Go to the Recipe: Sous Vide Turkey Roulade
That is what I did. I laid them side by side with 2 inch overlap. It works fine.
I wish I had experience trying this so I could give you a better answer. I know it will be more annoying to do but I think you can cut out long pieces of your 12-inch plastic wrap and overlap 2 of them by about 3 to 4-inches. It will give you a much wider piece of plastic to work with.
Hello Jordan. This recipe was updated a little over a year ago. When I originally made it, it did not include sugar but last year it would have had the sugar. I started adding a small amount of sugar to sous vide turkey after we developed our Sous Vide Holiday Turkey. You can certainly omit it without changing the end texture and flavor too much.
Has there always been sugar in the recipe? I don't see it in my notes from when I made it last year.
What would be the work around if I only have 12 inch plastic wrap? Make 2 smaller rolls instead of one large?
Thank you! Love the idea of a rub here.
Oh man both are great options. If I had to pick one I think I would cook it in advance and reheat sous vide at 131 °F / 55 °C for 2-4 hrs. I would also transfer it from the freezer to the fridge a couple days before the dinner so it can fully thaw before reheating.
Hello Nick. Adding lots of aromatics between the meat will weaken the bond. I suggest making a rub or sauce packed full of aromatics you can dust or spoon over the meat when it come time to serve. Great question!
I’m excited to make this again and was thinking about adding Vietnamese flavors to it this year. The recipe doesn’t call for a lot of aromatics in the actual roulade, so I’m wondering if adding a ton of grated garlic, lemongrass, etc. will affect how the meats bind during the cook. Thoughts?
I made this like 8 years ago and it was amazing. Plan to do it again. Wondering, I want to make it ahead of time a week in advance and brown and serve day of. Do you think I should prep the log and freeze the roulade raw, then sous vide it frozen day of, or prep the log this week, and cook in sous vide, then freeze until day before or day of, then brown before service? Anyone have thoughts?
Thank you!
Hey Steve. I haven't done an equilibrium brine with this recipe. That being said I can't think of a single reason that it wouldn't work out great!
Can I use an appropriate equilibrium brine on the quarters, rather than the dry brine noted in the recipe? Is there any downside to doing that?
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Should there be a rest time after applying the transglutaminase and before cooking to allow it to bond?
I was under the impression that it took a little while for it bond and became inactivated above 60 C (140 F).
If I did this with Turkey Breast instead, would you still go 0.6% salt by weight, or use a different measure?
Hello Jonas. I have used Activa TI as a direct sub for RM in this recipe and it works great. To help ensure a tight bond has been formed with the Activa roll the roulade the day before and chill in the fridge overnight before cooking.
Wondering if there is an alternative to Activa RM. Active RM has milk protein, and my kids has s severe food allergy to it... Seems like Modernist Pantry as a different product: Activa TI. Curious if you know whether I could substitute for that with good results too?
Sweet - thought the first one was a slipknot. Thanks for the help!
Nick calls it the torchon knot. Starts at the far end and winds it towards the roulade to tighten.
That looks like "I am gonna wrap this as many times as I can" knot. I am not sure what that bundle is up there but a slipknot to start is ideal. I have also just folded the ends towards the center and wrapped it one more time in plastic to omit the tie.
What kind of knot is used when tying the roulade?
I’m going 131 24 hours and will tell you how it goes…
Did anyone else notice that the plastic wrap shown in the video is nothing you can find in a typical grocery store? I had to improvise by forming the roulade basically as shown (but not able to twist the ends because it wasn’t wide enough) and then set it on another plastic wrap sheet running the opposite direction; rolled it tight and then twisted and tied the ends off. Mission accomplished.
There seems to be a disconnect on temperature here, for the leg roulade. Recipe states 151F for 3 to 5 hours, many commenters say 131F for 12 or more. Might I ask for a consensus from commenters or Chefsteps? TIA
Have to agree.
Made two versions, light and dark meats, both without the activa and it worked out great (the white meat may have separated on the plates but you'll be shoving into your pie-hole soon enough). Please use good judgement and read up on the difference in sous vide temps for the two types of meats, otherwise you may have a drier result than what you'd want.
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Yes.. just did that today.. smoked the crown then I creases temp to max and put in the roulade.. excellent
Thank you Jan! I prepped it today for new years. I hope it works
Yes it will. I have cooked this great recipe for New years the last 4 consecutive years without adding activa. Perfect roulade shape every time, and it holds up fine when slicing it. Give it a go, just roll it up real tight.
Has anyone finished this in a smoker?
this is real fun... thanks for doing this
Sorry but no it won't, if it would we would leave it out.
If I don’t add the activa will it still hold its shape?
Is it safe to eat if I can only cook it for 22 hours at 131? Messed up my timing today.
