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Sous Vide Thanksgiving Turkey

Here’s how you Sous Vide a Thanksgiving Turkey!

The cooking liquid that results from this method can be used to make amazing gravy, stuffing, or anything else that uses broth or stock.  That is why it is a very basic spice mixture.  You can easily overpower and ruin the liquid with too much spice.  The turkey would likely still be alright but you will be missing out on one of the most important benefits of this method, which is the broth.

 

Ingredients:

  • Turkey (I’ve done up to 20.77 lbs bird using this method!)
  • Sous Vide Device + Cooler
  • 2Lb Carrots
  • Large Bunch Celery (with leaves)
  • Turkey or Chicken Broth
  • 1 Can or Bottle Quality Craft Hard Cider (not flavored, something drier prefered)
  • 1 tsp Peppercorns
  • 1 tsp Coarse black pepper
  • 2 Tbsp Salt
  • 1 Tbsp Kirkland No-salt seasoning (or another brand, perhaps Ms. Dash)
  • 2 Tbsp Granulated Sugar (raw preferred)
  • 1 Bay Leaf
  • 1 Tsp Celery Seeds
  • Expandable Foodsaver bags (pleated, AKA Game-Saver)
  • Mayonnaise
  •  
    Salt and Pepper
  • 20-24 hours of time
  1. Check to make sure your turkey fits in the cooler
  2. Fill the cooler to just above the minimum mark for the sous-vide
  3. Set the sous-vide to 150F
  4. Prep carrots and celery:  Peel, wash and rough cut into pieces that will fit in the turkey’s cavity.  Celery leaves can be left on, or set aside and put in the bag with the turkey.
  5. Optional: Roast (or air-fry) carrots and celery for 20-25 min at 400
  6. Prep a workspace big enough for your turkey.  You will want a colander or some other sturdy bowl big enough to set the turkey in vertically
  7. Add 1 can or 16 ounces of broth to a jar or small bowl (I like a jar that can be sealed and shaken)
  8. Add peppercorns, pepper, salt, no-salt seasoning, sugar, bay leaf, and celery seeds
  9. Mix well (don’t worry the peppercorns will float and coarse salt will settle, just mix it up quick before you add to bag)
  10. Measure bag roll against turkey, you will want a bag length 15-20″ longer than the length of your turkey.
  11. Open the turkey, remove giblets from the front and back ends (if your turkey is still a little frozen, do not worry! If it is too frozen to remove packets, set in sink in colander and run lukewarm water into it until you can remove the packets)
  12. Stuff front and back cavities of Turkey with the carrots and celery pieces.
  13. Prepare an area for vacuum sealing.  You want to elevate your vacuum sealer about as high as your turkey is tall. (this is so you have less trouble with the liquid). If you can seal from the counter while the turkey is in the sink, that is a bonus for you!
  14. Prep vacuum bag.  Seal one end in 3 places (i like to double seal over each on moist setting, for a total of 3×2=6 times)
  15. Fold vacuum bag open end outward over itself 6 inches
  16. Put turkey vertically in the colander or large bowl
  17. Slide bag over turkey as far as possible
  18. Grab turkey firmly on outside of bag and invert so the whole turkey goes into the bag
  19. Wash colander and set bagged turkey back down vertically with the bag’s open end now up
  20. Add 1 can cider
  21. Add 1 can broth
  22. Mix or stir spice mix and add to bag
  23. Grab the bag and pull it upwards gently to pull it closer to the turkey.  See how high the liquid rises.
  24. Add more broth until the liquid is just about to the top of the turkey when the bag is being pulled up
  25. Pull the folded ends of the bag back up
  26. Re-form pleats on the open bag end
  27. Seal on moist putting a little extra material through the sealer so you have enough room for multiple seals.  Watch the liquid rise and hit the seal button just as it is about to get to the vacuum sealer.
  28. Make a total of 3 seals (I like to seal each twice for a total of 3×2=6 seals)
  29. Put turkey on a tray to carry to cooler
  30. Insert in cooler and check water level.  Add water to get to Max mark on sous vide if necessary
  31. Cover cooler
  32. Cook 20-24 hours
  33. 1 Hour prior to serving – Heat oven to 450
  34. Remove turkey from sous vide bath (IMPORTANT: Be very careful and lift turkey gently onto a tray.  The 24 hours will weaken the seals and the bag can burst open at this time if stressed by picking the bag up and the turkey weight against the seals)
  35. Drain liquid through fine-mesh strainer and reserve.  This broth will make the most delicious gravy and stuffing!
  36. Pat turkey dry
  37. Place turkey in roasting pan on roasting rack
  38. Massage with a light coating of mayonnaise
  39. Roast until golden brown approximately 20 minutes
  40. Remove and let set for 15-30 minutes
  41. Carve and serve

 

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Sous vide cheddar burger


Sous vide is a great way to cook burgers, especially huge ones.  It is also perfect for cooking a burger stuffed with something else.  Today we sous vide an 8-ounce burger filled with aged cheddar.

