Looking for feedback on Turkey plans

SteveM_20803

Last night I applied voltaggio's turkey recipe to a very large chicken.  While I parted it out, I didn't debone the thighs.  I cooked it at 145 F for 2 hours. The deep fried everything to get a crisp skin.   I have never had the taste of the brine come through as it did in the chicken last night.  The breasts were fork tender.  The family agreed it was a success.

So now I want to apply the same thing to a turkey for Thanksgiving.  My questions are: 

1. Do I need to debone the thighs (because they are much bigger?) or can I leave the bone in

2. Do you think the turkey breasts would taste much different if I did debone them ahead of time, to make it easier for slicing when done?   I personally think steaks are much better grilled with a bone, but I have never really noticed a different with chicken as I debone them all the time.    (and yes I love the Pepin video of how smoothly he debones a chicken)

Brendan_Lee_56950

Are talking about leaving the bones in because you believe they will add more flavor or for convenience? Flavor-wise it won't make a difference, but leaving them in may change the cooking time, doubt it will be much though. 

A lot has been made about why bone in steaks taste "better". The bone doesn't really contribute flavor to the meat but it does usually mean that the meat closest to the bone is slightly less done than the rest of the steak and therefore people associate a great tasting (read as well cooked) steak with having a bone in. Low temp cooking kind of negates that difference.