I am cooking breasts and the roulade at 131F/24hrs after reading this
In the latest fried turkey video, Grant does 18 hours white meat, 24 hours dark, both in the same bath at 131. My dark meat roulade at 131 for 24 hours was delicious with amazing texture.
I also want to roulade the entire bird. Have always roasted it boned/rolled like this but want to try sous vide. Since we can't have family over this year just looking at a 14lb bird, about a 5-6 lbs roulade in total. Research I've seen has me guessing maybe 150oF for about 5-6 hours. Total guess though. Have seen recipes for birds on the bone using 150oF for 24 hours. Seems a bit extreme for a boneless roast though. I think it is tricky because we are cooking white and dark meat together. Anyone have a recommended time/temp combination? Thanks!
So you're suggesting 131 for 24 hours for the whole thing, then?
I've made this recipe in the past and didn't love the texture as I thought the temp was too high. I just gave it another go and cooked it for 24 hours at 131 - I really loved it. Not sure if CS would recommend this (I know they like that time/temp for breasts), but I thought this was fantastic. I should also note that rather than stack two legs on top of each other, I rolled one (skinless) on itself for a smaller diameter.
On a side note, I'm thinking about cutting the roulade into medallions and frying them as Grant did in the latest video on deep fried turkey. I don't love eating turkey legs off the bones as the tendons are really tough to work around.
I want to do the entire turkey as a Roulade. What is the best time/temp for sous vide? Also, I was thinking of using the Shio Koji but am not sure when to add. Any tips would be appreciated.
Hi Terri, you can freeze the roulade before or after cooking.
Can you freeze the Roulade in advance?
It depends on how deep your oil is. Anything from one side to infinite sides.
My Anova Precision Oven can be set to 246°C (accuracy: +/- 3°C) and I plan to make this dish in it. I also have a science degree.
If I wanted to add on stuffing inside, how would this affect the cooking procedure and the meat gluing?
If I wanted to add a stuffing inside the roulade how would the cooking change and would this affect the meat gluing?
Hi Mark, when you have the bone still in, we cook it longer so that the blood in and around the bone is able to have time to cook. The leg meat roulade will cook faster as the bone is removed. Also, we recommend removing the tendons in the roulade, those need more time to cook as well when left in.
Why do you recommend the leg meat roulade cook for 3-6 hrs but the leg bone in for 24hrs? Thanks and love everything you guys do!
Correct, since you are only about an inch thick and seasoning it you don't need to brine.
so don't brine this, correct?
If you're deep-frying the roulade at 2 min per side, and it's a cylinder, what constitutes a "side"?
Chill.
I've tried this recipe twice. The first time I found the temperature and timings given above were insufficient to break down all of the connective tissue and the result was still a little chewy. (My bird was a proper free-range bird - probably did some marathon running in its spare time). The second time I upped the temperature to 75C and cooked for 8 hours. The result was delicious.
This is the only way I'll do Christmas turkey from now on, With the crown done separately in a low oven.
PLEASE! Unit conversions! To set an oven to 246C is impossible outside a laboratory! Ovens are very imprecise. Please set to the nearest 10C i. e. 250C.
Speak to someone with a science degree.
I love your work. Please keep doing what you're doing.
Made the roulade but added a Shio Koji (see Cook’s Science) brine before rolling it. Next day, sous vide, followed with a sear with reserved Koji mixed with butter for browning before serving. The teenagers thought it was pork loin but their eyes lit up when they tasted it. I got only a small piece that fell off when I sliced it. Delicious! Our son-in-law candidly told my wife that it was the best turkey he’d ever had. None left over.
After brining the crown with the dark meat, I roasted it in the oven per ChefSteps and basted it with reserved Koji and butter about 10 minutes before pulling it out of the oven. After tasting the breast meat, my wife, with a stunned look, said, “This is Thanksgiving from now on!” SCORE!!!
No leftovers. However, my wife had me bake the traditional Citrus brined bird, “In case the Koji thing is awful.” So we had leftovers after all. Thanks for encouraging me to try new things ChefSteps.
I boned out both the white meat and dark meat and made 2 roulades. The white meat roulade was bigger than the dark meat one. I cooked the dark meat the day before, as directed, and put it in the fridge. Very early he next morning, I started the white meat roulade and cooked it at 131 F for 12 hrs because the roulade was thicker the each piece of breast meat. I added the dark meat to the water bath with about 4 hrs still to go on the white roulade. I finished both by drying, then basting with melted butter, then into 475F oven. I didn’t develop a real brown sear after 20+ mins. Next time I will leave the butter to finish after a dry sear. Still, both were Delicious! The white meat was fantastic, very moist and tender. The dark meat was just wonderful.
Can the roulade be cooked longer? What would happen to the texture should it be cooked for 12-24 hours?
