Turkey: Dark Meat Serving Suggestions

As of now, I'm planning on doing the new CS turkey recipe, but am unsure how best to serve the legs. The breasts are awesome because you can basically just slice and go, but not so with the legs. I was thinking of boning out the thighs and just leaving the drumstick, but that seems kind of weird. A couple years back I did the roulade with the legs, and that was awesome but that's going to be too much prep for me this year. The year after I did a SV confit of the legs, smoked them, and then shredded them. The flavors were good, but I wasn't nuts about the texture and didn't end up using the skin (because the meat was shredded). Anyway... in terms of basic butchery, what do you think the best way would be to serve the legs? Stick to my current plan and just bone out the thigh? Or go full-on and bone the whole leg out? Or something else?

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meyer8863

I'm excited to hear other ideas. Unless someone comes up with something better, I plan on pulling out the tendons before cooking, then separating the thigh and leg after the cook. Fortunately I'm not cooking for too many people, so I'm not too worried about portioning.

brian_martin2001

Personally, I'd just serve them, as is, but then again, I come from a bunch of savages. You could debone the thighs, or leave them as is. Unless there are small children involved, I think serving them as is would be fine. You could separate them from the legs pre-sous vide, but, I don't necessarily think deboning them is necessary. After all, if you prepared it traditionally, they would be bone in and all, so, it would really depend on how much work you want to do.

Brandon_Byrd_40557

I'm also curious about potential issues using a chamber vacuum to bag bone-in legs. I know that with chicken, bagging in a vacuum can suck out the marrow and lead to "pinking" of the meat, which can be quite visually unappealing (especially if you're serving people who aren't familiar with low-temp cooking). I was planning to break down my bird a couple days early, sear everything off, and do some cook-chill pre-Turkey-Day work so I can just retherm and sear when it comes time for the main event. I don't like to do cook-chill with zip bags, and am a bit wary of pulling a vacuum on bone-in turkey bits.

meyer8863

I had completely forgotten about the pinking near the bone, under vacuum... I was going to use my foodsaver since it's such a long cook. I wonder if I should rethink that.

FrankM_3301

FWIW....Doing a roulade with the legs is a pain, given all of the tendons. So, I am going to roast the legs in the oven. In my opinion, they are best that way anyhow. I will bone out the thighs, and make a roulade out of those. Stuff, tie, sous vide, finish with clarified butter.

tshewman

My legs are done. One Peking dry cured and mixed with and asian stuffing I made and has two 10 lb weights on it right now to make cubes and will try to reheat and then wrap them as egg rolls. The other more traditional, tendons pulled (key), brined, pre-seared and cooked with aromatics. Will sear Txgiving day and separate thigh from drumstick. It is usually delicate enough that if you wanted to you could probably just remove the bone(s) after the cook and reseal with a bit of activa and serve boneless.

HammeredChef_DEFINITELY_does_NOT_work_at_22134

Foodsaver should be fine...the chamber vac is much stronger in pulling a vacuum

meyer8863

Great, thanks!

fisher23

I'm with you there. I may cut the thigh meat off, but like to eat the legs intact usually the next day.

SteveBonie_770740

maybe you can serve the leg separately. Many turkey recipes in electric roaster guide suggest that thigh should be set the temperature of 180F and my roaster can make a whole turkey with 20 lbs in 3 hours. If just for the legs, maybe also need 3 hours at 180F.