Good morning DFO!

Damn glad to see everyone. Hope everyone is having a bitchin’ early summer.

I’m just happy that the schools have let out for the summer. Hopefully this will be reflected in lighter traffic.

There were certainly not too many good things that came out of the pandemic but God DAMN was the lack of traffic fucking incredible.

My morning drive in to work is officially back at pre-pandemic levels but I have noticed it is slightly easier getting home from work. My theory is there are fewer people going out to movies and dinner and such which is pretty much the same time I’m heading home from work.

Trust me, this is not a complaint.

There is also slightly less traffic these days because who the fuck can afford to put gas in their car? I’ve been using a trick where I gas up once a week even though I’ve still got half a tank. This is my twisted logic that paying for half a tank of gas is less painful than filling the whole tank.

Just now, maybe 30 minutes ago I put in half a tank of gas and it was forty fucking dollars for HALF A FUCKING TANK OF GAS! Honestly I don’t even look at the price anymore. This shit is a necessary evil so I bite the goddamn bullet. Did I mention that when I retire I ain’t even going to own a fucking car?

Anyway.

This menu today was a really fun menu to put together. I got to fuck around with a few cooking toys and techniques and even got to try something I’ve never done but always wanted to do. You’ll see in a bit.

I almost labeled this menu as part of our “food science” series due in part to the extensive research I put in for several aspects of our menu but I’ll save that tag for next week.

We do get to fuck around with another sous vide attempt today so that’s something. I have found an absolute dynamite reason to use a sous vide as well.

For this…

People? People this may be the very fucking reason the sous vide technique was invented. The bone-in turkey breast.

Ready for this shit?

Let’s de-bag this bastard.

I’ve cooked bone-in turkey breast in a conventional oven before and it’s always tasty but they do have a tendency to be a bit dry. Common theme to every turkey breast ever which is the exact reason that I wanted to go the sous vide route.

This is a little over seven pounds but some of those pounds are from the carcass. We’ve got a real simple prep today. Salt, pepper, garlic, fresh rosemary and thyme. Into the bag you go!

Now seal ‘er on up!

Because of its size it was a little tricky bagging this fucker. In fact I had to abandon the first effort and use a second bag. It didn’t do the greatest vacuum seal either but all I wanted to be sure of was that it was fully sealed.

This will work.

Guess we better plug in the sauna. 

And drop that turkey in the bath. The key numbers to take away today are 145 degrees and 3 hours cooking time.

Let’s check on that bird after the first hour.

One of the things to be aware of, again, when cooking sous vide is you don’t get a whole lot of browning done. You can actually call this “beigeing” if you like. No, not the city in China just my feeble attempt at making a food joke.

Finally after 3 full hours of cook time we have this.

Let this rest for a bit. Hell it could probably rest for up to 30-45 minutes if needed.

First disclaimer: this particular cooking method basically renders the skin of the turkey useless. I read one recipe where they took the skin off before cooking and then roasted JUST the skin and slapped it back on the cooked bird.

I did not do this. Not even sure why the fuck you would try but it’s there if you want to look for it on the internet.

Second disclaimer: don’t be afraid of the 145 degree thing when you read it. While the old stand-by Thanksgiving turkey says to cook to an internal temp of 165 it doesn’t matter in this instance. What we are doing is basically pasteurizing the turkey. When it’s held at that 145 degree temperature as long as it is, there ain’t one single goddamn organism that can live through that. Not one.

Third disclaimer: don’t be shitting your britches over the light pink color of the finished turkey breast either – see disclaimer number 2.

What you have here is the single most moist, delicious and perfectly cooked slice of turkey breast you will ever have. I’ve never eaten anything like it. The sous vide technique allows that turkey to just draw in the flavors of the garlic and fresh herbs. You really taste them! They become a key component of the meat. It’s fucking dazzling.

That damn skin though is a piece of soggy rubber. If you have a pet I’m sure they would get some quality use out of it or it could also go in a stock with the leftover turkey carcass.

Awesome.

