Turkey Day 2014

Turkey Day 2014 has finally arrived and I am happy to report that it came out fantastic. All my test recipes in previous posts helped me accomplish an ultimate Thanksgiving dinner. The previous posts can be found here (#1, #2, #3). This post won't go into all the particulars but I will recap what I did. In addition I will discuss some great things that really made my Thanksgiving dinner special. A picture is worth a 1000 words and this picture is no exception. Not to confuse you but that is not a traditional waffle you are looking at. Feast your eyes on a Waffleized Stuffing which means I took stuffing and put it into my waffle iron. That's right I took my stuffing and put it into my waffle iron. I came across the waffle idea on Triple D and man is it good. Stuffing turned into a waffle is a leap forward in culinary thinking if you ask me. Suffice it to say it came out great but more on this later.

While we are here we might as well go over the picture in the upper left corner of your screen. The plate is what I call Thanksgiving on a plate. A perfectly formed Waffleized Stuffing, topped with Turkey Roulade, creamy mash potatoes, homemade gravy and cranberry sauce. Oh dear God was this amazing!!!! The two roulades are white and dark meat. 

So I started out with a 17 lbs Turkey. I will describe some of the steps I took to create the above dish. If you really want details click the links above. Although covered in the previous blogs I would be remiss if I did not mention that I dry brined the bird for 24 hours.

Break down the bird with a very sharp knife. You want to separate the Breast crown from the back and set aside. Do the same with the Turkey legs but make sure you get as much meat as possible which will include a little back meat too. I used the wings for stock but you can use them for something else. Smoked wings are great. You could also make a baby roulade here too. It's only limited to your imagination.




Remove skin!!!! For detail click the links provided.

Breast removed with tenderloins. Breast injected with butter is an option which I did here.

Coat the skin and breasts with Activa RM. Invert breasts on to themselves and make a nice little rolled up roulade.

This is where the shaping of the roulade takes place. Starting out with a very large and long piece of food grade plastic wrap (I use a 24 inch wide version) I start rolling the roulade very tight using a lot of pressure. I want to form a perfect cylinder. After several layers of plastic wrap coats the meat I sprinkled on the plastic wrap chopped up herbs and peppercorns. I used sage, thyme and black peppercorns but you can use whatever you like. As I am rolling the roulade up I am piercing the plastic wrap with a toothpick (or sausage pricker) to allow air to escape which will allow for a tighter roll.

After the roll is shaped into a perfect cylinder and is nice and tight I tie it off with a string. Again I pierce the plastic wrap with a toothpick or whatever you have. In this picture I am using a sausage pricker. Note: this picture is not the actual roulade but just an example of me piercing the meat. The piercing serves two purposes. It allows for a tighter cylinder and as the Roulade cooks the herbs perfumes the meat with Herby flavors (yes that is a made up name). I know what you're thinking.... why not roll up the Turkey breast in the Herbs? Because the herbs would interfere with with binding properties of the Activa RM. How about rolling up the herbs on the outside of the meat? This is also a NO NO because the herbs would overpower the meat. My indirect approach will allow for subtle fragrances to permeate the breast. Please refer to the above links for additional instructions.

Heaven on a plate!!!!

Now for something special. This is not one of my brilliant ideas but something I came across on the web. A special thanks to Chefsteps.com for sharing their Turkey Leg Roulade idea. So what to do!!! Carefully debone the legs. For a lot of detail click on the link. 

Carefully remove all tendons using a knife and pliers. The removal of tendons is tedious work but well worth it. You will be happy you did. All done!!!

Coat the Turkey Legs with Activa RM. Invert breasts on top of each other to form a perfect little package. Sorry for the lack of photos but I missed a couple of important shots during the process. All by myself in the kitchen with an I-phone. Roll up in the roulade in plastic wrap as described above.

I Sous-Vide the Turkey Legs at 151 degrees based on Chefsteps recipe but next time I think I may use 148-149 degrees. Just a personal preference.

I gave it a 4 minute oil fried bath to get it nice and dark. 

All done and it was delicious. 

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The Laudable Turkey Roulade

Without the need of a calendar and the plethora of Turkeys lining the shelves one can only think of Thanksgiving. This is unless, of course you live under a rock. All that being said I just love Thanksgiving. For one thing I have a lot to be thankful for and I love food and family. I give all glory to G-D and I am very thankful to HaShem. 

Putting Religion and History aside for the moment this feast should be commemorated by every American!! 

Albeit, Thanksgiving is not all about Pilgrims, Puritans, Indians and religious freedom. Here is an interesting read on Thanksgiving. For me it's all about food and family. The other stuff I will leave to you!!! Ok off my soap box and on to the food!!!

I just can't get enough Turkey!! I have already blogged about this twice which are posted here Turkey Roulade ( first documented version) and Gobble Gobble Roulade my second version. You can call me a stalker of Turkeys the pursuer of Gobblicious. The reason for the third installment of Turkey Roulade is my desire to create something near perfect. I just want to get it right and you can only do this by trial and error. Although there were no errors made in the first two Turkey I wanted to enhance on what was already pretty darn good.

NOTE: Breasts were Dry-Brined with salt for 36 hours. 

In my third version believe I transcended the all my previous versions. This is not to say my previous versions were bad, Au contraire but there is always room for improvement. 

This post will be very short. I just want to recap quickly the changes I've made. I placed sage, Thyme and garlic inside the plastic while rolling up the Turkey Breast. I made sure the herbs did not make any contact with the breast but was on very first outer layer of the plastic. It's my hope that while breast cooks the herbs and garlic will release a perfume of aromas that will surround and enhance the taste of the breast. I didn't want the fresh herbs or garlic to have any direct contact with the breast. Take my word on this because I have ran some experiments with these techniques. What I have concluded is this, Roasted garlic (roasting or frying to avoid botulism) and herbs put in direct contact with the food will overpower the meat and will not flavor the whole thing. All the flavors of the garlic and herbs will be concentrated where they lie. By placing them in the plastic wrap the aromas will seep into the whole breast slowly. The trick is to pierce the plastic wrap with a sausage pricker or toothpick in several places along the cylinder. 

All sealed up and ready for Sous-Vide.
NOTE: IT WAS COOKED AT 145 F FOR 5 HOURS

Here is my review which should be my last post on Turkey Roulade. What an improvement over the last two. 

I correctly hypothesized that the perfume of the herbs and garlic would encapsulate the breast. What have I learned? Next time I will cut up the herbs smaller and disperse them more evenly in the plastic. 

I will experiment with onions and peppercorns. Overall outstanding results. 

This is truly The Laudable Turkey Roulade.

Here are some pictures that shows all the steps including my Turkey stock. 

Ribeyes Par Deux

This is my scnd go at Ribeyes but not because I needed to improve on the first but because I just love Ribeyes. The first time I Sous-Vide Ribeyes I made a Southwest Version that was pretty damn good.This version is only slightly different. I seasoned them the night before and cooked them slightly lower. 

Damn good looking Ribeyes!!!

I seasoned them with smoked salt and various peppers and herbs.

Cooked at this temp for 5 hours.

All done and boring looking. Obviously no maillard reaction.

Grill fired up and cooked to perfection. 

It's important that the surface of the meat is dry before putting them on the grill otherwise they will not brown up. Obviously they came out fantastic. Seasoning them the night before is the way to go. 

This is a great technique that I will use again. 

Gratuitous picture follow

Over 2 inches thick

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