The easiest, most stress free and impossible to overcook thanksgiving turkey. Brined, marinated, cooked to perfection using sous vide and finished in a wood fired oven to deliver a ridiculously juicy and flavorful bird. Not to mention, the time this method frees up to rub elbows with your guests and not be checking internal temps or basting.
This entire process and holiday comes down to the bird. Even with all the recipe inspiration and instructions in the world, you’re only as good as the ingredients you start with. Please do the best you can to use ingredients from your local purveyors. These are definitely some of the people we should all be thankful for.
Speaking of birds, Sue and Andy Heffron of Purely By Chance are the perfect example of taking the food system back into small local hands and doing it for all the right reasons. We did an amazing Deboned Whole Chicken with one of their birds.
Wood Fired Thanksgiving menu—Recipes and Videos
- Wood Fired Blistered Cranberry Jalapeño Sauce
- Wood Fired Sous Vide Turkey
- Wood Fired Turkey Gravy
- Wood Fired Sourdough Stuffing
- Wood Fired Brown Butter Yams
- Wood Fired Shaved Brussels Sprouts
- Wood Fired Pumpkin Crostata
Wood Fired Sous Vide Turkey
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 3 hours 15 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours, 35 minutes, 24 hours inactive
- Yield: serves 10+ 1x
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The easiest, most stress free and impossible to overcook thanksgiving turkey. Brined, marinated, cooked to perfection using sous vide and finished in a wood fired oven to deliver a ridiculously juicy and flavorful bird. Not to mention, the time this method frees up to rub elbows with your guests and not be checking internal temps or basting.
Ingredients
- 1 whole turkey (about 12 pounds)
- ¾ cup ghee
for the brine
- 4 lemons, cut in half
- 3 sprigs fresh sage, bruised with the back of a knife
- 3 sprigs fresh rosemary, bruised with the back of a knife
- 1 apple, seeded and quartered
- 1 orange, cut in half
- 1 bulb of garlic, skin and stem removed, bulb cut in half through the cloves
- 15–20 bay leaves
- 30 peppercorns
- 1 ½ cups kosher salt
- ½ cup honey
- water, enough to cover everything in the stockpot
for the marinade
- salt and freshly ground pepper
- small bunch fresh parsley, larger stems removed and reserved for the turkey gravy
- 2 sprigs fresh rosemary, de-stemmed, rough chop
- 2 sprigs fresh sage, de-stemmed, rough chop
- 8 sprigs fresh thyme, de-stemmed, rough chop
- 2 sticks (8 ounces) of salted butter
Instructions
- Day 1— Quarter the turkey: Remove the wings and wingtips, reserve for turkey gravy. With the turkey on it’s side and the breast facing you towards you, gently pull leg away from body and slice between thigh and body, cut around the oyster and bend thigh away from you to pop out and reveal hip socket; cut through joint to remove leg. Repeat with remaining leg. With breast side up find the center sternum bone and slice vertically along either side, keeping knife against the rib cage and wishbone as you peel the breast and drumstick away. Lay quarters on a sheet tray lined with paper towel to dry the pieces off. Reserve carcass for turkey gravy.
- Brine the turkey: Bring all ingredients to a boil in a stockpot, taste for saltiness and adjust if needed. Turn off the heat, cover and let settle out and cool naturally. Once cooled add turkey pieces and refrigerate over night, 12 hours.
- Day 2— Marinate the turkey: Remove the turkey from the brine and thoroughly dry each piece with paper towels. Season both sides with freshly ground pepper, a light touch of salt and the fresh herbs, pressing them into the meat. Place the two breasts with a stick of the salted butter into a vacuum bag and the two legs into a second bag with another stick of salted butter. Vacuum seal and refrigerate over night, 12 hours
- Day 3— Sous vide the turkey: Place the marinated bagged turkey legs into a stockpot with hot water and using an immersion circulator bring the water temp up to 140°F, sous vide for 1 hour. Remove the turkey legs, massage the bag to evenly distribute the melted butter, return to the water bath along with the marinated bagged turkey breasts. Sous vide for 2 hours pulling the breast bag out once to evenly distribute the melted butter. Remove the turkey from the bags, discarding all liquid from inside the bags.
- Roast the turkey: Preheat a cast iron pan with the ghee in the wood fired oven, around 450°F. Add turkey to the pan, skin side down first, careful to not overcrowd, (if necessary roast in batches), rotating to brown all sides. Roast the breasts for about 10 minutes and the legs for an additional 4-5 minutes or until an internal temp of 155°-160°F. Cover tightly with aluminum foil and rest for at least 15 minutes, turkey will continue to cook ensuring a proper finish temp.
- Carve and serve: Cut through the joint to remove the drumette from the breast leaving the drum whole, then slice the breast. Cut through the joint to remove the leg from the thigh leaving it whole as well. Remove thighbone, roll meat together and slice. Fan meat out on a serving platter and dig in.
Notes
- Vacuum sealer alternatives: Not everyone has a vacuum sealer, simply use a sealable storage bag removing as much of the air as possible so the bag doesn’t float up during cooking.
- Sous vide alternatives: Follow all steps, skip this technique and simply roast the turkey in the wood fired oven at 365-400°F for about 45-50 minutes or until an internal temp of 155°-160°F, basting frequently with the pan juices. Cover with aluminum foil in the oven to protect the meat from burning if needed.
- Category: entrée
- Method: sous vide, wood fired
A few questions:
1. How long can I marinate in the Sous vide bags before actually Sous viding them? I’d like to brine tonight (Monday before) and marinate tomorrow (which is Tuesday before) or ….
2. if I Sous vide them Wednesday, can they be browned in the oven Thursday? Any special steps to do this a little further ahead of time?
3. Is there a limit to how much meat for one souse vide wand? I have 2 large turkeys and 1 small.
Cecelia
1. You can leave in the marinade for a few days no problem, it’s prepped and ready to go when you are.
2. You could sous vide the turkey on Wednesday, leave in the bags, flash cool the meat and refrigerate. Use an ice bath to stop the cooking as quickly as possible. The best way to reheat would probably be using the sous vide, so not sure you’re gaining anything other than a shorter length of time in the water bath on Thursday just to reheat. If you choose to take the turkey from the fridge or slightly warmed to room temp you will just have to roast for a bit longer.
We have done everything the same, then skipped the sous vide step altogether and just roasted the turkey quarters. They cook way faster than a whole turkey and are still amazing. (do a taste test- sous vide some, roast the others and compare)
3. Seems like most sous vide wands will circulate around 5 gallons. To keep a steady desired cooking temperature use a vessel with a lid or fashion a makeshift cover.
That’s a lot of bird for one pot of water so just make sure that the turkey packages are not overlapping too much and they have as much contact with the water as possible. Manually rotate the bags several times in the sous vide process.
All the best and Happy Thanksgiving