While the general concept of what I set out to do here was just to cook a turkey sous vide, Hell, that ain’t enough for Sunday Gravy man. That’s too fucking easy!

What can we do with the finished turkey?

We can make a fucking club sandwich, we can.

But what if we want to level it up a bit more?

Let’s take you on a little step-by-step pictorial rather than beat you down with words.

First one egg yolk.

Next ze dijon. Just a dollop.

Meex togezzer.

The lemon.

Juice of half of the lemon please.

We need 1 cup of neutral oil so I started with half a cup of canola.

Then half a cup of olive oil.

Combine.

All you have to do is engage Senor boom stick.

Perhaps some salt.

Giving us.

I’ve been watching some of the original French Chef series featuring Julia Child and there’s one episode where she does nothing but make mayonnaise. She uses a whisk and beats the living fuck out of the ingredients for like 15 minutes. She also uses a hand mixer and then a blender.

While doing my research for homemade mayo, every method was either super time consuming – not to mention a shitload of physical work – or if you wanted to use a food processor it would create about a goddamn gallon of mayo. I’m a 5 day a week vegetarian I don’t need a fucking vat of mayo.

While mentally processing how the fuck I was going to make the mayo as a small batch I ran into this video.

Fun fact! These are the same folks in that link up there for the crispy turkey skin!

This will be my go-to process for homemade mayo from this day forward.

Enough fucking around! Let’s build that fucking sandwich already. Fucking starving over here!

Get the turkey out of the bag.

See? That skin is uh, not appetizing.

Cut yourself off a good slice or two.

Now when you see the meat itself it all starts to make sense.

Since we’re making a club sandwich we’re going to need some…

Bacon! Yes, I do the little sliced bacon bits thing. It’s easier to cook this way and cooks a lot faster. Plus there’s none of that curling up shit that long bacon slices do.

Time to assemble!

Get some bread and toast it if you like. I like.

Next layer on some Swiss cheese.

A thick layer of turkey.

Get some bacon on that thing!

Then the mayo. Don’t be scared!

Get a lid on there.

Finally a slice down the middle for presentation.

You may now officially consume.

.

..

…

It’s OK to breathe while you’re eating. It’s actually encouraged.

Would you like something to drink? Maybe some potato chips or something?

Just gonna shove the whole thing down your gullet without stopping huh?

I get it.

Fucking hell folks. Not only is this the best turkey sandwich I’ve ever had, it is the single best piece of turkey I’ve ever eaten.

AND I’VE HAD THE SMOKED TURKEY AT THE SALT LICK IN DRIFTWOOD TEXAS!!!

It’s insane. Perfectly juicy, tender and the herbs and garlic aren’t just subtle notes. They are INVOLVED dammit.

I know we’ve got some of the anti-mayo folks out there but have you ever tried fresh homemade mayo? Cuz this shit is wonderful. Add in the crisp, crunchy toast and the smoky bacon? 

I made this meal on a Saturday. Want to know what I had for dinner on Sunday?

That! Exactly that.

The turkey lasted for about 4 days in the refrigerator and on the 4th day? It was still perfectly juicy, moist and delicious.

If you are a deli turkey breast person, and I certainly have been in the past, there’s no damn reason you can’t replace it with this. Not to mention that it’s cheaper! By a lot! This whole breast cost right around 20 bucks and yielded around 4 pounds of perfectly cooked meat. The math adds up.

This is easily my favorite thing I’ve cooked sous vide. I’m not done by a damn site but you can bet your ass when the NFL season starts? There’s gonna be turkey sandwiches up in this motherfucker.

This is absolutely wonderful folks and a perfectly good reason for you to look into the whole sous vide experiment if you haven’t started already.

Every year on Sunday Gravy I really start hitting my stride cooking-wise right around the start of summer and I start banging out killer meal after killer meal.

It’s so much fun.

I thank you good folks for being here. It’s always a blast to bring the good stuff for your perusal.

You keep reading and I’ll keep doing the damn thing.

See you next week.

PEACE!