Go to the Recipe: Extra-Crispy KFC-Style Fried Turkey
Hey Nick, I’m not Matthew, but my daughter is also allergic to dairy so I have the same question. I’ve made the foolproof fried chicken a number of times and just used a beaten egg instead of buttermilk for the couple of pieces I’m making for her. Although it’s obviously not exactly the same, it still tastes great and doesn’t have a noticeable impact on the cooking process. Is it safe to assume that I should get similar results with this turkey recipe or is there a better dairy free option you would recommend?
You left out two key ingredients… of course it didn’t turn out well.
This is a fantastic recipe that I make every few weeks. I couldn’t recommend it more highly.
You can source Trisol from Modernist Pantry. It’s a commercial ingredient that you won’t be able to be able to pick up locally.
Looks great!
Made this yesterday. Quite nice. Really like the pepper/spice blend, the double-fry technique and I appreciated all the detailed notes on timing of the dredge steps. I used the Trisol and the fry was great. Nice and crispy and not greasy at all.
Made this today. It was a fail. Didn’t taste a bit like KFC. Not certain why as I follwed everything to a line with two exceptions. I have lactose intolerant folks so I substituted almond milk and vinegar for the buttermilk. And I could not find Trisol anywhere, and I went to every grocer and specialty grocer in the city. Most have never heard of it.
Whats interesting about poultry, specifically turkey cooked sous vide under 140 is it's more of an issue if it's actually cooked under 4 hrs. The extended cook time at the lower temp helps it reach pasteurization and in addition to that it helps tenderize the meat. Turkey breast cooked at 131 for 24hrs has been my go to for Thanksgiving for years now, I highly recommend it.
That being said I know there is a lot of pressure cooking this time of year and if you feel more comfortable cooking at 140 I would cook the white meat for 12 hrs and dark meat for 18 hrs. Your meat should be pasteurized at around hr 3-4 but will need to continue to cook to tenderize.
Here is a time and temperature table from Dr Douglas Baldwin and a LINK for further reading.
Great question. Yea it is much lower than the recommended 30% Trisol to 70% flour (Modernist Pantry recommendation). We found our ratio worked well in combination with the high amount of cornstarch and with the meat being previously cooked. We also wanted to use the smallest amount of Trisol that added benefit to the final texture while keeping the cost down.
Any concern about sous vide under 140 for more than 4 hours? If I wanted to cook it at 140 to be safe, how long should I cook it for?
Why such a small amount of trisol?
Hey Matthew we would love to help you out here. Is it a dairy allergy or something specific with buttermilk?
Allergies in the family require I use something other than Buttermilk. Any suggestions?
Cool, that’s what I’m going to try, thanks for getting back!
It will all be up to your personal preference. But if you choose a bird that has not been pre-brined, it would be worth doing that yourself. It will be noticeably juicier.
Is there a reason you guys opted for butterball? Would brining myself be better? Or waste of time
I would recommend uncovering it in the fridge for 2 hours before you bread it. Its all about getting the surface dry before breading. If you dry before you bag it up for the night it will become a little moist on the surface.
I plan on cooking the turkey sous vide Tuesday night into Wednsday. Then I will store the turkey in the fridge and fry Thursday morning. I do not want to leave the cooked Turkey uncovered the entire night. How long would you recommend leaving it in the fridge uncovered before I store it in bags overnight?
One day is no biggie as long as you get them into the fridge as soon as you can after butchery, if more than 2 days I would freeze them.
Can’t wait to make this again the second year in a row. It is PERFECT. In working out my timeline this year, had a Qs that I’m hoping you can answer…
I will butcher my bird on Wednesday before thanksgiving to start the sous vide. If I want to save the bones to make the gravy on Thursday, I’d it ok to put all of them back in the fridge after butchering while they wait another day for me to use them?
This recipe was used, https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/rich-as-f-k-biscuits , with this method, https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/turn-any-biscuit-into-a-flaky-one.
The buttermilk Biscuit recipe using this method to layer https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/turn-any-biscuit-into-a-flaky-one
I may have missed it, but what's the biscuit recipe for the biscuit used in the video (Recipe name is fine, if it's on chefsteps). They looked incredible and I want to try them out, both to go with this, and just to have as biscuits in general.
I would go with an egg and water mixture.
I'm currently planning out Thanksgiving, unfortunately my sister is allergic to dairy (not just lactose intolerant). Does the buttermilk do anything besides work as a seasoning? If I were to make an alternative 'buttermilk' does anyone have any recommendations? I'm currently thinking just lemon juice and soy milk, but wanted to see if anyone had any experience first.
Bring the liquid to a boil and give it a strain. Then use it as stock for your gravy.
In the video, Grant says that he wants to save the resulting liquid from the sous vide bag for gravy- but the gravy recipe here doesn't really take a nod from THIS recipe (eg. no mention of sous vide liquid). What's the best gravy recipe using the sous vide liquid?
Hi Jason, after removing from the bag and letting them fully cool while uncovered you can then bag them back up to use when ever you are ready. Really it is to help it cool faster and get the excess moisture to evaporate. But I wouldn't want to leave it uncovered in the fridge for more time since it could pick up flavors, smells, and dry out too much.
Question! I can't wait to try this recipe, but have a prep question because I'm unclear from the directions. If I want to finish sous videing the turkey the night before, then cut/portion the next day, should I: 1) put in fridge uncovered and let sit overnight OR 2) put in fridge uncovered for a couple of hours, then put in ziplock until ready to cut, dredge, etc? Not sure why I would keep in sous vide bag and refrigerate rather than take out to dry/chill.
