Pickle brined Turkey Breast

test kitchen

This is a smashed together great way to eat turkey without the intensive process with whole turkeys. In other words, a great meal for those of us whose families have shrunk and will continue to shrink.

I brined an organic whole turkey breast in pickle juice. You can order Mt. Olive (why you would order pickles from a company named after an olive, I don’t know, but I have done it in the past and it works) or you can go to your farmers market and get something a little less industrial. Family and small farmers make pickles out of everything that is left over and they couldn’t sell. It is the old way of doing things. And these pickles are way tastier than store bought pickles.

This is what I bought.

Then you do the standard brine. Kosher or coarse salt and some sugar…either white death or coconut sugar or honey. Then add the standards—cumin seed and coriander and thyme and bay leaves and whatever floats your boat. I buy a Central Market blend, which I found out had the same things that I put in anyway. If I won’t to take it to the next level, you can toast your seeds before popping them into the brine. Bring up the heat until the stuff dissolves and they pour over the turkey and stick in the oven. Some people whine about dry brine. Duh…that’s a cure, not a brine. I’m brining.

Then I stove top smoke it in Cameron’s stove top smoker. I use cherry wood, which goes great with turkey and a bit of mesquite. Three smidgeons each.

I smoke it for about 20 minutes just to get the smoke flavor in.

And finish in in the over until “it is done.” This is the classic instruction given consistently by a French butcher at the farmer’s market. How to cook? Put it in the over at medium heat and “cook until it is done.”

It was accompanied by eggplants, purchased at the farmers market, sauteed and topped with tomatoes, purchased from farmers market(we are getting late tomatoes because of the glorious climate change) and grated parmesan cheese.

A grand meal for the shrinking family.