooking, Turkey, Smoker, BBQ, Grill Temperature Indicator (Previously ThermoPro)Buy Now

 

Honey Bourbon Smoked Ribs

 

These honey-bourbon-smoked ribs were fall-off-the-bone delicious. I also smoked some chicken legs and wings, but that will be another post.

I started with two racks of center-cut ribs that I picked up from our local grocery store. After removing the silver skin from the backside, I seasoned them with sugar-free Rib Rack BBQ Rub on both sides, then put them in the refrigerator for at least three hours.

I fired up my Char-Griller Smokin' Champ offset smoker and brought the temperature up to about 250 degrees. I used the 3-2-1 method to smoke these ribs. I find that this is the best method for juicy fall-off-the-bone ribs.

The 3-2-1 Rib Smoking Method:

I set the ribs in the smoker and monitored the temperature with my ThremoPro TP-20. Keeping the temperature between 225 and 290 degrees using charcoal and hickory wood splits as my heat source. They remained in the smoker for 3 hours, only opening the lid to spray apple juice every hour.

After 3 hours, I removed the ribs from the smoker to wrap them in tin foil. Tearing off two sheets of tin foil long enough to make sure there is plenty of room to wrap. I made a line in the center of the foil, with generous amounts of brown sugar, honey, butter, and last but not least, bourbon. I placed them meat-side down, then repeated the same ingredients on the back side of the ribs.

Carefully wrapping them to create a packet so the juice does not leak, I placed them back in the smoker, meat side down, for 2 hours.

After 2 hours, I removed them from the foil. Placed them back in the smoker, meat side up, for the last hour. I brushed on Sweet Baby Ray's Barbecue Sauce twice in the last hour.

The results were amazing, the meat was juicy and fell off the bone, and that is just the way I like it. 

As always, thanks for stopping by, and I hope you enjoy it!

ThermoPro TempSpike 1000FT Wireless Meat Thermometer Digital with 2 Upgraded Ultra-Thin Probe, Kitchen Food Thermometer for Cooking, Turkey, Oven, Smoker, Rotisserie, BBQ, Grill Temperature IndicatorBuy NowChar-Griller Smokin Pro Charcoal Grill and Offset Smoker with Side Fire Box, Dual Damper Control, Chrome Plated Steel Warming Rack, 1,130 Cooking Square Inches in Black, Model CG30044223Buy Now

 

Slow Smoke Pork Ribs

We had a house full of family and friends for the 4th of July week. This gave me the perfect opportunity to try out my new Char-Griller Offset Smoker. These Slow Smoke Pork Ribs were a perfect fit for the weekend.

My new grill is a combination of a charcoal grill and a smoker. On the 4th of July, we grilled two of our favorites. Grilled leg of lamb and Rosemary Ranch Chicken.

You'll find both of these delicious recipes below

& 

Grilled LambGrilled Rosemary Ranch Chicken

On Saturday, we made these slow-smoked pork ribs for the crowd. We picked out two racks of nice spare ribs. We then removed the silver skin from the backside of the ribs. Bobby and I seasoned the ribs with a combination of Penzeys Galena Street Rib & Chicken Rub and Carolina Seasoning Rub Some Butt.

 We then put them in the refrigerator for about 2 hours.

We fired up the smoker using charcoal as the fuel and Hickory wood chunks for the smoke. We inserted the meat probes from our ThermoPro TP20 into the meaty part of the ribs and set it for 190 degrees internal temperature.  

We sprayed the ribs with apple juice every hour and brushed on barbecue sauce twice in the last hour of smoking.

After 5 hours maintaining a smoker temperature between 225 and 260 degrees, we reached the internal temperature of our ribs at 190 degrees.  

These Slow Smoke Pork Ribs were a real crowd-pleaser. They were seasoned just right and had a nice Hickory-smoked flavor.

This is my first smoke in my new offset smoker. I would not have succeeded if not for David Farrell and his book The Old Fat Guy's Guide to Smoking Meat For Beginners. He has been a true inspiration to me in getting started with smoking foods. I followed David's method for these ribs, outlined in his blog and his book, and I succeeded.  

If you're a beginner or have been smoking meats for a while, this book is for you.

This book is packed with information from David's years of experience.

The Old Fat Guy's Guide to Smoking Meat for Beginners

 

As always thanks for stopping by and I hope you enjoy