This Thanksgiving, Make it a Turducken

CJ Jacobson, chef at The Yard, has a turducken on his menu. CJ sous vides the duck in his recipe, and adds fois gras. A traditional turducken consists of a de-boned chicken stuffed into a de-boned duck, which itself is stuffed into a de-boned turkey, hence the name, a mash up of turkey, duck and chicken.

Michael Cirino of A Razor A Shiny Knife’s uses molecular gastronomy in his cheeky approach to turducken where quail eggs replace the duck. Check out the recipe, after the jump.

Sous Vide Turducken

Recipe by Michael Cirino, A Razor, A Shiny Knife

Special equipment: an immersion circulator and vacuum sealer

Step 1. Roll up the meat

1/2 turkey breast

1/2 duck breast

1/2 chicken breast

6 quail eggs

100 g Activa RM transglutaminase

10 g salt

In a small pot, boil the quail eggs for five minutes. Cool them down and remove the shells.

Remove skin from the breasts and set aside for later use. Butterfly the breasts and lay the sheets of meat flat. Season each with salt. Then use a mesh strainer to sprinkle transglutaminase over the meat as though you were powdering it with sugar.

Layer the duck on top of the turkey and the chicken on top of that. Place the cooked quail eggs in a straight line on top of the stack. Roll the stack over the quail eggs as though you were making sushi.

Step 2. Sous-vide it

Put the roll into a vacuum bag and seal in a vacuum chamber set to high. Reshape the bag into a roll and drop in an immersion circulator. Cook at 72°C for three hours.

Step 3. Sear it

In a nonstick pan, press the reserved chicken and turkey skins flat and cook on low heat. Remove when golden brown and crispy. Season with salt.

Remove the turducken roll from the bag and slice it from the narrow end as though it were salami.

Sear the slices in a nonstick pan until they are golden brown. Serve with crispy skins and sous-vide stuffing (recipe below).

Sous-Vide Stuffing

100 g onions, sliced

100 g carrots, sliced

100 g celery, sliced

50 g slab bacon, cubed

200 g baguette, cubed

100 g eggs

50 g turkey stock

20 g salt

In a nonstick pan, brown the bacon; then strain and reserve the meat. Use the bacon fat to sauté the vegetables; then place them in a bowl with the bacon, bread, eggs and stock. Mix together and place in a vacuum bag. Seal it in a vacuum chamber set on low.