I want to sous vide my turkey breast this year. My concern is the thickness of the breast. Looking at most of the cooking times and temperatures, they recommend around 145 for about 2.5-3 hours, but this is for a 2 inch thick piece. If I’m not mistaken, most turkey breasts are much more than 2 inches thick. I would rather not hack up the breast into 2 inch thick pieces. Does anyone have a suggestion for time and temperature for a full-thickness turkey breast? Thanks!
Here is a really good recent post about sous vide turkey breast from The Food Lab on Serious Eats where he takes a fairly scientific approach to cooking. Sous Vide Turkey Breast With Crispy Skin Recipe
The important thing is basically that once the core reaches the temp you want, you have to hold the turkey at that temperature for a certain amount of time to ensure it is safe to eat. For a core temp of 143 I guess you need to hold it there for at least 16 minutes to essentially pasteurize the meat and make it safe. Total cooking time just depends on how quickly it takes the inside of the turkey to get to that target temperature.
Now someone needs to invent a wireless waterproof thermometer that can be sealed in the vacuum bag with the food for sous vide so you can keep an eye on the core temp! I’ll nominate Thermapen to do that!
I did mine last year. I removed the halves from the bone and bagged them separately. I went 145° for 4 hours.
I have seen people use oven type thermometers with vacuum bags. They put a piece of self adhesive foam insulation strip (like you use around doors) on the bag and run the probe through it into the meat. I haven’t tried it myself.
elangomatt – I also saw that article and thought it was interesting, but the turkey breasts he used seemed small. I do like the idea of equalizing the size by joining the two halves to make a log of turkey. Since I don’t have a way to accurately measure the temperature without opening or piercing the vacuum seal, I was hoping someone had a good all-around time for a nice thick chunk of poultry. I don’t mind starting it early, but will there come a point where it is too long and come out mealy?
I have seen people use oven type thermometers with vacuum bags. They put a piece of self adhesive foam insulation strip (like you use around doors) on the bag and run the probe through it into the meat. I haven't tried it myself.
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I’ve seen that temp probe with the foam strip too in this video from Kendall College Sous Vide Techniques .
I believe the temp probe is the same for meat smokers https://amzn.com/B00KYSAI00
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Is it all right, to start the turkey (or any meat product) in the cold water and let the heater bring everything up to cooking temperature together? I would then set the timer, when the water came up to the target temperature.
Would this work, for small portions, like frozen steaks, chops and fish fillets, directly from the freezer to the cold water bath?
I tried this, last night, with a partially thawed portion of cod fish, cooking it for 45 minutes, at 130 degrees F, and it tasted great.
I like to make a salad with a turkey breast!
Grilled Turkey Salad
Ingredients
1 lb Turkey Breast One skinless turkey breast
6 Lettuce Leaves Small
6 Romaine Lettuce leaves Small
10 Arugula Leaves
10 Cherry Tomatoes
7 oz Mozzarella Cheese
2 tbs Olive Oil Extra Virgin
0,5 Lemon
1 pinch Salt
1 pinch Peper
Try!)