Thanksgiving 2013 Menus

[FeChef]

Ok so here in the US thanksgiving is approaching. I usually deep fry my turkey but this year i want to dissect and SV the pieces. Im thinking of removing the entire breast from the ribcage leaving the skin on one half of the breast and reversing the other half of the breast and rolling it up with some activa GS meat glue. Then SV @ 140F for 4-6 hours and finish off in the turkey fryer for 5 minutes to crisp the skin. One thing im concerned about is I want to do my usual brine but im not sure if its safe to brine before rolling it up with the meat glue,or must i do it after its been glued?

Also, Im also planning on glueing a few chuck tender roasts together to resemble a more traditional rib roast. Im planning to cut them in halves and glue 4 of them together and since they are frozen at the moment, im thinking maybe its best to glue them while they are partially frozen(surfaces will be thawed and pat dry) so i can get a better vacuum on them once the glue is applied. Does anyone know if its okay to glue partially frozen meats, or must they be entirely thawed before glueing?

Edited October 22, 2013 by FeChef (log)

[dcarch]

I sous vide the entire turkey, from frozen. No thawing.

dcarch

[Baselerd]

Sounds tasty. I've always glued thawed meat - are you planning on putting the frozen, glued meat directly into the SV still (mostly) frozen?

Edited October 22, 2013 by Baselerd (log)

[FeChef]

Sounds tasty. I've always glued thawed meat - are you planning on putting the frozen, glued meat directly into the SV still (mostly) frozen?

No the chuck tender roasts are frozen cryovac. I would put them in an ice bath for just enough time to thaw roughly 1/2 inch surface. Then cut them in half and pat dry with paper towels and brush on the activa GS, then vacuum seal them sandwiched together and put in the fridge to thaw overnight, then SV @ 135 for 24 hours.

Im just concerned that what might happen is between the glued pieces it may refreeze and deactivate the glue.

Edited October 22, 2013 by FeChef (log)

[gfweb]

I sous vide the entire turkey, from frozen. No thawing.

 

dcarch

So how do you pick the temp?

[lesliec]

You might find the Adventures with Transglutaminase thread useful. Our Christmas dinner last year was 'glued turducken' and it was fantastic.

[dcarch]

I sous vide the entire turkey, from frozen. No thawing.

dcarch

So how do you pick the temp?

Temperature is not much of an issue. I have found that the result is quite pleasing at 140F.

The problem for many people doing it this way, sous vide from frozen, no thawing, is the giblets will be cooked at the same time inside the bird.

dcarch

[gfweb]

How long, Dcarch?

[dcarch]

How long, Dcarch?

Sorry!!!

The turkey, I don't remember exactly. I think all day. I did check with a probe thermometer just in case.

dcarch

[patrickamory]

I find it my yearly challenge to do an entirely traditional Thanksgiving dinner, the traditional preparation, and try to make it good. It's not easy, but I often succeed. There's something obscurely satisfying to me in preparing a heritage meal for a heritage holiday and making it good.

[patrickamory]

And now I've found out that my niece has just been diagnosed with gluten intolerance, so I'm going to be forced to use a gluten-free bread for stuffing (at least the one in the cavity, and yes, I insist on the stuffing in the cavity).

It's enough to make one want to go up to Vermont for the week, rent a cabin, and just do the whole thing without the family.

[Mjx]

And now I've found out that my niece has just been diagnosed with gluten intolerance, so I'm going to be forced to use a gluten-free bread for stuffing (at least the one in the cavity, and yes, I insist on the stuffing in the cavity).

It's enough to make one want to go up to Vermont for the week, rent a cabin, and just do the whole thing without the family.

Do yourself a favour, and rather than use a gluten-free bread for stuffing, go with another kind altogether (and maybe also make a pan of ordinary bread stuffing on the side).

I have a generalized complex carb. intolerance, and now have several years of extensive experimenting and experience under my belt, so I can tell you that I've yet to find a gluten-free bread that does not turn to repulsive mush in things like stuffing, various traditional Tuscan soups, or French toast (the gluten is what gives the right sort of bread for these things the structure to hold together a bit, even when very moist). I'm not saying it doesn't exist, but so far, my search has been fruitless.

[robirdstx]

And now I've found out that my niece has just been diagnosed with gluten intolerance, so I'm going to be forced to use a gluten-free bread for stuffing (at least the one in the cavity, and yes, I insist on the stuffing in the cavity).

It's enough to make one want to go up to Vermont for the week, rent a cabin, and just do the whole thing without the family.

