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I've bought this for Christmas. It's a boneless turkey and duck rolled together with stuffing. What's going to be the best way to cook this?

Seeing as it's boneless and therefore has no cavities, I'm wondering about sous vide, but it'll need to be long and hot enough to tenderise the leg meat without destroying the breast meat? That's going to be tricky to achieve.

Or do I go for the throw it in the oven at 160 Celcius for a couple of hours then up to 220 Celcius to brown it for 30 minutes at the end?

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  • For a clue as to minimum cooking times, see douglasbaldwin.com/sous-vide.html#Table_4.1 ... although it only goes up to 7cm thick. (from related question cooking.stackexchange.com/q/81098/67 )
    – Joe
    Dec 6, 2017 at 2:07
  • Does the seller of the product give a recommended cooking method? It's possible that they could give a recommended sous-vide time.
    – Joe
    Dec 6, 2017 at 2:07
  • @Joe I'm not going to know how thick it is until it arrives, but it'll be pretty thick. They don't recommend how to cook.
    – Will Calderwood
    Dec 6, 2017 at 6:32
  • It's not quite exact, but searching for "how to cook a turducken" on an internet search engine mentions baking a fridge temp (40°F/4.4°C) turducken at 225°F (107°C) for 8 to 9 hours, make sure the middle reached 165°F (74°C), then rest for an hour.
    – Joe
    Dec 6, 2017 at 17:01
  • They do appear to recommend cooking time on the linked page, albeit very briefly: "Cook thoroughly before eating, for maybe 2 hours at 190 deg centigrade."
    – mustaccio
    Dec 6, 2017 at 22:13

2 Answers 2

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In my opinion, sous vide is the way to go here. Throwing this in an oven is going to mean that you are likely going to overcook the outside, by the time the inside is at a safe temperature. Because you have to cook these birds whole, there is really no way to differentiate between dark and white meat no matter what approach you take. I would sous vide at a temperature that is slightly lower (by a couple of degrees) than you like, then toss it in a very hot oven (or hot pan and baste) to crisp the skin.

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  • The problem with this is that I'm going to have to cook at a temperature that'll soften the legs and thighs, probably ~70 celsius. That'll overcook the breast meat. But I guess that'd happen in the oven anyway.
    – Will Calderwood
    Dec 6, 2017 at 6:34
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    @WillCalderwood I don't think you can avoid that, unless you are willing to pull the thing apart, but that would defeat the purpose. At least with sous vide, you could go slightly lower with temp and longer with time, ensuring safety by cooking longer.
    – moscafj
    Dec 6, 2017 at 11:52
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I ended up cooking it sous vide at 66 Celcius for 8 hours. I then tried drying the skin, basting in goose fat, and browning in the oven for 20 minutes at 200 Celcius, but that didn't brown as well as I wanted due to the moisture levels.

Not wanting to overcook it I ended up browning it with a blow torch.

The general consensus around the table was that it was the best Christmas dinner people had ever eaten - so it went down well.

The legs haven't been touched yet, so I don't know how tough they are, but they should be ok at that temperature for that time.

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