Turkey Medium Rare? – Yes Please.

As I’m always trying to push the envelope in finding new Thanksgiving turkey ideas, things got really interesting this year. Most of us love a filet mignon or any other juicy melt in your mouth medium rare steak. What if we could impart that same texture and temperature in a turkey breast? Well, we can. The trifecta of cooking time, temperature, and a sous vide (under vacuum) water bath cooking technique opens a whole new dimension to enjoying turkey.

Traditional oven cooking methods call for turkey to reach a temperature of 165 degrees to kill salmonella. This usually happens in seconds after reaching that target temperature. As I’ve been researching, you achieve the same effect at a temperature range between 132 and 140 degrees over a sustained and steady exposure to that temperature range over an extended period of time. Once the internal temperature of the meat is reached at that range, it takes about 15-18 minutes to kill salmonella. After that it’s safe to consume salmonella-prone meats at lower temperatures. The sous vide technique appears to be the only reliable vehicle to achieve this target.

Evidence suggests it will take 2-3 hours to get the turkey breasts to the salmonella-killing temperature range. To err on the side of bacterial paranoia, I increased the time to four hour knowing that the temperature I set the water bath at will be the upper limit the turkey breasts will reach regardless of how long they are immersed in the water bath. In the process they will only get more tender with every immersed minute.

Season and Seal

As a prep for T-Day, I trussed the two breasts and salted them for a dry brine along with several grinds of pepper and then sealed them in a vacuum bag refrigerated overnight.

Into the Bath

I set the sous vide temperature to 145 degrees Fahrenheit - five degrees higher than called for in many recipes, including one by Sur la Table. My research revealed that the slightly high temperature would render the sweet spot in terms of texture. In the bath they went for four hours.

Crisp it Up

A reverse sear under a broiler on high for five minutes followed by low for three minutes made the skin crisp to give it that out-of-the-oven appearance and texture.

The Final Result

It's hard to explain the texture other than in a contradictory way of the meat being both more dense and tender at the same time. It was fully opaque with somewhat the appearance of deli slices. Super juicy with the skin nicely adhering to the meat and staying intact after slicing. This is a whole new way of enjoying white meat turkey not found in any other traditional preparation techniques.