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Sous Vide Turkey Breast
Learn how to make a delicious Sous Vide Turkey Breast. This cooking method allows you to cook your turkey in advance without fear of overcooking.
Ingredients
1 whole turkey, 18-20 pounds
2 tablespoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon black pepper
1 tablespoon poultry seasoning
1/4 cup brown sugar
4 large sprigs fresh rosemary
8 large sage leaves
8 parsley sprigs with stems
4 stems of fresh thyme
1/2 cup white wine
2 cups turkey stock (see below)
Turkey stock
Legs, thighs, wings, neck and carcass after removing two breast halves
2 medium carrots, coarsely cut up
1 large onion, coarsely cut up
2 stalks celery, coarsely cut up
2 whole garlic cloves, smashed
1/2 bunch fresh parsley, with stems
1 1/2 teaspoons black whole peppercorns
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
3 bay leaves
Enough water to cover the ingredients in a large pot
Gravy
2 tablespoons turkey fat from making the stock
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 quart turkey stock
1/4 teaspoon gravy color, such as Kitchen Bouquet
Additional salt and pepper if needed
Other
2 tablespoons butter to crisp the turkey skin
Salt and pepper to flavor turkey skin
Instructions
- Cut alongside both leg and thighs and remove from the turkey. As you carve, bend them back and you will see where the end of the thigh bone rotates. Once you find that joint, just cut right through.
- Do the same for both wings, removing where the joint meets the body.
- Tip breast down and with a large sharp knife, separating the backbone from the breast and ribs. There are a few ways to do this, best to go online and follow videos if you have never done this.
- To remove the two breast halves, make a slit with a sharp knife right down the center between the two breasts. Using a sharp small knife, carve around the keel bone and when enough of it is exposed, pull or cut it out. Once that is out, press the breasts flat and cut down the center, leaving the rib cage attached to each breast half. Each breast half should be about three pounds. Again, there are great videos on line if you have never done this before.
- In a small bowl, mix salt, pepper, poultry seasoning and brown sugar and rub over the skin of both breast halves.
- Place each breast half in a gallon zip lock bag and refrigerate for at least six hours or overnight.
- While the breasts are sitting in the dry rub, make the stock.
- In a large stock pot, place the legs, thighs, wings, neck and carcass along with the carrots, onion, celery, garlic, parsley, peppercorns, salt and bay leaves.
- Cover with water and bring to a boil. Lower to a simmer and cook two hours.
- Remove the legs and thighs and pick off the meat. Reserve meat for other recipes or save to serve with the cooked breast meat.
- Return the bones from the legs and thighs to the pot and cook one more hour.
- Strain out the solids and pick any residual meat from the wings then discard the solids.
- Separate the fat from the stock by using a gravy separator or by skimming it off the top. Save two tablespoons of the fat and discard the rest.
- You can make the gravy ahead and reheat or wait for the turkey breast to be fully cooked. We made ours ahead and made it thick, then thinned it down with the liquid from the bags after cooking the turkey breasts. The flavor was incredible.
- After the breasts sit for at least six hours, get your Sous Vide setup started with the water bath and set the water temperature to 145 degrees F.
- Drain off the salty liquid from each bag and discard.
- Make two bundles using the rosemary, sage, parsley and thyme tied with twine and add to each bag with the turkey breast halves.
- Divide the half cup of white wine and the two cups of turkey stock between the two bags, then seal each bag, squeezing out all air. Place each bag into a second gallon zip lock bag and squeeze out the air and seal.
- Place in the Sous Vide bath for 3 ½ hours, assuming your breast halves are three pounds each. The internal turkey breast temperature should reach 145 degrees F in that time frame. Once it does, seal the bag and place it back in the water for an additional 20 minutes to kill any possible bacteria.
- Basically, you want the turkey to reach 145 degrees F and stay at 145 degrees F for 20 minutes.
- Preheat oven at this point to 500 degrees F to crisp the skin.
- Remove the bags and pour the liquid from each bag through a strainer and into a bowl or pitcher.
- Discard the bouquet garni and place the turkey breasts skin up on a foil lined sheet tray and pat dry.
- Brush with the butter, salt and pepper and place in the oven for 20-30 minutes to brown the skin.
- Remove from the oven, cover loosely with foil and let rest ten minutes.
- While the turkey rests, reheat the gravy and thin down with the liquid you removed from the bags.
- Remove the rib cage from the breasts, (should pop right off from the bottom), slice and serve with the gravy.
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Notes
We like to freeze leftover stock in quart zipper bags, squeezing out all air and laying flat in the freezer to freeze. Then when a recipe calls for stock, we simply pull a bag from the freezer.
Find it online: https://www.afamilyfeast.com/sous-vide-turkey-breast/
