Pure Magic Turkey Breast Pure Magic Turkey Breast

Makes about 6 pounds

Even though it has virtually no fat, turkey breast can be cooked to moist, flavorful perfection if you maintain a low, consistent temperature and don’t overcook. Buy all-natural turkey, which means reading ingredient labels carefully and steering clear of anything with additives: Almost all turkey out there has been injected with a saline solution or stuff that’s supposed to taste like butter. Use apple, wild cherry, peach, or pecan wood; the smoke flavor from hard woods such as hickory or oak will impart too strong a flavor.

Smoking a boneless breast rather than a whole bird means zero waste, as well as a relatively short cook—about 3 hours. When we cook turkey at home, we take it off the cooker between 155° and 160°, whereas cooking charts list the USDA/CDC–sanctioned 165°.

Turkey has the best flavor and is easiest to slice when it’s chilled, and that’s how we always serve it, whether it’s as a sandwich or a meat plate. Slice thinly for sandwiches, thicker to serve on its own.

Leftover smoked turkey is at least as versatile as chicken. One of our favorite ways to repurpose it is to julienne the small ends of the breast and pile atop a chef’s salad.

Note: In the following recipe, the turkey breast is cooked without the skin, which means the applied seasonings will impart flavor to the meat. You could also opt to cook the two breast halves skin on, which creates a good protective barrier for keeping the meat moist, but the skin will be rubbery, oily, and inedible, and any seasoning applied won’t penetrate the skin to flavor the meat. However, when the turkey breast is done, you can remove the skin, lightly coat it with additional dry rub, and grill it directly over the coals until it’s browned and sizzling, and enjoy pieces of crispy, flavor-packed turkey skin.

Remove the skin from the turkey breast. Using a flexible boning knife and following the visible fat line between the skin and the top of the meat as a guide, split the two lobes off the bone. Discard the bones and skin. Brush the meat with the thinnest possible coat of Mustard Slather, just enough to help the rub adhere. Sprinkle all over with a very light coat of dry rub. Set the turkey breast halves on a baking sheet, cover them with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until you’re ready to put them on the cooker.

Set up the cooker for indirect-heat smoking: Open the top and bottom vents. Pile 3 pounds of the charcoal in one half of the cooker, leaving the other half empty. Load a charcoal chimney one-quarter full of charcoal and light it. When the coals in the chimney are glowing, dump them on top of the pile of charcoal already in the cooker. Set the wood on top of the coals, replace the grate, and put the turkey breast halves on, flatter side down, over the side with no coals (the indirect cooking area).

Don’t open the lid for 1 hour but keep a close eye on the temperature (see page 84 for how best to assess and monitor cooker temperature); when it reaches 185°, which might happen very quickly, close the vents about halfway so that less air comes in to feed the fire and the heat in the cooker rises more slowly. Let the temperature climb to about 225° (see page 77 for how to determine your target temperature). Maintain your target temperature for the duration of the cook.

Throughout the entirety of the cook, be on the lookout for fluctuations in cooker temperature. If it dips more than 5° below your target and opening the vents isn’t sufficient to bring it back up, you will need to add a few coals. If at any point the temperature climbs above your target by more than 5°, close the top and bottom vents further so that even less air comes in to feed the fire.

After an hour, open the lid and check the edges of the turkey closest to the fire. If they look like they’re beginning to brown, rotate the turkey, moving the half that is farther away from the fire closer, and vice versa.

Close the lid and continue smoking the turkey for another hour, checking the color and the edges every 20 minutes. Never flip the pieces over; instead, continue rotating them to cook evenly.

Prepare another round of charcoal as needed. This cook may not require more charcoal than the initial amount, but we always keep some coals at the ready just in case more are needed to maintain the temperature.

After the turkey has been on the cooker for 2 hours, use an instant-read thermometer to check for doneness: Insert the probe into the thickest part of the breast; if the probe slides in easily, the meat is nearly done. The temperature should read between 155° and 160°.

When the temperature reaches 160°, take the turkey off the cooker and set it on a cutting board or baking sheet to rest, tented with foil, for 25 to 30 minutes. The temperature inside the breast will continue to rise, gaining the necessary 5°.

Chill the turkey before slicing about ⅛ inch thick across the grain.