Faux-Aged Turkey (Sous-Vide)

 

These past few weeks, I've written no less than 5 posts on Turkey and Thanksgiving. The last one kind of corresponds to this post. I tried a 24-hr cook with Turkey Breast dry-brined at 1%, and it was freaking amazing. 

This is the 6-th Turkey I've made in about 7 weeks. I've been playing around with different seasonings, times, temps, and leftover recipes. 

With this Turkey, I decided to try out two things. I Faux-Aged all the proteins with a Fish-Salt and wanted to try a new dark meat time. I find Fish-Salt easier to apply than the Fish-Sauce. I've been Fauxing proteins for at least 7-yrs, and I've yet to do it with poultry. 

The Turkey Breast was processed at 130f at 24-hrs. This T and T produces a flawless Breast Texture and moisture level I've never encountered. If you were to feed someone blind-folded, they would deduce that they were eating dark meat from the flavor and mouthfeel.

The amount of Salt applied is the percentage of the weight of the protein. I.e., If the protein weights 1000 grams, you would need 10 grams of salt at 1% (1000 x 1% or .01 = 10). Each side of the breast was treated with 1% Kosher-Salt and 1% Fish-Salt. They were Faux-Aged for 24-Hrs (24-36 is perfect) in the refrigerator. Poultry does not need as long as Beef. 

To Recap- Salt applied, Vac Sealed, Refrigerated for 24-36-hrs and processed SV. 

In a blind taste, this was the feedback I received. The 1% KS tasted amazing. The 1% FS not only tasted amazing but had a pronounced Turkey taste.

The clear winner, hands down, is the Fish-Salt breast. 

I am a huge fan of Turkey, and to increase the aromas and intensity is a game-changer. I am also finding that Turkey, if appropriately cooked, only needs to be treated with Salt. This, of course, is just my opinion but I would recommend everyone give it a try. What would I change? If only treating with Kosher-Salt, I would use .75% salt instead of 1%.

The results are identical to what I've written above.

Let's talk about the Time and Temp.  

My go-to time for Dark meat has always been 149f for 8-10 Hours. Chefsteps says you can go as long as 24-hrs and if you lower, you can go longer. It's my opinion that 8-10 Hours is all you need and produce superior results. I felt the 24-hrs version was less moist, and the texture seemed off. 

The clear winner, hands down, is the Fish-Salt Dark meat.