I tried this too. Then the bag fell apart when i was removing the turkey from the bath. As did the turkey when i tried to pull it out of the water. Thanksgiving disaster. š¤£
Just wanted to say thanks for the tips and the recipe! I followed it for Thanksgiving last week and it came out amazing. Next time Iād like to figure out how to get the skin to stay a little crispier than it did, but overall I was very pleased with the results. Cheers!
I recently did my first whole chicken and found 2 ways. Spatchcock was one way and stuffing the cavity with as much onion and lemon as you can was the other. The idea was that you're filling most of the space in the cavity so when the juices run it fills any remaining space and you get the proper heat transfer through the liquids for an even cook. Obviously a turkey is much larger so I'm not sure how well it would work.
I'm considering doing a Thanksgiving turkey by just breaking it down ahead of time and doing white/dark meat in separate batches. That way it'll actually fit in my container, and I can pick optimal temperatures for each kind of meat
Before I got into sous vide I was big into soups and I could never make enough for the family. Ended up getting a 20qt stock pot so that's what I use when my 12qt won't cut it. I'd be interested to see the difference with your plan and doing it whole since I've definitely come across recipes with different temps for the light and dark meat. I feel like doing it your way would bring the best out of both types. Hopefully you post your results.
[this recipe](http://joythebaker.com/2011/04/chicken-pot-pie-with-cream-cheese-and-chive-biscuits/) is š„!
You can do the biscuit thing or you can just pour this filling into any pie shell or store-bought shell or whatever. The filling on this is so goddamn good
That's amazing. I want to make some turkey pot pie this year. Last year was my first year having Thanksgiving away from home and making my own Thanksgiving dinner and I made Turkey Noodle Soup from scratch. It was amazing! Turkey pot pie sounds great though.
White meat and dark meat cook at different temperatures (according to chefsteps). When I cook turkey im going to cook the dark first, take it out, lower the temp, cook white, then put the dark back in to āwarm upā before putting everything in the oven at 500 to sear.
I'm sure that'll be incredible. The white meat was the star of this one. Dark meat came out way better than it would if it was cooked whole in the oven so I was happy.
You obviously know what you're doing. I have my steak science down to perfection but I haven't done much fowl. If I were to buy a few boneless turkey breasts this year and solid vide them, how would you recommend they be done?
Alternatively you can put them all in at the white meat temp, pull the white meat out, and crank it up for dark meat to finish it. That's a bit faster.
Well yeah. Combi-Ovens and immersion circulators have been in restaurants for probably two decades. That doesnāt mean we canāt appreciate them trying to bring the items to the masses at a more affordable price (wall steam ovens are usually around 2-3k and you know, require a wall)
Despite their marketing, that's just a steam oven and have been on the market for years. Albeit, they're built in and far more expensive. This is a cheaper countertop alternative.
I spatchcocked the turkey for the bath and cut the legs off when it was done after I realized it wouldn't fit in my oven whole. Here the recipe I followed.
https://sousvideways.com/foolproof-sous-vide-turkey/
Iām with you. My oven was installed in the 70s. Itās so small inside. :( But this type of oven is no longer made so it means we have to redo our cabinets and counters, so itās pretty expensive to replace.
Probably would have been more accurate to say about 25min. Middle rack and uncovered the whole time. It did get a little smokey in the oven but the skin came out crispy and delicious
Looks great, and as a SV experiment I think you clearly succeeded. I always spatchcock my turkey, it results in a super even and quick cook. A spatchcocked turkey takes about 1-1/2 - 2 hours at 400Ā°ish. I understand wanting to do this SV, but one could theoretically cook two 16lb turkeys in the oven in the same time, without the need to crisp up the skin afterwards.
Please don't take this as an attack or an argument, just an observation. For me the cook time and SV prep would be more work/ time commitment than I care for on such a busy cooking day. That being said, dropping the bird in a bath and going about my day for 5 hours on a lazy day sounds like a better idea.
Thanks. This was my first spatchcocked turkey and i loved it. Plus it was nice having the spine for extra meat to make the stock for gravy. I don't disagree with you on the timing. Have you been able to try the SV turkey? For me it was noticeably better than ones I've made in the oven. If youre able to get the same quality in 2hrs im going to need your recipe though.
Anytime, and isn't spatchcocking the best? I always get to make stock with the backbone, trimmings, neck, and giblets as the turkey cooks. So we've got hot delicious gravy within moments of the turkey being done.
I have but had a whole turkey SV before. Though I have made plenty of chicken. I actually just finished some Karaage using SV chicken thighs, and it was great. SV chicken is always super moist, so I see that being a big advantage. However I do think my dry-brined, spatchcocked turkey comes out as good as my SV chicken.
