You don’t always need a whole turkey, sometimes just a turkey breast. Turkey is a lean meat, with less fat protecting the white meat it is easily over cooked. The answer to that is to cook the meat sous vide style.
In this movie you see my son, JJ (four years old) helping me in the kitchen (and you) making a simple, moist turkey breast.
JJ Cooks: Turkey Breast Sous Vide from Producergirl Productions on Vimeo.
Here is the great thing: I slice the turkey breast in half, and cook both parts. Often it is more than we need for one meal, so we are able to take the sealed and cooked turkey breast and place it into an iced water bath, then into the freezer. It stays good for up to three months. Some evening comes along when I don’t know what to cook, I can take the turkey breast out and place it into the water bath at 140 degrees for about 30 minutes and it is ready to eat and slice.
A few changes since that film came out:
Instead of vacuum seal, I place the breast in a two gallon ziplock back and let it displace the water
More sous vide units have come out since this – some which cook with apps. Find one that works for you.
IMPORTANT TIP: Take the skin off the turkey. Flatten the skin out on parchment paper on a baking sheet. Salt and pepper over the skin. Then put parchment on top of it, and a baking sheet to keep it flat. Heat the oven to 400 degrees F. Then roast the skin in the oven at 400 degrees for 25 minutes. Take it out and let it cool. This is the most delicious way to have turkey skin and you don’t have to do anything to the turkey breast after sous vide other than eat it.
JJ is now a few years older!
INGREDIENTS:
One Turkey Breast – thawed
Kosher Salt
Pepper
Rosemary – fresh
Thyme – fresh
Butter
TURKEY BREAST
Remove the skin from the turkey breast. See instructions above. Then generously season the breast with salt then add pepper for flavoring. The turkey breast comes into two pieces, so I cut the breast into two pieces.
BAG PREP
Roll the herbs in plastic wrap like you are rolling a cigarette. Cut into one inch pieces and place two into the bag.
Take your assortment of herbs and put them into plastic
If you have the herbs next to the meat it will impart too strong a flavor. By keeping them in the plastic cachet it avoids that while still imparting flavor.
Add two pads of unsalted butter into each bag.
Place the turkey breast into the bag and seal. Or, place them into a 2 gallon Zip-lock bag and immerse in the water to displace the air from the bag.
SOUS VIDE
Cook at 150 degrees for a minimum of two hours. More is better. You can do it for three or four hours without a problem.
Slice and Serve
On the film I crisped the breast on the stove top – but baking the skin is even better.
