Talking Turkey

[beefytee]

Yes, but it still tastes even better and is even juicier with a wet brine, and it creates enough drippings for gravy. I've never been disappointed with brining my frozen mass-produced flavor-injected industrial bird.

This. It is worth soaking your turkey overnight no matter what.

Our brine involves the usual stuff (i.e. lots of course salt), but also adds some flavoring with a cinnamon stick, fresh sage, whole cloves, garlic, red onions, etc.

It is delish!

[smokymountainrain]

doing thanksgiving with just the wife and kids at a buffet this year, but on friday we are having my MIL over for a small thanksgiving feast. i'm thinking of doing a turkey breast sous vide - anybody have experience with sous vide turkey?

[All-American]

Cut it into parts again. The meat turned out great, but the skin on the breast didn’t crisp up like I hoped. I think you’re just working against yourself if you are smoking (which means lower temps) and cutting into pieces (which means smaller pieces and faster cooking time). It seems you need more time and hotter temps to get crispy skin than those steps will allow. Which is too bad because both steps make for tasty turkey.

What did turn out was my experiment for the legs. I de-boned, pulled out the tough sinews with pliers, stuck the tenderloin in the middle, and rolled it up to make a roulade. Results were pretty sweet.

[Donuthole]

That roulade looks delish.

Re: skin, have you tried a pre-sear at 500* just to brown and crisp the skin? I do this on my whole turkey and it makes for crisp, tasty skin. Seems like it would work for the parts just as well.

[All-American]

That roulade looks delish.

Re: skin, have you tried a pre-sear at 500* just to brown and crisp the skin? I do this on my whole turkey and it makes for crisp, tasty skin. Seems like it would work for the parts just as well.

That will be what I do on the next turkey I do. That, or pan-sear the breast at the end.

[Lost Student]

Seeing Jay's post above makes me want to try sous vide but I don't want to have to cut the bird up beforehand. Anova says you can cook the entire turkey sous vide, so maybe we'll try it this T-day.

They pour a bunch of chicken stock into the bag with the turkey, sous vide for 24 hours @ 150ºF, and then crispify in the oven.

I chickened (turkied?) out and we roasted the turkey in an oven bag. I read up more on sous vide of whole turkeys and saw enough negative reviews that I decided not to risk it.

It turned out great so I'm happy to stick with tradition.

[YOhio]

I chickened (turkied?) out and we roasted the turkey in an oven bag. I read up more on sous vide of whole turkeys and saw enough negative reviews that I decided not to risk it.

It turned out great so I'm happy to stick with tradition.

Lol. Nice work on the chicken/turkey line.

[Lost Student]

Lol. Nice work on the chicken/turkey line.

Thanks. Your praise means a lot.

[BigFatMeanie]

This could easily go in the brisket or pulled-pork thread as well.

In my experience, the "temperature continues to rise after you pull the turkey from the oven (or turn off the oven)" thing simply doesn't happen. I see recipes and videos and all kinds of thing that says, "remember, the internal temperature will continue to rise 5 to 10 degrees after you turn off the heat". I even saw one recipe claim a 10-15 degree rise. I have simply never seen this happen, ever.

At MOST I've seen a 2 degree temperature rise after I've pulled something off (or simply turned off) the Traeger or the oven. Doesn't matter whether it's in foil or not. Doesn't matter whether it's brisket or pulled pork or turkey. I've never seen my thermometer increase more than 2 degrees after I stop the heat.

Have any of you experienced a temperature rise of more than 5 degrees? Have you even experienced a 5 degree post-heat rise? Is it just magic vortex of temperature at my house that makes things not rise after I turn off the heat?

[Pelado]

I dont really ever check the internal temp after I pull my meat.

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[All-American]

I see it on thin cuts cooked at high temps, like steak. Not big things like turkey.

[Bo Diddley]

This could easily go in the brisket or pulled-pork thread as well.

In my experience, the "temperature continues to rise after you pull the turkey from the oven (or turn off the oven)" thing simply doesn't happen. I see recipes and videos and all kinds of thing that says, "remember, the internal temperature will continue to rise 5 to 10 degrees after you turn off the heat". I even saw one recipe claim a 10-15 degree rise. I have simply never seen this happen, ever.

At MOST I've seen a 2 degree temperature rise after I've pulled something off (or simply turned off) the Traeger or the oven. Doesn't matter whether it's in foil or not. Doesn't matter whether it's brisket or pulled pork or turkey. I've never seen my thermometer increase more than 2 degrees after I stop the heat.

Have any of you experienced a temperature rise of more than 5 degrees? Have you even experienced a 5 degree post-heat rise? Is it just magic vortex of temperature at my house that makes things not rise after I turn off the heat?

Agreed. 2 degrees is typical.

[Northwestcoug]

I dont really ever check the internal temp after I pull my meat.

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Does Mrs. Pelado check it?

[Non Sequitur]

Does Mrs. Pelado check it?

[Bo Diddley]

We're having a Thanksgiving dinner for FHE in our YSA ward next week. We've been asked to cook the Turkey for it. We're probably looking at about 100 people. If I use a planning factor of one pound per person, that's seven 15 pound turkeys. That seems like a logistical headache.

What ideas do you have to make this a little easier? Does turkey lend itself to holding at a certain temperature? I've been looking to see if I can just buy cooked turkey from a local catering source, but haven't found anything that works yet.

I've considered cooking a couple of briskets just because, and then supplementing with a less turkeys, or even going to Costco and buying some rotisserie chickens just prior.

We could have a couple of us smoke briskets, place them on hold, then smoke a couple turkeys. I could even deep fry a turkey just prior to the event as well. If I got a couple of deep fryers, we could crank through more birds in a shorter timeframe.