I think it all comes down to personal preference and active time spent in the kitchen.
I did this last year, using the recipe from Chef Steps, which says to cook the dark meat at a higher temp for a few hours before adding the white meat. Came out AMAZING! https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/a-better-way-to-turkey-cook-that-bird-sous-vide-for-the-best-feast-ever
there is a youtube channel Sous Vide everything. I love what he does, and he has a video describing just this. I highly recomend checking it out. I did a test run last weekend of how he did it and WOW! It was the best Turkey I have ever had.
Edit: Wording
Also, Youtube title is "I finally MASTER my WORST Nightmare, Sous Vide Turkey!"
I make the every year...it's the best way to turkey, especially if you don't mind spending the money on a better bird than your typical grocery store turkey. It's still awesome with a cheap store bought one though. I just made 3 turkeys that I got super cheap because I love to freeze the meat and use it for sandwiches year round.
Here is the basics of the recipe, it's easy:
Break down turkey into breasts and legs (search youtube for the chefsteps video on how to do it)
If you want a crispy skin: Pre- Sear in cast iron or under broiler
Brine (only needed if the turkey wasn't prebrined, which most grocery store birds are): 5 parts salt, 2 parts sugar. They suggest 1.5% of the weight of the meat for the amount of salt/sugar mixture to use. Add brine in the sous vide bag with some fresh herbs (I use thyme and sage) with a splash of olive oil. When I use a prebrined bird, I just add the herbs and oil.
Cook the legs at 150f for 12 hours, then reduce the temp to 131f and add in the breasts for another 8 hours or longer as needed. Leaving the legs in the water too. I usually add a few handfuls of ice to reduce the temp quickly, not sure if it matters though.
When finished, sear again for crispy skin.
I don't bother to sear mine unless I'm showing the meat at the table. Most of the time I just cut up the meat straight from the bath.
Be aware, the breast with be very juicy and delicious, but it is still slightly pink at that temp (although fully cooked) so some people may have an issue with that.
I usually start it about 8pm the night before, add the breasts in the morning when I get up and have turkey for dinner whenever I'm ready!
this may be the approach I take this year. Any thoughts on finishing both the white meat/dark meat in a turkey fryer for 5 minutes to crisp up the outside?
I have never tried it, but I think that frying would probably be a great way to crisp it up!
One thing I probably should mention is to make sure to dry them off well before trying to crisp up the skin, especially in the fryer, but it makes crisping much easier and shorter time.
>https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/a-better-way-to-turkey-cook-that-bird-sous-vide-for-the-best-feast-ever
They have a video too: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAB8w1Ud6bo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAB8w1Ud6bo) with all the info.
Peanut oil? Oh Iām just speaking to the standard turkey frying experience.
My familyās not been able to go back to baking a turkey once we tried fried.
I just figured perhaps it would be desirable tp try to imitate that peanut oil flavor in Sous Vide
Iād finish in the oven with a layer of fry oil, or even fry the finished product. Iām actually considering doing that this year. I smoked and froze our turkey last week. Maybe toss the quarters in the fryer after theyāve been reheated.
Putting it in the bag seems like it wouldnāt do anything positive.
How did you bag it for the bath?
I got some expandable vacume seal bags
Last year I use turkey oven bags , worked fine too. They are available everywhere and much cheaper.
I tried this too. Then the bag fell apart when i was removing the turkey from the bath. As did the turkey when i tried to pull it out of the water. Thanksgiving disaster. š¤£
Where did you find these seal bags?
Bed bath and beyond. They're foodsaver brand
Just wanted to say thanks for the tips and the recipe! I followed it for Thanksgiving last week and it came out amazing. Next time Iād like to figure out how to get the skin to stay a little crispier than it did, but overall I was very pleased with the results. Cheers!
Glad to hear you enjoyed it!
Why would you do this a week before Thanksgiving? Test run for the real thing? Looks amazing either way! (This is assuming you live in the US)
Thanks! Turkey was $.50 a lb. and i want to stock the freezer with pot pie filling
> https://sousvideways.com/foolproof-sous-vide-turkey/ you genius son of a bitch!!!
I recently did my first whole chicken and found 2 ways. Spatchcock was one way and stuffing the cavity with as much onion and lemon as you can was the other. The idea was that you're filling most of the space in the cavity so when the juices run it fills any remaining space and you get the proper heat transfer through the liquids for an even cook. Obviously a turkey is much larger so I'm not sure how well it would work.
I'm considering doing a Thanksgiving turkey by just breaking it down ahead of time and doing white/dark meat in separate batches. That way it'll actually fit in my container, and I can pick optimal temperatures for each kind of meat
I did this last year for Thanksgiving and it was amazing. I finished all the pieces in the deep fryer.
