A Sous Vide Turkey Tryout With Cookbook Author Nik Sharma

It won’t be served whole for obvious reasons: Sous vide is a technique that relies on immersing food in a vacuum-sealed bag in a heated. Circulating water bath, so it would be tricky for a whole bird to come into contact with the water and heat efficiently. But I’m curious to see how it will work with the breast and leg parts since the recipe uses different temperatures and time intervals for preparation.

But the basic bones of the recipes are from the Joule app, so I won’t need to worry about the timing and temperatures. Step 2: I dab the breasts dry with paper towels, then heat up a large skillet on high with a little oil.

Once the turkeys are seared well and golden brown, I take the breasts out of the pan and do the same thing with the legs. I mix the salt and sugar (5:2 ratio) in a bowl for the brine in the suggested ratios (1.5 percent of the total turkey weight).

I add my own seasonings in and mix it up, rubbing it all over the meat pieces and then separating them as per the instructions: legs in one bag, breast in another. The instructions say to put the breast aside, so it’s in my fridge for now.

I wrap plastic film around the top of the water bath, as I know the water will start to evaporate while it cooks for hours. It’s a 12-hour wait, so I might as well get some cookbook stuff done, wrap up a few meetings, and finish a story that is way past its deadline.

Per to Now, the Joule app, to lower the heat to 131°F, which I can change through my phone. Once the heat is adjusted and set, I add the bag of breasts and leave them in for another eight hours. There’s a bit of liquid in each bag (which I discard) and pat the turkey pieces dry.

The turkey parts are in a cast-iron pan now, and I leave them to broil until they get golden brown and crispy. As it nears the 12-minute mark, I hear the sizzling and can smell the spices in the Hawaij seasoning interacting with the bird.

Once they start to come together, I add the turkey and some knobs of butter on top and baste the whole thing. Final thoughts: The dry brine and the sous vide method have certainly changed my way of thinking about preparation turkey for the holidays, and this is surely going to be a repeat.

It saved me a lot of time and freed my mind when it came to worry—whether or not I had brined the bird long enough, if I was going to burn the bird, or if the meat would be very dry in texture. I could forget about the bird, walk away, and leave it to cook as needed while the software regulated and controlled the process. I typically need a large stockpot that’s deep enough to soak the bird in my liquid brine, and this eliminated the need for it.

Recommendations for other cooks: Cover the exposed top of the cookware with plastic wrap well to prevent evaporation of the water.