Monday, November 25, 2013

Jacques and Julia do a Turkey

I saw this episode for the first time on PBS last year. Nicko Sahlas of Cheftalk had talked about the technique and when I saw it done, it resonated with me.

For now at least, it happens to be on Youtube and you should watch it.

Part 1
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Afdh_i3Kmy0

Part 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDHiS5ivkN8

But if you just watch the video, you don't really get much information about time and temperature and so forth. Because the bird is disassembled, it cooks in about half the time which is very convenient.

The Washington Post has the recipe and some good backstory as well.  The first page is about the episode, the second page has the recipe. J & J had only talked about cooking the bird in parts. They had no recipe, they hadn't even done it before. This is being done just on straight technique and understanding of cooking on camera without a net.

I've not followed their specific recipe. The last few times I've cooked a turkey, I did it in parts this way with the legs stuffed and the stuffing under the breast. But I used my own preferred recipes for stuffing and such.

One thing I do particularly like about this technique is that you have enough parts (back, wing tips, thigh bones, neck) to make a small batch of turkey stock the day before you cook the bird. This is helpful for gravy, stuffing, basting and so on. And you still have the main carcass for making turkey soup after the holiday meal.

It's a little more work up front, but it pays dividends at meal time and lessens the hectic cooking on the main day.


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