Turkey Season

brian_martin2001

Super fan of this time of year in the states. Turkey isn't widely available except the winter months. My significant other hasn't had ChefSteps version of turkey, and I'm looking forward to her reaction. It's hit and miss with what she does and doesn't like. Her daughter is usually more receptive.

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Brandon_Byrd_40557

Which version are you doing? The new "scan the QR code on your Butterball" recipe or the OG crown and roulade that requires meat glue and pliers? All joking aside, the most recent recipe (with the 131F white meat) revolutionized my Thanksgiving cooking experience. And it always gets rave reviews. One thing that I wish they'd change in their photos and instructions is how to handle herbs in the bag.

This is great, if you want green, unevenly seasoned turkey skin that has leaf-shaped dimples in it. But most of us think that green, pock-marked poultry is gross. This is not a good practice. Keller's "Under Pressure" advises you to roll herbs in foodsafe plastic wrap before vacuum sealing with proteins. I've used teabags in the past. But last year I deep fried a boatload of herbs in duck fat (at a very low temp -- like just above the boiling point) and then strained the herbs off, but used the flavored duck fat to confit the turkey. Baller.

brian_martin2001

I've tried cooking in duck fat, and others have cooked various food in duck fat, honestly i can't taste a difference. I don't mind the herbs on the turkey, i just peel them off prior to finishing. Works well enough for me and mine thus far.

Brandon_Byrd_40557

Yeah, the fat you use in the bag doesn't make much of a difference. I just tend to keep duck fat around during the holidays, so I went for it. As for minding the herbs, I guess that's a different strokes/folks thing... I found it irritating, especially when using a proper vacuum sealer.