Hi Patrick, you got me thinking and doing a quick internet search brought up tons of wild rice stuffing recipes. I think I'm going to try one in my turkey this year. I'll still have to make a batch of the bread stuffing, which I do in my crock pot, for my DH.

[ChrisTaylor]

Ok so here in the US thanksgiving is approaching. I usually deep fry my turkey but this year i want to dissect and SV the pieces. Im thinking of removing the entire breast from the ribcage leaving the skin on one half of the breast and reversing the other half of the breast and rolling it up with some activa GS meat glue. Then SV @ 140F for 4-6 hours and finish off in the turkey fryer for 5 minutes to crisp the skin. One thing im concerned about is I want to do my usual brine but im not sure if its safe to brine before rolling it up with the meat glue,or must i do it after its been glued?

I cooked a lot of turkey sous vide in the lead up to Christmas last year. I wanted to present turkey in two or three different ways. I found turkey is a funny bird to cook sous vide. It can be very good. It can also be uninteresting.Things I liked:

- The 'roast turkey w/ gravy' recipe in Modernist Cuisine. Essentially a turkey wing that is parked in a cure for a while, cooked sous vide, boned out, dusted with potato starch and seared quickly. I went so far as to deep fry it. This recipe was simple and the results were excellent. If you're buying turkey wings specifically for this recipe, which is what I did, you want the fore part of the wing (i.e. the part with two bones). It's a lot easier to bone this part out. Also, don't ever never not ever skip out the bit that tells you to lop off the wing tips before cooking the wings. Don't even think of that shortcut. For the gravy I used the simpler recipe in Modernist Cuisine at Home. I used random turkey bones, the turkey carcass, off-cuts from my trial run of a few dishes and some chicken whatsits to make the stock (a double stock, really).

- The breasts are a funny one. I brined, parked in the bath and deep-fried. I found a slightly higher temperature--I think I cooked at 62--superior to the widely suggested 60. Just something with the texture. Hard to pinpoint. I haven't tried it yet--it's on the cards for this year's trial runs--but I reckon you could inject some of your turkey stock into it. I did not experiment with gluing anything together so I cannot help you there.

- The legs I initially parked in a smoker after cooking sous vide. Wasn't a big fan of the result. What I ended up doing was a riff on boerwors: roughy equal parts pork (I think I used cheek, but it might well have been belly) and turkey leg meat plus some speck. Seasoned w/ allspice and coriander and all the usual boerwors baggage. I think the result was okay. I reckon next time I would avoid cooking the sausages sous vide and then deep-frying them. The result just simply inferior to just pan-frying them on a low heat (possibly due to the slightly crumbly texture of boerwors). If your idea of stuffing is the kind that has force meat mixed through it, you could take a similar approach.

[patrickamory]

Thanks for the suggestions guys - wild rice stuffing sounds great!

[FeChef]

- The 'roast turkey w/ gravy' recipe in Modernist Cuisine. Essentially a turkey wing that is parked in a cure for a while, cooked sous vide, boned out, dusted with potato starch and seared quickly. I went so far as to deep fry it. This recipe was simple and the results were excellent. If you're buying turkey wings specifically for this recipe, which is what I did, you want the fore part of the wing (i.e. the part with two bones). It's a lot easier to bone this part out. Also, don't ever never not ever skip out the bit that tells you to lop off the wing tips before cooking the wings. Don't even think of that shortcut. For the gravy I used the simpler recipe in Modernist Cuisine at Home. I used random turkey bones, the turkey carcass, off-cuts from my trial run of a few dishes and some chicken whatsits to make the stock (a double stock, really).

- The breasts are a funny one. I brined, parked in the bath and deep-fried. I found a slightly higher temperature--I think I cooked at 62--superior to the widely suggested 60. Just something with the texture. Hard to pinpoint. I haven't tried it yet--it's on the cards for this year's trial runs--but I reckon you could inject some of your turkey stock into it. I did not experiment with gluing anything together so I cannot help you there.

I havent decided on the approach for the wings or the legs yet. I was thinking of deboning the thighs and glueing them together with the skin sides facing out. I would Sous vide them @ 145F but for the breast i prefer 140F. Do you have a link or pictures of this deboned, fried wing? Are they cooked first, then bone removed?

About the glue, I have used it a few times for various meats, But a few times I had less then stellar results with the bond strength, and was wondering if pre brining would have any effect on the bond. I dont use any acidic ingredients, I use a simple 4-5% salt solution. I may add 2% sugar, but undecided.

