You will need: Extendable grill grate
Top heat: approx. 90-120°C
Working hours: 20 minutes
Smoking: approx. 6.5-7 hours

Ingredients

• 1.5 kg turkey breast

24 hours before smoking

For the marinade:

• 100 ml olive oil
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1-2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp paprika powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ½ tsp white pepper
• 2 tsp thyme, dried
• 1 msp. mustard seeds, ground

For smoking:

• Smoked flour (beech or maple)
• 1 handful of juniper berries
• fresh sprigs of thyme

12-24 hours before smoking:
Wash the turkey breast and pat dry well.
Place all the ingredients for the marinade in a bowl and mix well. Brush the turkey breast well with the marinade and vacuum seal with the rest of the marinade. Alternatively, you can wrap it in cling film.
Store in the fridge overnight.

On smoking day:
Remove the turkey breast from the fridge and pat dry with kitchen paper.

Store in a cool, dry place for 1-2 hours to dry.

Prepare the Merklinger. Remove the steel plates and firebricks. Insert the pull-out grill grate.

Make a fire in the combustion chamber (next to the grill grate). We need a nice ember for smoking. As soon as the fire has burned down, the top heat is at approx. 90-120°C and there is a nice bed of embers in the combustion chamber, you can place the turkey breast on the pull-out grill rack.

Sprinkle a handful of smoked flour, a few sprigs of thyme and crushed juniper berries onto the embers. It will start to smoke and smell right away. That's exactly how it should be! Now close the flap in the flue pipe and the door of the combustion chamber (also close the hinges).
The smoking process is already in full swing. Now it is important to keep the temperature at 90-120°C for the entire duration of the smoking process.

As soon as the temperature drops, place small logs in the embers. (The logs that are added must not be too large and not too much wood must be added, as the top heat must still only be 90-120°C).
Leave the flap in the flue pipe and the combustion chamber door open until the wood is burning.

Keep pulling the embers forward with the ember slider and occasionally sprinkle in a handful of smoked flour, a few sprigs of thyme and crushed juniper berries. Then close the flap in the smoke pipe and the combustion chamber door. If the fire goes out, that's no problem.

As soon as the temperature drops, add some more wood, open the flap and combustion chamber door again and the fire and thus the temperature are back.

The turkey breast is finished smoking when it has reached a core temperature of 75°C. To completely kill all bacteria, the meat should remain in the oven for at least another 10 minutes from this point.

 
Tip:
The total smoking time depends on the weight of the turkey breast! Only the core temperature to be reached determines the smoking time.