Over the years I have explored cooking many different foods sous vide style in CVap®, but never sous vide turkey. To be accurate, only things that are vacuum-sealed can be called sous vide – it’s a French thing. The literal translation of sous vide is under vacuum in English. However, the same precision cooking that you get by sealing something in a bag and dropping it into a water bath heated with an immersion circulator heater can be done in CVap.
Preparation
I pulled the turkey out a few days ahead of time to defrost in the fridge. I pulled the organ meats and neck out and gave it a good rinse. Grocery store birds are technically brined with a salt solution at the factory (read the small print on the package). Next, I set up the CVap. My intent was to start the bird early in the morning and get it close to a final temperature of 160°F. Then I could finish it in a 500° oven to add texture. To make sure I had an idea of what was going on inside the bird I used a Bluetooth temperature probe. It sent a temperature chart to my iPhone. Yeah, I’m a sucker for kitchen gadgets and this one is particularly cool.
The temperature charts throughout the process.
Ten minutes in the convection oven to add texture and the turkey was done! No trussing of the bird, no hassle and everything done at the same time with very little hassle. This is my method for Thanksgiving (and anytime) turkey from this day on!
