The Scrabbled: Making Fun of Each Other since '99

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