Category Archives: Autumn
Sous-Vide Turkey with Leftovers
Once the Thanksgiving feast is over, the fun continues with leftovers. The downside of not hosting the Thanksgiving feast is the dearth of leftovers, unless you plan ahead, which we did.
For the past couple of years, Howard has been experimenting with sous-vide cooking. For a few years, he used a water immersion circulation that he rigged from old laboratory parts he purchased on eBay, but he recently upgraded to a brand new, more professionally-assembled one. It seemed natural to see what he could do with a turkey.
We don’t have a container big enough to fully immerse a whole turkey, so, the first step was to break the turkey down into parts: breasts, thighs, drumsticks, wings, and miscellaneous bones. The bones went straight into the freezer for stock later this winter. So did one of the breasts, as you can only eat so many leftovers….
With the turkey in multiple pieces, Howard tried a few different preparations.
He brined the deboned breasts and thighs for 22 hours in a classic sugar-salt brine with herbs (sage, thyme, and garlic) and spices (whole allspice, cloves, peppercorns, and coriander seeds) added. Then, he vacuumed sealed the meat (one bag per piece) along with a few tablespoons of duck fat in each bag and cooked in an immersion bath for 4 hours at 140F. To finish for serving, Howard broiled the breast and pan-fried the thighs to crisp up and brown the skin.
Breast and Drumstick Config (Broiled)
The drumsticks and wings were rubbed with salt mixed with sage, rosemary, and thyme and left to air dry in the fridge for 24 hours. These parts were vacuum-sealed in bags with sage, thyme, and garlic and a couple tablespoons of duck fat. To transform into confit, these bags were cooked at 180F for 11 hours. To brown the skin, these were broiled before serving.
Pan-Fried Thighs
To make the most of the turkey, we also made a simple turkey liver pâté from its liver. The cooked liver (which was simmered in water), sauteed onion, and a hard-boiled egg were pulsed in the food processor until almost smooth.
We enjoyed a post-Thanksgiving dinner with turkey served 3 ways (four if you count the pate served as an appetizer) along with our favorite sides (mashed potatoes, chestnut stuffing, and roasted Brussels sprouts).
Lots of leftovers which we’ve so far enjoyed as follows (click on the picture to go to the recipe):
Breakfast: Baked Eggs in Stuffing Cups
Lunch: Turkey Banh Mi
Dinner: Turkey and Noodles with Peanut Sauce
ffwd: mushroom and shallot quiche
I love quiche. I’ve seldom met a flavor combination I don’t like. We’ve already made a few from Around My French Table. The spinach-bacon was delicious. The apple-gorgonzola surprised me. This week’s selection for French Fridays with Dorie is a Mushroom and Shallot quiche, so I was excited to try it.
I think I’ve mentioned before that my go-to crust is Mark Bittman’s. It works much better for me than Dorie’s, so I started with a partially baked crust made from my preferred recipe.
The filling starts with finely chopped shallots sautéed in butter. Then, I added thickly sliced mushrooms. I used cremini mushrooms, which are baby portobellos. They have a deeper, earthier flavor than button mushrooms, and they’re the closest to wild I can afford. The mushrooms developed a lovely caramelized crust as they cooked, adding another layer of flavor. Finally, I stirred some fresh thyme into the mushrooms. The kitchen smelled divine, and the mushrooms tasted the same. I could see quartering the mushrooms and making this part of the recipe as a side dish.
More fresh thyme is sprinkled on the pastry crust before spreading the mushroom filling on top. A custard made from eggs and heavy cream is poured over the vegetables. Finally, sliced scallions and grated cheese top things off before baking.
The recipe called for Gruyere cheese, but I picked from what I had in the cheese drawer, using a semi-soft Fontina instead. It probably wasn’t as sharp or interesting as Gruyere would have been, but it worked. Grating such a small amount also gave me a chance to use my Mouli grater. I can’t remember whether this was my mother’s or whether it was someone else’s. In either case, my mother had one just like it. She used it almost exclusively for grating chocolate for her signature chocolate chip cake. I like it for finely grating small bits of cheese. Whenever I pull it out, it also makes me smile to think of my mom.
Mom’s Mouli Grater?
I have to say that I think this my favorite of the Dorie quiches we’ve cooked so far. I loved the mushroom filling, especially all the thyme flavor. I’m looking forward to enjoying it again for lunch later today. And, as I mentioned earlier, the mushroom preparation would make a great side dish, so it’s a two-for-one recipe, always a bonus.
We don’t usually share the recipes for this cooking group, but I found Dorie’s recipe on Epicurious. To read about the other bloggers’ quiches, follow their links, which are posted here.
A Plateful of Happiness 