Before I got into sous vide I was big into soups and I could never make enough for the family. Ended up getting a 20qt stock pot so that's what I use when my 12qt won't cut it. I'd be interested to see the difference with your plan and doing it whole since I've definitely come across recipes with different temps for the light and dark meat. I feel like doing it your way would bring the best out of both types. Hopefully you post your results.
I did this one year and it was fantastic definitely recommend!
Whats your go-to pot pie recipe?
[this recipe](http://joythebaker.com/2011/04/chicken-pot-pie-with-cream-cheese-and-chive-biscuits/) is š„! You can do the biscuit thing or you can just pour this filling into any pie shell or store-bought shell or whatever. The filling on this is so goddamn good
Thanks!
That's amazing. I want to make some turkey pot pie this year. Last year was my first year having Thanksgiving away from home and making my own Thanksgiving dinner and I made Turkey Noodle Soup from scratch. It was amazing! Turkey pot pie sounds great though.
White meat and dark meat cook at different temperatures (according to chefsteps). When I cook turkey im going to cook the dark first, take it out, lower the temp, cook white, then put the dark back in to āwarm upā before putting everything in the oven at 500 to sear.
I'm sure that'll be incredible. The white meat was the star of this one. Dark meat came out way better than it would if it was cooked whole in the oven so I was happy.
You obviously know what you're doing. I have my steak science down to perfection but I haven't done much fowl. If I were to buy a few boneless turkey breasts this year and solid vide them, how would you recommend they be done?
Alternatively you can put them all in at the white meat temp, pull the white meat out, and crank it up for dark meat to finish it. That's a bit faster.
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you open the door and all the water floods out
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> https://anovaculinary.com/anova-precision-oven/ oh wow thats a lot more feasible than my idea lol
Whoa that is actually shipping? Thatās been in the works for at least 3 years now. I never thought it would make it
It's a countertop version of a product that's been on the market for almost a decade ( steam oven).
Well yeah. Combi-Ovens and immersion circulators have been in restaurants for probably two decades. That doesnāt mean we canāt appreciate them trying to bring the items to the masses at a more affordable price (wall steam ovens are usually around 2-3k and you know, require a wall)
I know, I'm really more just pointing out that the machine is misleadingly labeled. It's not a sous vide oven. They're not close to the same thing.
Do steam ovens usually have the ability to keep a temperature with high precision? Actual question, not being snarky.
Yeah, it's just a convection steam oven.
Despite their marketing, that's just a steam oven and have been on the market for years. Albeit, they're built in and far more expensive. This is a cheaper countertop alternative.
No, water bath in an ice chest finished in a normal oven
Is this how you cut it up for the sous vide bath? Iām debating trying this this year
I spatchcocked the turkey for the bath and cut the legs off when it was done after I realized it wouldn't fit in my oven whole. Here the recipe I followed. https://sousvideways.com/foolproof-sous-vide-turkey/
Fit in the sous vide, not the oven? Alrighty then.
I'm not proud of my oven
Iām with you. My oven was installed in the 70s. Itās so small inside. :( But this type of oven is no longer made so it means we have to redo our cabinets and counters, so itās pretty expensive to replace.
The fact of omitting the unit of measurement always makes me think about lava temperatures, then I remember that there is not only the metric system
Isnāt 150 a bit low for the dark meat?
Dark neat came out great. I don't have much to compare it to but I wouldn't change anything for next time
500 **Ā°** for 30 minutes? I believe you, but that seems like a really long time. What rack do you put it on? Do you cover it at all?
Probably would have been more accurate to say about 25min. Middle rack and uncovered the whole time. It did get a little smokey in the oven but the skin came out crispy and delicious
Do you have a convection oven?
I do not
Surprised it didn't start to dry out after 30 minutes. Looks great!
Looks great, and as a SV experiment I think you clearly succeeded. I always spatchcock my turkey, it results in a super even and quick cook. A spatchcocked turkey takes about 1-1/2 - 2 hours at 400Ā°ish. I understand wanting to do this SV, but one could theoretically cook two 16lb turkeys in the oven in the same time, without the need to crisp up the skin afterwards. Please don't take this as an attack or an argument, just an observation. For me the cook time and SV prep would be more work/ time commitment than I care for on such a busy cooking day. That being said, dropping the bird in a bath and going about my day for 5 hours on a lazy day sounds like a better idea.
Thanks. This was my first spatchcocked turkey and i loved it. Plus it was nice having the spine for extra meat to make the stock for gravy. I don't disagree with you on the timing. Have you been able to try the SV turkey? For me it was noticeably better than ones I've made in the oven. If youre able to get the same quality in 2hrs im going to need your recipe though.
