Grilled Turkey Breast Over Apple Wood and Banana Leaves

My Apple Wood Grilled Turkey Breast

Grilled turkey breast may not be very exciting on its own. But that's why cooking is so much fun. You try stuff. You take an ordinary piece o' something and subject it to the whims of your culinary imagination. In this instance, my imaginative whims involved banana leaves.

I had long been curious about cooking with banana leaves. So when I saw them at my local supermarket, I grabbed a bag. It contained A LOT of leaves. Cost: $5.

I've always seen banana leaves used to make Kalua pig. The process basically involves digging a large pit in the ground, filling it with heated lava rocks or bricks and using banana leaves (or tea leaves) to protect and insulate the meat. That's the skinny of it, at least.

So obviously these leaves can withstand pretty high temperatures. That being the case, you can use them just like you would use aluminum foil. You can lay them on the surface of your grill to protect your food from direct heat or to prevent small or delicate pieces of food from falling through the grates.

You can also wrap your food in banana leaves, creating a steam pouch. However, the leaves are not leak-proof - moisture can seep through the pores.

Banana Leaves: "Grill mat" on left. "Food pouch" tied with string on right.

So anyway - back to my whims.

Armed with my banana leaves, I went to my neighborhood Sprouts market and purchased half of a turkey breast and some wild-caught salmon. (The salmon is in the food pouch in the picture above).

You may be relieved to know that there are no special requirements for making a grilled turkey breast using banana leaves. In fact, it's pretty straight-forward. The only real work goes into prepping the turkey breast and even that part is simple.

First, you rub the turkey breast with oil and then season it. Next, you inject it with a little more flavor and moisture and then put it on the grill.

Grilling Turkey Breast on Banana Leaves over Apple Wood

Note: If your turkey has been enhanced (check the label to find out) then you should omit the salt from your rub or leave out the chicken broth from the injection ingredients below. Just triple the butter and add a little water.

Grilled Turkey Breast Recipe

Prep Time: 30 min.
Cook Time: 90 min.

(Prep time includes waiting for grill to heat up)

Total Time: 2 hours

What you'll need:

• 5 lbs turkey breast
• Ken's BBQ Rub or the rub of your choice
• several banana leaves
• syringe food injector
• grill and food thermometer
• charcoal
• 2-3 chunks of apple wood

Ingredients for injecting turkey:

• 1 cup low sodium chicken broth
• 1/4 stick of butter, melted
• 2 tbls white wine

Directions:

1. Rub turkey breast with oil and season with rub. Be sure to get underneath the skin.
2. Mix chicken broth, melted butter and wine in a bowl or cup.
3. Fill food syringe with broth and slowly inject turkey breast parallel to the grain as you carefully remove the needle. Repeat several times.
4. Next, set-up your grill for indirect heat at 325F (see my grilling basics guide for help, if necessary).
5. Rinse banana leaves with water to clean them. Place the leaves on the grill and place the turkey breast on the leaves. If you have a leave-in meat thermometer, insert it in the turkey breast.
6. Add two chunks of apple wood to the coals and close lid. Add another chunk or two of wood after 45 minutes and 15-20 charcoal briquettes every hour.
7. Once the internal temperature of the grilled turkey breast reaches 160F, remove it from the heat and let it rest for 10 minutes. While resting, the temperature will rise another 5F.
8. Slice and eat!

Enjoy!

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