Go to the Recipe: Showstopper Turkey Elixir: Paint Your Way to A Norman Rockwell-Worthy Thanksgiving
This is amazing. I was thinking of something along these lines based on traditional Vietnamese "Merchandising Water". Is there any substitute for the booze?
+1 for a way to substitute the booze to make this non-alcoholic?
The booze is necessary, the whole reason we use it is for rapid evaporation so that it doesn't soak into the skin. It is there simply as a vessel to evenly distribute the coloring agents and flavor compounds.
Hello people,
Approximately how large of a turkey were you roasting?
ePop
12-14#
can you use granular soy lethesin?
I would say you would be better off just leaving it out. You will probably have to do a couple more coatings but you will have enough product with one batch.
What would you think of doing an extended 3-day dry age in the fridge to get super crispy skin? Do before? Do after 1st cook and elixir? Given the rapid evaporation, hopefully the elixir wouldn't waterlog the dried skin. (I'm inspired by Chris Young's YouTube video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YTzUMwbb4KI )
Understood. On your sous vide turkey legs cooked and chilled beforehand, I was thinking of putting in a super low oven to heat through with the elixir as noted. Would that cook enough of the alcohol for kids and sober guests to be ok?
OH yea. There should be no worry of any alcohol remaining.
As the skin drys out it is a little harder for the elixir to get that first coat going. I would try to do something closer to our ultimate chicken. With a poach, brush, then air dry. But your issue with the high temp cook at the end is that the elixir might start to color and get a bit dark before the skin is getting crispy.
This looks great. Can't wait to try it out this year. One note though, in the video Nick says the cranberry bitters are "high proof also," and you also mention in the actual article that most bitters are around 47% abv, however Fee Brothers Cranberry Bitters only contain 4.1% alcohol. Fee Brothers bitters are glycerine based and far less alcoholic than most other companies. Only their Lemon bitters are over 40% abv.
Considering you're trying to evaporate the alcohol anyway I'm guessing this isn't a particularly big deal, but since a few other commenters have mentioned alcohol I thought it would be helpful to bring it up.
I am planning on cooking a capon this year, 8#. @Kyl Haselbauer do you have experience cooking this? I love your ultimate roast chicken recipe, and wonder about using that technique here too
Thank you so much Andrew for catching that. We will update the copy to support that! We appreciate you.
Hi Wes. I would recommend choosing one method or the other. The ultimate roast chicken is the best way we have found for a chicken with all around great results. This elixir is more of a hack to get some good results with way less work. It won't really up the game of your ultimate chicken.
when it comes to the Capon stick to the guide for the ultimate chicken, obviously you will need to extend the slow cook time to account for the larger bird. But everything else should remain the same. Good luck!
Ya, sorry. Wasn't planning on using the elixer. Just wondering if you have tips for capon.
Also a question: sometimes your chicken technique works TOO WELL. By the time breast is up to temp, the legs are so 'braised' that a couple of times, the bones have pulled out of the drumsticks, dropping the chicken onto the bottom of the oven. Has this ever happened to you?! So far no disasters, but oven crap gets onto my bird!
But yeah, your ultimate roast chicken technique is fantastic. It is now the ONLY way I roast chickens.
I have had that happen for sure. Always a good idea to have a safety meat hook inside the cavity attached to the back bone and tied to the string... But it really has only happened a 2-3 times with all of our trials.
I know our mileage may vary, but how long did it take for the turkey's breast in this video to reach 155F?
Any reason not to use this elixir on a spatchcocked turkey? Presumably the skin tightening technique would still work fine.
Should work just as well.
So our birds are going to be capon and a bunch of squab. I was going to low temp to squab at 55C, and finish high heat. Do you think the whole brine and poach step would be helpful there too, or just overkill? I was also looking at your squab recipe from the Game of Thrones feast
Thanks so much!
How long did it take for that bird to come to temp at 215? About 6 hours?
2-3 hours for a 15# sized bird. It depends on your oven and the size of your bird.
Okay, thanks!...that's a lot faster than I thought
Hey guys! So I’m looking to put together a couple of your recipes for this year’s thanksgiving turkey…want to use the turkey crown with this elixir, but wanted to ask if and what flavors this adds to the bird? Is it mostly an aesthetic thing? Am I better off drying crown in fridge for a couple days and not doing elixir? Noticed you said to someone it’s a shortcut, what’s the best skin regardless of time? Thank you and I hope all those questions are in the same ball park haha …happy turkey day prepping everyone!
It puts the lotion on the skin…or else it gets the hose
Hey Guys,
I am considering following your method with the elixir this T-Day. My wife is concerned with the flavor of the bird because no butter with spices (rosemary etc.) is being rubbed on the skin. Would you please comment on this? Would using butter and spices on the skin mess up the plan for the elixir? Thanks, Andrew
What about salt??? Where’s the seasoning on the turkey?? I don’t have an injection briner
We do not recommend butter on the skin for this one, it will cause the elixir to run, and be spotty. How ever if you want to get herbs and spices in there you add that right after the last brushing before the elixir dries. Then do the last roast.
Best skin regardless of time would be to follow the crown recipe. The elixir is more for visuals but still super tasty.
Can I substitute the browning sauce for something else? Perhaps something like vegetarian demi? I don't like using premade products, I'm even making the bitters for this from scratch. If not do you have a recipe for browning sauce that you like to use?
You can make your own caramel color by bringing sugar and some water to 392°F/200°C. Let it burn and become smoky. Stir frequently to keep and even color. Then slowly add in water to make fluid. Store in a bottle and use as needed.
Soy sauce can be another alternative but this is a fermented pre-made product and has a particular flavor.
My Thanksgiving dinner.Turkey recipe from Chef Step. Hope everone enjoyed Thanksgiving with their famliy. Peace and be safe!
Love it!!
Just wanted to take a moment to say thank you to the Chefsteps team. Colorado resident and this was my first time hosting Thanksgiving and cooking the Turkey. I was nervous because everyone offered their advice about how they think I should cook the turkey but I trusted this recipe and got a wonderfully juicy turkey. If I use this recipe again for Christmas, I'll be sure to post a picture.
Turned out great. Very easy to do. Looked great. I over did it with the elixir a little. Next time I will try do 10-15% less.
Any reason you can't brush this onto a turkey you're smoking (250F)? Or is the temp too low?
I've already dry brined my bird and put a compound butter under the skin. Can I still use the elixir?
That butter under the skin may not allow the skin to dry out on the initial roast. Fat doesn't help the elixir adhere and tends to run off and become spotty. But, you can still use the elixir and have better results than not using it and apply near the end of the cooking.
Also couldn’t find any flavored bitters other than angostura, considering swapping out for cointreau. Would you recommend any thing else or just remove the bitters entirely
Chris Young did a video on this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lGlZqdoSswk
