Grant Achatz on how to cook a turkey.
The problem with cooking a turkey, whole and in your oven, is that white meat and dark meat do not cook at the same rate. Partly due to the molecular composition of the meat, and partly due to the location of the meat on the bird, if you want fully cooked dark meat, you get over cooked white meat. But If you want perfectly cooked white meat, you get undercooked dark meat. There are some solutions to help avoid this problem; pack the white meat in ice before cooking, tent the top of the bird in tin foil to reduce the rate of heat absorption, avoid stuffing your bird to allow heat to reach the dark meat faster. But none of the solutions are perfect and you will still end up some of the bird sub-optimally cooked.
The solution? Cook the turkey in parts — white meat separate from the dark meat. Which probably screws up your whole gravy/stuffing plan, but Grant Achatz has a plan. A really good plan. And it involves cooking your turkey in plastic bags submerged in water heated to 170 degrees. Behold, the sous vide turkey; the easier, simpler, cleaner, and far more perfect way to cook your Thanksgiving turkey.
Watch Part 1 on YouTube.
Watch Part 2 on YouTube (bonus — Deep-Fried Bourbon Pumpkin Pie on a Flaming Cinnamon Stick)
Read the recipe
Comments
i say whoever prefers the dark meat over the white meat deserves to have undercooked meat.
two things…
1. you hate food. dark meat poultry has 10x more flavor.
2. it tends to be the other way around. 99% of turkeys/chickens are cooked until the white meat is WAY WAY WAY overcooked and the dark meat is around perfect. why? well most people can’t cook. but also, read a recipe or watch the food network. They will ALL tell you to cook until 160-165F. This is about 20 degrees too far for breast meat and close to ideal for legs and thighs.
So at least the people who actually like food have a much greater chance of properly or close to properly cooked poultry.
the only problem with cooking a turkey sous vide is the loss of presentation. i couldn’t care less, but the 20 other people at my table want to see a roasted turkey.
chris cosentino had a pretty good idea i saw the other nite where he separated the leg quarters from the breast keeping the backbone intact. so he had a dark meat section and a breast section that he could roast separately and then put back together for presentation.
it’s not perfect, but a pretty good idea.
Who puts a whole roasted turkey on the table anyhow? Both mine and Gosia’s family have always butchered in the kitchen and put out a platter full of ready-to-serve meat.
Also, Christina, what the fuck is wrong with you? When was the last time you had a turkey leg? C’mon.
Also, Luke, what would you think of putting the pieces under the broiler instead of in a pan after coming out of the bags? I’m thinking you’d get a little more uniformly crispy skin, but I dunno how much more a danger there is of overcooking and if I should adjust the water temp accordingly.
can’t wait to see what you come up with :)
John said:Also, Christina, what the fuck is wrong with you? When was the last time you had a turkey leg? C’mon.
it was just a joke that i thought would rile up all you foodies. and i haven’t had a turkey leg in ages. i mean, i went to disney earlier this year and am going again in january. it just didn’t seem like a SNACK for me because i can’t eat that much at meals to begin with.
I get turkey legs every time I go to citizen’s bank park. It’s the only food I eat there.
Yea, my folks always did a carved spread, never a whole turkey.
John said:Who puts a whole roasted turkey on the table anyhow?
I’m not really talking about a turkey on the table. People like to see a roasted turkey come out of the oven. What happens after that is irrelevant.
John said:Also, Luke, what would you think of putting the pieces under the broiler instead of in a pan after coming out of the bags?
Broiler will work. I’ve definitely used it for similar applications. I would give yourself plenty of time for the turkey to cool completely before throwing it under the broiler though. That way you don’t have to worry about it cooking beyond the desired temp.
Ahhh cooling first. Hadn’t occurred to me. Good tip. Thanks!
good luck…. lemme know how it turns out!
So I had never even heard of “sous vide” prior to ya’ll posting this article. I’m glad I had the primer when I came across this:
I am pretty sure that was written specifically for Hutch. I can’t wait until he decides to raise a lion in his backyard so he can make pancetta out of it.
Not enough fat on a lion to make pancetta.
Hippo or rhino pancetta, on the other hand….
YO. FUCKING MANATEE PANCETTA. FUCK. I WANT IT.
Jay said:I can’t wait until he decides to raise a lion in his backyard so he can make pancetta out of it.
South Philly Tap Room used to have lion on the menu. I missed the boat and never had a chance to go try it, but there was much outrage about it
Damn! Do they still have bear? I want to eat bear!
soooo, tell everyone how it went.