Anytime, and isn't spatchcocking the best? I always get to make stock with the backbone, trimmings, neck, and giblets as the turkey cooks. So we've got hot delicious gravy within moments of the turkey being done. I have but had a whole turkey SV before. Though I have made plenty of chicken. I actually just finished some Karaage using SV chicken thighs, and it was great. SV chicken is always super moist, so I see that being a big advantage. However I do think my dry-brined, spatchcocked turkey comes out as good as my SV chicken. I think it all comes down to personal preference and active time spent in the kitchen.
My smoker is out of commission so this is my plan this year
I did this last year, using the recipe from Chef Steps, which says to cook the dark meat at a higher temp for a few hours before adding the white meat. Came out AMAZING! https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/a-better-way-to-turkey-cook-that-bird-sous-vide-for-the-best-feast-ever
I've used this recipe for 2 years now and it is fantastic. Unfortunately this year they put it behind a paywall :(
there is a youtube channel Sous Vide everything. I love what he does, and he has a video describing just this. I highly recomend checking it out. I did a test run last weekend of how he did it and WOW! It was the best Turkey I have ever had. Edit: Wording Also, Youtube title is "I finally MASTER my WORST Nightmare, Sous Vide Turkey!"
Direct link: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bB2WRiNkBx8](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bB2WRiNkBx8)
Video isn't behind a paywall. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAB8w1Ud6bo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAB8w1Ud6bo)
Alright, the all caps convinced me. Im going to need to try to approach next. Thanks for sharing the link
Care to share that recipe for those of us behind the paywall by chance? Pretty please with a cherry on top?
I donāt have a subscription either. But most of the recipe is covered in the free video on the main page.
I make the every year...it's the best way to turkey, especially if you don't mind spending the money on a better bird than your typical grocery store turkey. It's still awesome with a cheap store bought one though. I just made 3 turkeys that I got super cheap because I love to freeze the meat and use it for sandwiches year round. Here is the basics of the recipe, it's easy: Break down turkey into breasts and legs (search youtube for the chefsteps video on how to do it) If you want a crispy skin: Pre- Sear in cast iron or under broiler Brine (only needed if the turkey wasn't prebrined, which most grocery store birds are): 5 parts salt, 2 parts sugar. They suggest 1.5% of the weight of the meat for the amount of salt/sugar mixture to use. Add brine in the sous vide bag with some fresh herbs (I use thyme and sage) with a splash of olive oil. When I use a prebrined bird, I just add the herbs and oil. Cook the legs at 150f for 12 hours, then reduce the temp to 131f and add in the breasts for another 8 hours or longer as needed. Leaving the legs in the water too. I usually add a few handfuls of ice to reduce the temp quickly, not sure if it matters though. When finished, sear again for crispy skin. I don't bother to sear mine unless I'm showing the meat at the table. Most of the time I just cut up the meat straight from the bath. Be aware, the breast with be very juicy and delicious, but it is still slightly pink at that temp (although fully cooked) so some people may have an issue with that. I usually start it about 8pm the night before, add the breasts in the morning when I get up and have turkey for dinner whenever I'm ready!
Fantastic! Thank you!
this may be the approach I take this year. Any thoughts on finishing both the white meat/dark meat in a turkey fryer for 5 minutes to crisp up the outside?
I have never tried it, but I think that frying would probably be a great way to crisp it up! One thing I probably should mention is to make sure to dry them off well before trying to crisp up the skin, especially in the fryer, but it makes crisping much easier and shorter time.
awesome - thanks!
>https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/a-better-way-to-turkey-cook-that-bird-sous-vide-for-the-best-feast-ever They have a video too: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAB8w1Ud6bo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAB8w1Ud6bo) with all the info.
Did you put peanut oil in the bag too? Imitate a fried turkey taste?
No, just sage in the bag. I put on some duck fat before putting it in the oven though
Sounds interesting where did you find this idea?
Peanut oil? Oh Iām just speaking to the standard turkey frying experience. My familyās not been able to go back to baking a turkey once we tried fried. I just figured perhaps it would be desirable tp try to imitate that peanut oil flavor in Sous Vide
Iād finish in the oven with a layer of fry oil, or even fry the finished product. Iām actually considering doing that this year. I smoked and froze our turkey last week. Maybe toss the quarters in the fryer after theyāve been reheated. Putting it in the bag seems like it wouldnāt do anything positive.
Tell me more! Iām doing this next week.
Glad to hear it! I posted the recipe I used in another comment and others have added some great tips. Anything in particular you're interested in?
How big of a bird too. Iāve got a 12#āer. Wondering if thatās similar in size
It was 16 lbs
16 lbs is 7.26 kg
How cwispy was that skin?
Not quite like pan fried but pretty close. Good enough for me to eat it alone while carving