Herbed Turkey Breast, Camp Method
Wild turkey breast rubbed with herbs and honey, cooked low in a foil packet over coals instead of a water bath.
- calories
- 420
- weight
- 8 oz
- cal / oz
- 53
- protein
- 52 g
- serves
- 4, scales
- prep
- 15 min
- cook
- 40 min
- total time
- 55 min
- water
- none
- cost
- $$
Calorie and protein figures are my own estimates, good enough for planning a food bag and not meant as precise nutrition data.
- Dinner
- Campfire coals
- Grill grate
- Car camping
- Basecamp
- Gluten free
- Nut free
- Foil packet
- Pre-mix at home
- Needs a cooler
- Actual cooking
Ingredients
| Wild turkey breast | 1 side, about 2 lb | skinless, trimmed of shot damage |
|---|---|---|
| Kosher salt | 2 tsp | |
| Black pepper | 1 tsp | |
| Garlic powder | 1 tsp | |
| Dried oregano | 1 tsp | |
| Dried thyme | 1 tsp | |
| Honey | 2 tbsp | |
| Bacon grease | 2 tbsp | solid at camp temps, carried in a screw-top tin |
Method
- Burn the fire down to coals. You want steady low heat, not flames.
- Mix the salt, pepper, garlic powder, oregano, and thyme. Rub it over the whole breast.
- Lay the breast on a double sheet of heavy foil. Drizzle the honey over it and dot the bacon grease on top.
- Fold the foil into a sealed packet with a little air space inside. Crimp the seams tight or the juices leak into the fire.
- Set the packet on a grate over the coals, or directly on raked coals if you have no grate. Cook 20 minutes, flip, cook 15 to 20 more.
- Open the packet and check the thickest part. It is done at 160F and it will climb a few degrees resting. Wild turkey goes dry fast past that.
- Close it back up and rest 10 minutes before slicing across the grain. Pour the packet juices back over the slices.
The source cooks this in a circulating water bath, which is the right answer at home and a nonstarter in the woods. A sealed foil packet does the same two useful things: it traps every drop of moisture and it puts a layer between the meat and direct heat. Coals instead of an immersion circulator means you lose the temperature guarantee, so a thermometer does that job.
Wild turkey breast is very lean and has almost no fat of its own. The bacon grease is not seasoning, it is the fat the bird does not have, and it bastes the meat as the packet heats. Honey helps the rub stick and gives the surface something to brown against once you open the foil. Pull it at 160F. Ten degrees past that and it turns to rope.
Packing
Mix the rub at home into one small jar. Bacon grease travels in a tin, not a bag. The breast rides frozen at the bottom of the cooler and thaws over the drive.
Variations
- No cooler? Use a rehydrated freeze-dried chicken and skip straight to the rub and grease in a pan.
- Slice leftovers thin and pack them for the next day's lunch. They keep about a day out of the cooler in cool weather.
https://realtree.com/timber-2-table/recipes/sous-vide-herbed-turkey-breast