Turkey, in any form, has always underwhelmed me; its tendency to be dry and bland has meant that once a year year, at Thanksgiving, has been enough. So it seemed a good test for the Sous Vide Supreme… Could it yield an evenly-cooked, yet moist and more flavorful turkey breast?
I found some interesting information on the Sous Vide Supreme website, where Dr. Mary Dan Eades (who, along with her husband, created the SVS) described her Thanksgiving turkey, prepared sous vide. Following her recommendations, I set the SVS to 140F, rubbed a boneless turkey breast with Bell’s Poultry Seasoning, Kosher salt and a bit of butter. Cooked it for two hours, then seared the skin side for about a minute in a very hot cast-iron skillet. The result was succulent, flavorful, and one of the most dramatic differences from regular cooking methods I have yet seen.
A different bird: turkey breast sous vide
Sous Vide Supreme at Sur la Table
Hello! I found your site via the help forum for Atauhalpa. (I’m using it too!) When i cook turkey for Christmas, I cover it with strips of bacon. That seems to keep it moist. You don’t get the crispy skin, but the flavour is lovely, and of course, the bacon is nice to eat too!
Ah yes, it’s hard to think of anything that isn’t improved with the addition of bacon! Thank you for the tip, it sounds like a great way to give turkey a some extra moisture!
What size turkey breast did you use?
Hi, Paulette – I used about a two-pound turkey breast for this.