Let’s Talk Turkey

Whenever we roast chickens, I reach for the wings first. I am a wing man. Hence, it was with great pleasure that we found some beautiful turkey wings at the store last week, which we then developed into a course for the dinner we cooked this past Friday evening. We cooked the wings sous vide in butter after seasoning them with hot sauce and salt. When the wings were cooked, we removed the bones and rolled the meat into a tight parcel. After the wings were wrapped, we compressed them underneath a weighted sheet pan to emulate the original shape of the wings. Once the wings were reshaped, we pan-roasted them in butter to crisp the skin and warm them through. We then glazed the wings in a sauce made with beach plum jelly, soy sauce, and lime juice. We served the wings on the bones with carrot ketchup and compressed cilantro stems.

Compressed cilantro stems are literally just that. We season the stems with a bit of salt and then vacuum seal them to break down the cell walls. The stems look cooked, though they are raw, seasoned, juicy, and crisp. In fact, we applied this same technique to parsley stems, which we sliced into perfect little wheels and served with the pumpkin dish. I am actually looking forward to working with other herb stems in the future, from basil to lovage. I believe this use of the stems captures flavor and allows a sturdy and dynamic means to utilize bright flavors via an often discarded medium.