Sorry we have a bug in the forum. Working on fixing it asap.
Hey Kyl, sorry, not sure if it's a local issue but seems like the comment is not visible (I've checked in Chrome and Safari).
I would recommend trying to find a neutral wheat dextrin, they are sold as dietary supplements. When it comes to the chicken question I would recommend following the Can't fk it up chicken activity and use the breading from this activity.
Hey folks, any alternative to trisol / wheat dextrin / benefiber common in the UK? So far I found either food supplements or brands shipped from the States, and both seem to be too expensive. If I can't source some, would a 1:1 replacement with high protein flour result in anything bearable? Also wondering if there is anything I need to tweak if using chicken instead of turkey?
WOW! Best turkey ever. Guests could not believe how good. I did half with the double fry and those were my favorites. Put KFC to shame.
Would a wheaten cornflour work better than gf cornflour ? Going to also attempt to use benefiber
KFC pales in comparison to this delectable fried bird. As someone with a newborn I was looking for a way to make my turkey day a little bit easier to manage, while still doing what I love, cooking. The end result was delicious deep fried goodness which had our small gathering oohing and ahhing. The recipe was easy to follow, the butchering video helped me out a bunch, and it was (pretty much) stress free. I ended up with a 20 pound bird so the hardest time I had was fitting 2 half sheets in my fridge. Butchering took me about an hour, then seasoning and dropping into water bath (which I had to do 2 of) took me about 45 minutes. With a small gathering (and larger bird) I ended up not frying a breast, thigh and leg and still had plenty of fried leftovers. Thanks to the CS team for making my Thanksgiving easy and delicious!
Hi from the U.K.! My wife is a yank so we just gave this a whirl for thanksgiving dinner. This recipe is a bloody revelation! Bit of effort, sure. But so worth it for the result. By far the best homemade fried poultry I’ve ever had, and it easily rivals restaurant fried chicken. I knew I was onto something good when I pulled the turkey breast out of the sous vide after 18 hours. I wasn’t able to find Trisol in the U.K. so I just subbed in extra cornflour which seemed to work really well.
Thanks guys!
Just made this for Thanksgiving and something very strange happened. We don’t have any leftover turkey. Everyone ate the turkey and barely touched any sides. I heard a few “Best I’ve ever had” comments.
Awesome recipe. Thanks ChefSteps crew!
This is completely normal, do not be alarmed.
Is it ok that the center of the breast and thighs are still pink after the sous vide process?
You will find everything you should need for that here! https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/brining-poultry
I figure the picture in this recipe was more for ease of use. There is a similar recipe in Modernist Cuisine at Home for skinless chicken wings which are then fried in a tempura like batter....if you think getting the skin off turkey wings sucks, try chicken wings! Anyways, I have made the chicken wings skinless and not skinless, and skinless really was worth the extra effort.
If using heritage breed should I break it down and brine before sv? If yes, wet brine? And what %?
But what a learning experience!! It shouldn't hurt anything with the cook.
i should have looked closer at the picture before i went ahead and "removed" all the skin. the wings were a real pain.
We just liked the texture better for frying at 131°f, the confit was great but just didn't feel like "fried chicken" to us.
Why the lower temp here for legs/thighs vs. in the turkey confit recipe? Is the idea that higher temp leaves them too tender/fragile to deep fry? Or just to try to make things simpler? (I'm interested in trying some parts like the confit and others like this.)
Did legs for a test run tonight. Did a wet batter with stove top dressing, corn starch and topo chico. Stupid good!
KFC scented fire log for ambience?https://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/enviro-log-kfc-11-herbs-spices-firelog-3999809p.html?_br_psugg_q=kfc+fire+log
It really depends on the source of heat, your stove and how much heat it can pump into the pan.
Chicken is much more tender than the turkey and just doesn't need as much time to break down, we treat turkey as a tough cut. And 131 is just too low for chicken.
Thanks Kyl, Just to confirm, the method in this turkey recipe would overcook the chicken, or is it just not necessary?
Thanks.
Have you found that using a smaller pot/smaller quantity for the oil comes back to temperature quicker when you drop in the meat?
Go with the times and temps for chicken from the joule app or other recipes, just stick with the same 1 in sizing of the pieces, as well as the frying temp and time.
If subbing chicken, would you still recommend the temp and cook times in your other fried chicken recipes, or is a lower temp/longer cook time an important aspect of this recipe no matter the poultry.
Same thing, trisol is just modernest pantries branded product. Evercrisp is just a different brand for the same product.
Heyo, do you know the difference between evercrisp and trisol? Both are wheat dextrans
This is just what I was waiting for! I've done a ChefSteps turkey every Thanksgiving for the past 7-8 years: the roulade+crown, the "better way to turkey", and even the turkey yakitori last year. Can't wait to try this KFC-style fried turkey this year!
Yep, so with the bone out thigh I ended up with one side from the thigh that was thicker. That side I split in 2, and the thinner I left whole. It should naturally have a thin spot there from where the bone is. But ultimately as long as your pieces have a thickness of 1 inch you are good with any length.
Hi Kyl, would you be able to comment briefly on the size/direction you cut the thighs into strips. Pedantic as it may be I'm struggling to envision how I replicate it. Thank you
For this application the trisol is going to be better than the crisp coat. crisp coat is more tapioca and corn dextrin were trisol is wheat.
Hi Kyl,
I already own Crisp Coat. Is the trisol better than the Crisp Coat, or should I just use what I have?