We learned this time around to check the melting point of the cheese.  In this example, the cheese softened but did not melt. Next time we’ll use different cheese to see what happens!

Ingredients:

  • (2) 1/4 pound beef patties (85/15 angus recommended)
  • 3 year aged cheddar
  • 1 slice American cheese
  • Hamburger bun

Instructions:

  1. Heat sous vide bath to 134 F
  2. Slice cheddar
  3. Lightly press cheddar into one beef patty
  4. Put second patty on top and press down gently
  5. Press a little more firmly around the perimeter to ensure contact between the two patties
  6. Optional – Get a strip of plastic wrap about 2 inches wide
    Tip: We like to get a 4 inch section and fold it in half
  7. Optional – Wrap around edges of burger
    Tip: This aged cheddar doesn’t melt at 134 for 1 hour, so the wrap is not necessary. For other cheeses it may be useful to prevent leakage.
  8. Season with salt and pepper
  9. Seal in vacuum bag on moist setting
  10. Cook for 1 hour in sous vide bath
  11. Heat grill or pan to medium high heat
  12. Remove from sous vide
  13. Remove plastic wrap
  14. Sear  1st side 15 seconds
  15. Flip
  16. Add American cheese
  17. Sear for 15 seconds or until cheese melted to your taste
  18. Put it on a bun
  19. Enjoy!

Implements used:

#cookingvideo #cookingvideos #irenelovescookingvideos #icookwhatiliketoeat #easier4me #yummy #fresh #foodvideos #youcancook #recipe #recipes #ilovefood #food #foodporn #foodstagram #foodblogger  #sandwichgram #burger #cheeseburger #sandwichporn #lunch #itswhatsforlunch #lunchtime #sousvide @anovaculinary #anovafoodnerd #cheddar #cabot #cabotcheese @cabotcheese #rösle

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Center of Town Sandwich Variant 1


The Center of Town Sandwich is one of our favorites, and nowadays we’ve got to make it for ourselves since the shop closed.  Unfortunately, it is not often that all the ingredients end up in the house at the same time.

This variant used what we had on hand today.  The original version would swap pesto mayo or pesto for the mayonnaise and basil, arugula for the spinach, and a thick flatbread for the wrap. One day if these are on hand we’ll show you how to do it in the original style.

Ingredients:

Instructions:

  1. Warm wrap
  2. Add mayonnaise
  3. Add spinach
  4. Dice and add chicken, cucumbers, sundried tomatoes, and mozzarella
  5. Add salt
  6. Add pepper
  7. Chop and add basil
  8. Roll it up
  9. Enjoy

 

 

Implements used:

 

#cookingvideo #cookingvideos #irenelovescookingvideos #icookwhatiliketoeat #easier4me
#yummy #fresh #foodvideos #youcancook #recipe
#recipes #ilovefood #food #foodporn #foodstagram
#foodblogger #sandwich #leftoversforlunch #leftoversfordays #sandwichgram
#mozzarella #wraps #sandwiches #sandwichporn

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Best way to mulch leaves with a riding mower!

This is the best way I’ve found to effectively mulch leaves using my riding mower.

Mow and then mow in reverse directly over the same line.  Leaves dissappear like magic.

My mower is a 42″ Husqvarna with the mulching attachment and mulching blades.  Typically the deck is set between 3-4 when I mulch leaves.

You want to turn:

This…
…into this

You search online…

Search results – mulching leaves with a riding mower.

… and find some suggestions.

You try them all, but none turn:

This…
…into this.

You may have tried:

Mowing up and back

Starting in the middle and working outward

Starting at the outside edge and mowing inward

Mowing normally and then perpendicular in a cross-hatch pattern

None of these methods solved your problem.

Instead of this…
…you still get this.

 

The best solution is to mow and then mow in reverse over the same line.

What you need:

Riding Mower (buy from Amazon / Home Depot)
Mulching Kit (buy from Amazon / Home Depot)
Mulching Blades (buy from Amazon / Home Depot)