[KennethT]

which transglutaminase are you using? Most people use the RM for meats, but the GS (typically used for seafood) has a stronger bond. And at one point, I seem to remember the rep telling me that salt should make it work better - more available proteins or something like that... also, RM doesn't work well with fat or bone, so they recommend using the GS for those applications as well.

[ChrisTaylor]

- The 'roast turkey w/ gravy' recipe in Modernist Cuisine. Essentially a turkey wing that is parked in a cure for a while, cooked sous vide, boned out, dusted with potato starch and seared quickly. I went so far as to deep fry it. This recipe was simple and the results were excellent. If you're buying turkey wings specifically for this recipe, which is what I did, you want the fore part of the wing (i.e. the part with two bones). It's a lot easier to bone this part out. Also, don't ever never not ever skip out the bit that tells you to lop off the wing tips before cooking the wings. Don't even think of that shortcut. For the gravy I used the simpler recipe in Modernist Cuisine at Home. I used random turkey bones, the turkey carcass, off-cuts from my trial run of a few dishes and some chicken whatsits to make the stock (a double stock, really).

- The breasts are a funny one. I brined, parked in the bath and deep-fried. I found a slightly higher temperature--I think I cooked at 62--superior to the widely suggested 60. Just something with the texture. Hard to pinpoint. I haven't tried it yet--it's on the cards for this year's trial runs--but I reckon you could inject some of your turkey stock into it. I did not experiment with gluing anything together so I cannot help you there.

I havent decided on the approach for the wings or the legs yet. I was thinking of deboning the thighs and glueing them together with the skin sides facing out. I would Sous vide them @ 145F but for the breast i prefer 140F. Do you have a link or pictures of this deboned, fried wing? Are they cooked first, then bone removed?

About the glue, I have used it a few times for various meats, But a few times I had less then stellar results with the bond strength, and was wondering if pre brining would have any effect on the bond. I dont use any acidic ingredients, I use a simple 4-5% salt solution. I may add 2% sugar, but undecided.

In order of steps you prep the wings by:

- removing the tips

- parking in a dry cure (sugar and salt)

- cooking sous vide

- deboning while still warm

- dusting with potato starch

- shallow- or deep-frying

[FeChef]

which transglutaminase are you using? Most people use the RM for meats, but the GS (typically used for seafood) has a stronger bond. And at one point, I seem to remember the rep telling me that salt should make it work better - more available proteins or something like that... also, RM doesn't work well with fat or bone, so they recommend using the GS for those applications as well.

Yes I am using GS this time. In the past I used RM but I read that GS was better for larger cuts of meat and is supposed to have a stronger bond. I am hoping it makes a big difference with these chuck tender roasts and giant turkey breasts ( i plan to do this with a 25lb turkey).

[bettany]

“GS is better for larger cuts of meat and is supposed to have a stronger bond” very useful information! I thought that GS can only be used with seafood.

[Chris Amirault]

What's on the menu for Thanksgiving (US) this year? As usual, I have to stick with some basics, so we're looking at:

ras al hanout nuts & pepitas

smoked roasted turkey breast with red onions & oranges

kalkun frikadeller (Danish turkey meatballs)

pecan stuffing with sage and pancetta

pan gravy

mashed potatoes

roasted root vegetables (carrots, parsnips, rutabagas...)

brussel sprouts with bacon and sherry

cranberry sauce with ginger & orange

cucumber & vidalia pickles

Some wine -- not sure what yet -- and I may add a wild rice stuffing if I can find a good supplier.

So what are you up to?

[Darienne]

And here I was, looking for your dessert???

[Chris Amirault]

That would be the wife, who hasn't weighed in on the matter yet.

[Jaymes]

And now I've found out that my niece has just been diagnosed with gluten intolerance, so I'm going to be forced to use a gluten-free bread for stuffing (at least the one in the cavity, and yes, I insist on the stuffing in the cavity).

It's enough to make one want to go up to Vermont for the week, rent a cabin, and just do the whole thing without the family.

Hi Patrick, you got me thinking and doing a quick internet search brought up tons of wild rice stuffing recipes. I think I'm going to try one in my turkey this year. I'll still have to make a batch of the bread stuffing, which I do in my crock pot, for my DH.

Yep, we're Southern, so we do cornbread dressing anyway. And it does usually contain some white bread crumbs along with the cornbread. But for my niece, who also is gluten intolerant, I've made a special batch. It's pretty tasty...

If the rice thing doesn't work out, you might consider cornbread.

[dcarch]

It will all depends on what are on sale the week before.

dcarch