When I was a kid, I looked forward to eating crispy turkey skin more than anything else at the table! If you are like that, and really, really need your super crispy skin even after sous vide, then you have a few options.
This video and content are from my Sous Vide Thanksgiving Dinner course, if you find it interesting and would like another 40 videos of amazing Thanksgiving and turkey content, then I highly recommend checking it out!
These methods work for both sous vide turkey and sous vide chicken. They also work on duck skin with a little bit of tweaking.
First, I don't think sous vide turkey skin is really that bad. Every year I have a battle between my love of skin and my laziness, and my laziness usually wins out. As long as you thoroughly dry off your turkey before searing it, you can usually get a good crisp on it. So, don't feel like you have to try an alternative method.
This method allows you to get the skin as crispy as you want. Before you sous vide the meat you can remove the skin. Then treat it like bacon and use a skillet on medium-heat with a little oil to sauté it until the fat has rendered and it becomes crispy.
If you want the ultimate in crispy skin, this is the method for you. The skin can turn out almost like chips of turkey skin.
Remove the skin before sous viding it, then before serving you will use the oven to crisp it up. Place it flat, in a single layer, on parchment paper on a baking sheet with raised edges. Then add another layer of parchment paper and second baking sheet on top. Bake it in an oven set to 375°F to 400°F (190.5°C to 204.4°C) until it's nice and brown, usually around 40 minutes.
This video and content are from my Sous Vide Thanksgiving Dinner course, if you find it interesting and would like another 40 videos of amazing Thanksgiving and turkey content, then I highly recommend checking it out!
This article is by me, Jason Logsdon. I'm a passionate home cook who loves to try new things, especially when it comes to cooking. I've explored everything from sous vide and whipping siphons to pressure cookers and blow torches; created foams, gels and spheres; made barrel aged cocktails and brewed beer. I have also written 10 cookbooks on modernist cooking and sous vide and I run the AmazingFoodMadeEasy.com website.
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