Bone-in turkey breast · 6.0 lb / 2.7 kg · Insulated cabinet
Bone-in turkey breast, apple wood, wet brined six hours
A 2.7 kg bone-in breast brined six hours in a 5% salt solution, smoked at 120°C over apple for three and a half hours and pulled at 74°C. The leanest thing on this ledger and the one that most depends on preparation.
- Cook date5 Sep 2026
- Published9 Sep 2026
- Raw weight6.0 lb / 2.7 kg
- WoodApple
- CookerInsulated cabinet
Cook timeline
- 11:00 Breast on, skin side up, straight from the brine Out of the brine, patted dry for 30 minutes, no rub under the skin Pit120°C Internal5°C +0m
- 11:40 Nothing done Apple wood only; anything stronger overpowers turkey Pit120°C Internal36°C +40m
- 12:30 Rotated 180° The breast is thin enough that grate position alone accounts for 8°C Pit121°C Internal55°C +1h30
- 13:30 Wrapped in foil with 2 tbsp of the brine Wrapping at 65°C rather than at 70°C buys margin at the thin end Pit122°C Internal65°C +2h30
- 14:20 Checked every 3 minutes now The last three degrees take eight minutes on this cut Pit122°C Internal73°C +3h20
- 14:30 Pulled, rested 45 minutes in the foil Rest in the foil, not out of it; the breast is thin and cools in twenty minutes uncovered Pit122°C Internal74°C +3h30
The brine, exactly
A wet brine for poultry should be measured by weight, not by cups, because the strength is what matters and it is the ratio of salt to water plus meat. This one was 5% salt by the weight of the water, with 3% sugar and aromatics: bay, peppercorns, garlic, a quartered onion.
Six hours is the right length for a 2.7 kg breast. Four hours leaves the centre untouched; overnight makes the outer 1 cm spongy and noticeably salty while the centre has still not taken on much.
| Component | Amount | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Water | 2.7 L | Cold; weigh it |
| Kosher salt | 135 g | 5% of the water weight |
| Sugar | 80 g | 3%; balances the salt, does not sweeten |
| Bay, peppercorn, garlic | 3, 1 tbsp, 4 cloves | Aromatics, bruised |
| Time | 6 h | Refrigerated, weighted down |
Why a bone-in breast and not a boneless one
A bone-in breast cooks more evenly because the bone and the ribs inside it act as a heat sink and slow the centre down while the outside climbs. A boneless breast is a flatter, more uniform piece of meat and it goes from 60°C to 75°C in about six minutes.
It also carves better. The keel bone gives you a line to follow, and the two halves come off cleanly rather than needing to be teased apart.
- Bone-in cooks 15 to 20 minutes slower and far more evenly
- The keel bone is the carving guide — two halves, straight down either side
- Do not stuff anything under the skin; it insulates the meat from the smoke
- Dry the skin for 30 minutes out of the brine or it will never take colour
74°C, and not one degree more
Turkey breast is safe from 74°C, and at 74°C with a six-hour brine it is at its best. At 79°C the muscle fibres contract hard enough to squeeze out the water the brine put in, and the pieces turn from moist to stringy in a way that no amount of resting fixes.
Take the reading in the thickest part of one lobe, not near the keel bone and not in the skin. Carryover after a foiled rest adds one to two degrees, so pulling at 73°C is safer than pulling at 75°C.
| Pull at | After 45 min rest | Slice | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|
| 68°C | 69°C | Slightly translucent at the centre | Safe but not ideal |
| 73°C | 74°C | Uniform, moist | Best |
| 74°C | 76°C | Moist near the surface | Good |
| 79°C | 80°C | Stringy | Overcooked |
Carving and using the leftovers
Carve down either side of the keel bone in one long slice per side, then cut the halves across the grain at 6 mm. Stacked thin, this is sandwich meat that is better than anything from a deli counter.
The carcass, skin and any trimmings go into a pot with the used brine vegetables, an onion and 2 litres of water for ninety minutes. That stock is the base of the best turkey soup on this site, and it costs nothing.
- One slice down each side of the keel bone, then 6 mm across the grain
- Leftovers keep 4 days refrigerated, 2 months frozen in stock
- Carcass and skin make 2 litres of stock in 90 minutes
- The skin, if you got it crisp, is worth eating separately rather than on the meat
Cross-section notes
At 6% fat, a turkey breast has essentially no internal insurance against drying. The cross-section showed a uniform pale muscle with a 5 mm smoke ring and no grey band at the edge, which is the sign that the brine had penetrated all the way through rather than sitting near the surface.
- Stall
- 0°C
- Wrap method
- Heavy foil
- Wrapped at
- 2h 30m
- Pulled at
- 74°C
- Rest
- 45m
- Score
- 4.6/5
Verdict: Two hundred and ten minutes for 2.7 kg is fast for this ledger and it works because a turkey breast is thin and has no collagen to convert. Get it to 74°C, no higher, and the brine does the rest.
Adjacent entries
14 Sep 2026
Whole chicken, spatchcocked
Cherry
Kettle with snake
4.0 lb / 1.8 kg
Skin crisp all over, breast at 74°C and legs at 82°C at the same time4.7/5
23 Sep 2026
Two bone-in pork butts
Apple
Insulated cabinet
19.8 lb / 9.0 kg (2 x 4.5 kg)
Held four hours and still served at 63°C4.5/5
