Going Cold Turkey

[dcarch]

Hi All,

I got an extra frozen turey which I would like to cook now to make room in the freezer. It is a 18-lb 6"-thick bird.

I want to sous vide the entire frozen turkey in the plastic wraping it came with.

I know the plastic is food grade, but may not be boilable. I am not going to worry about that for this time. They did use high heat to shrink the plastic. I will not be eating the skin.

I want to cook it based on the breast meat temperature, then carve all the meat out, saving the bones and giblits, then just sous vide the legs once more to a higher temperature.

Any comments will be appreciated, timing? temperature? tips? etc.

TIA

dcarch

[rotuts]

i don't know what you gain by doing it this way. as you know in side the turkey is a large block of ice probably identical to the 8 % injected or soaking brine.

that cant taste good. I just got over doing 5 22 lbs birds same brand as yours. I eventually saved the neck/giblets/wing tips/carcass scrapings in a Lg SV bag and froze for later gravy

I saved the two large wings and bagged and froze for 'Wings" roasted later.

I trimmed out the breast and was carefull with the tendons and the legs and thighs I skinned and left the bone in.

SV's the breast 3 hrs 140, then took them out and added the legs 160 24 hours

it turns out i also was hoping to save some freezer space: in the same space where one 22 lbs bird went I can put 2 1/2 to 3 SV 22 lbs birds 22 lbs yields over 18 lbs of SV Delight. not counting the wings and gravey bits

seasoning was 'your choice' / bag but i found out Im very fond of sauer's Prime Rib seasoning both for turkey and "roast beef chuck'

i do have a lot of turkey "done" but I like it.

anyway very intersted in youre experiment

I hope you thaw in a very cold refrig first. it would take forever to get the inner meat to get to SV temp and get pasturized. most of the bags ive gotten had very small puncture wholes in them

consider that too.

best of luck!

Edited December 5, 2011 by rotuts (log)

[johannafin]

Are you going to leave the neck and giblets inside the turkey when you cook it?

[dcarch]

I have a very good reason for doing it this wat,

I am very lazy! LOL

Yes, I am thinking of sous vide the whole thing frozen, with all the goodies inside.

Otherwise I will have to wait and thaw the whole thing, cut it up in small pieces to fit in bags many times.

This way I can do it two times, once for the whole bird, then the dark meat.

dcarch

Edited December 5, 2011 by dcarch (log)

[rotuts]

OK Mr Lazy Pants:

do this:

do you have room in your refig to keep the turks there for a 'while' ?? make room. take out the 4 cases of beeer

do a Water Thaw in your sink with cold water over night, pat dry and place in a intact plastic bag x 2.

put that lump in your frig for the day and then do the same thing again with the Cold Water Sink bath the next night etc until you know this:

the turkey is very cold but conpletey thawed.

then do you SV Experiment.

we all want to see the steps!

Edited December 5, 2011 by rotuts (log)

[andiesenji]

Uhhhhh. I hate to rain on your parade, but...

This looks like a self-basting turkey. This means it has to be exposed to a higher heat than you will have with sous vide for the injected liquid to exit the turkey.

This liquid contains a significant amount of salt. Your meat will be quite salty. These types of turkeys are intended for DRY roasting.

I speak from experience, I cooked one of these in my electric roaster as I would a non-self-basting turkey, which I had done many, many times before with excellent results.

The meat was too salty to eat and it had a gummy consistency. The whole thing was a waste, I attempted to make stock and that also was not at all nice.

Edited December 5, 2011 by andiesenji (log)

[JBailey]

You may want to read the USA Today article and the source paper from the Hospitality Institute.

[rotuts]

it is true this is an "pre brined turk"

having done 5 SV the meat is not salty at all SV.

indeed although I have not check the labels the seasoning Ive put on the SV Chunks, and did the SV are not salty at all.

I think the 8 % on these birds back when I roasted whole the deconstructed a la Julia Child and J.pepin do not affect the pan gravy

of course I think gravy whould be better spelled "gavvey"

but I have never had a problem with this amount of added salt in the Turks.

brined "do it this way" chicken roasted thats a different problem.

[dcarch]

Yes, the turkey is 8% brined.

The last one, the one I sawed in half, was the same brand, it was not salty at all.

I roasted it from frozen in the oven at 185F.

dcarch

[rotuts]

I guess we buy the same Turks.

I think 8 % is the standard of the Turk MegaloMarts.

still looking forward to those pics:

(full disclosure: I have 4 more turks in the freezer they will go to Curries, stogganoffs, and other things I can think of. )

[andiesenji]

I roasted it from frozen in the oven at 185F.

dcarch

You had good luck with that. At that temp, it takes so many hours to reach the "safe" temp for poultry (above 140° F) that if there is any salmonella present, and it's not on every bird, for sure, but statistically is on some, you are creating the perfect environment for it to grow exponentially.

If you are just feeding yourself, give it a try but if you are feeding children, elderly persons, anyone with a compromised immune system or with coronary problems, use some discretion.

I had an extremely severe episode of this some twenty years ago when I ate turkey that (unbeknownst to me) had been cooked from frozen.

I was hospitalized for four days and had raccoon rings around my eyes for weeks afterward. I wasn't the only one affected, everyone had some degree of illness, one adult worse than me, one child transported to children's hospital. The hospital reported it to the Health Dept so we all had to fill out questionnaires and were checked on for weeks afterward. Nine of the fourteen guests were affected, including the cook.

Edited December 5, 2011 by andiesenji (log)

[dcarch]

"--You had good luck with that. At that temp, ---"

I think I had it for 7 hours in the oven. It was cooked very well, just a little light pink right next to the bone.

Half of a turkey takes a lot less time. I think it got to 165 F the coldest spot.

dcarch

[rotuts]

interesting

all so interesting.

as Ive said .....

[vengroff]

I roasted it from frozen in the oven at 185F.

dcarch

You had good luck with that. At that temp, it takes so many hours to reach the "safe" temp for poultry (above 140° F) that if there is any salmonella present, and it's not on every bird, for sure, but statistically is on some, you are creating the perfect environment for it to grow exponentially.

I have the exact same concern. SV it is going to take well over the six hour guideline for pasteurization. I personally would be very hesitant about trying to sous vide anything larger than half a turkey. Quarters are fine, but whole seems pretty off limits to me.

[dcarch]

Reporting back.

Sous vided the entire frozen 18-lb turkey in its original plastic bag was a success.

Temperature - set at 150F, internal was 149F when taken out. It was a little well done. Next time I will go lower.

Time - 7 hours.

The brined turkey was not salty at all. As a matter of fact, there was no taste of salt.

I will post pictures another time.

dcarch