How can I make a vegan turkey-skin substitute?

Question

I recently tried to practice making a Seitan based vegan turkey tube using this recipe. To test results for different cooking methods, I split the final dough in half before baking, made one that was just turkey-dough and one that was a turkey-dough and stuffing roulade.

Both turkey loaves came out well. However, the recipe gives instructions on fabricating a kind of "turkey skin." Basically, once the turkey is done baking, remove from oven, place on a pan, wrap with yuba (bean-curd skin from making soy milk, similar to spring roll pastry), brush with sesame oil, and bake until browned (about 45-60 minutes, brushing on more oil occasionally). The results were basically a distracting pastry shell wrapped around a seitan loaf; it did not appear to adhere to the surface of the loaf at any point. It was difficult to cut and had a difficult texture compared to the ease of the seitan.

To give an idea of the results, here is a picture of some scraps from the plate:

The instructions did not give a specific detail as to what to expect, or really how to qualify the results of the "turkey skin." As such, I am at a loss as to how to improve the results.

So:

• Have you made or had a yuba wrapped item, where the method above was somehow applied but with a more successful result (as in, the yuba adhered to the surface of the loaf, the yuba cut easily, or had a more delicate texture that didn't contrast as much)?
• Of the three fails (adherence, cutting, texture), what methods would work to improve them? (E.G. Would brushing oil on the loaf before help or hinder yuba sticking to the loaf, would it help soften the yuba?)
• Is there any method of softening the yuba and making it more delicate before applying it? Would this be beneficial to the desired result? Why?
• Could tweaking the temp:time of baking with the yuba wrap help? (i.e. Lower-slower breaks down fats, connective tissues in animals... is there a similar compound I am shooting for in yuba?)
• Can yuba be prepared to mimic the soft-toughness of turkey skin? How?

Answer

You can either get fresh or dried yuba, the dried one has to be soaked.

When I made a tofu turkey I soaked the yuba sheat for about 10 minutes in warm water before wrapping it around the "meat". The tofu turkey had already been baking in the oven for around 1 hour when I added the skin. After applying the yuba I rosted the whole thing in the oven until the skin was brown (maybe 30 minutes), brushing occationally with marinade. Skin came out perfect and had a nice crispyness without coming apart from the tofu or being too brittle.

Oh, yeah, I brushed the tofu alternatively with marinade and with melted vegan butter every 15 minutes or so before adding the yuba. It might have made a difference but I really think soaking the sheats is key. Good luck!

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Is it reasonable to expect “spiciness” to fry off?

Question

I got in a "heated" discussion with my wife this evening about a fried turkey recipe that I want to try for Thanksgiving. It calls for:

• 1 cup of Creole seasoning
• 1/2 cup of black pepper
• 1/2 cup of Cayenne pepper

all mixed with a bottle of a bottle of italian dressing, which I will admit sounds pretty damn spicy. But after readying the reviews it seems like everyone says the heat cooks off and the bird comes out delicious.

It it reasonable to expect that the spiciness will fry off during the cooking process or am I going to ruin (another) Thanksgiving?

Answer

If you are worried: a fast and cheap way to test the mixture is to to try it on a piece of chicken breast.

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What is the proper amount of time to thaw + brine a turkey simultaneously?

Question

I recently saw a tip that you can thaw a frozen turkey in your brine, and I'd like to try that this year. I was planning to thaw my turkey for 3 days in a cooler of water.

I've actually never brined before, so I'm a little worried about over-brining and turning my turkey into mush. The bird we got this year is just under 15 pounds, and the package says to thaw for "3-4 days".

Everything I've found so far says to brine for 1-2 days. Should I plan to start using brine about half way through the thaw process (maybe even leave the wrapper on for that first half, too?), instead of the whole time, or will the bird being frozen initially prevent the brine from doing its magic early on, thus preventing mush?

Answer

A few things aren't quite right here.

1- a cooler full of water for 3 days.
A turkey will take 3-4 days to thaw in the fridge- between 35-40F. Quicker methods call for submerging in running water for some hours. Submerging the turkey in stagnant water- even if it started as ice water- will allow the turkey to rise well above 40F over the course of 3 days. You would have to add ice or have the turkey somewhere colder than 40F for this to be safe.

2- brining too long turning a turkey to mush.
The salt in a brine denatures some proteins and supercharges the bird with water. These will make the meat more tender and seem more tender respectively. That said- the risk isn't that the meat will get mushy. Unless you are adding some other ingredient to the brine that is actually a proteinase like papain the risk is not mushiness but being too salty.

3- 1-2 days of brining.
I have never seen a recipe that called for brining this long. The brine recipes I have seen are on the order of 4-10 hours. If your brine recipe calls for this length of time then it is probably more dilute than the ones I use. In such a case it would probably be fine to thaw it in the brine if you address the safety concern.

The turkey being frozen will prevent the brine from penetrating but as the bird thaws from the outside in the outside of the bird will have more alone time with the brine than the deeper meat. I can't say whether this would be a problem- especially as Harold McGee says that the salt from brining isn't able to penetrate very far into the meat anyway.

Unless it is cold enough outside (or you have enough fridge space) that you could brine the turkey at <40F for 2 days while it thawed I would recommend at least mostly thawing it before introducing it to your brine.

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What happens if I brine my turkey for 2 days?

Question

I have a logistical problem that leaves me with no fridge room for 2 days before Thanksgiving... I always brine my turkey, so I don't have any questions about that, but typically it's only an 8 - 10 hour brine.

Is it possible to "over brine" a turkey? Lets assume I keep it covered and keep it cold (so that we're not discussing food safety as it relates to the turkey getting warm).

Answer

It is possible to over brine meat. If you leave it in too long it will get too salty.

If you use a more dilute brine it won't get as salty but you will wash out more of the natural flavor into the water as well.

You could submerge your turkey in its packaging in ice water in a cooler for a day before brining. You could even thaw the turkey in this manner if you made sure to keep it in ice water so it didn't get to 40F.

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Has anyone successfully spatchcocked their Thanksgiving Turkey?

Question

My T-Day turkey is looking like it's going to be in excess of 20 lbs this year, and I'm nervous about how long the darn thing is actually going to be in my oven when I have pies, bread, sides, etc. to prepare.

Martha Stewart has a brief article on spatchcocking a turkey (removing the backbone and breaking the breasts so the bird is 'flat') and I was curious as to if anyone has ever done it before with a big bird, and to what degree of success. Did you baste the turkey while it was cooking? Heaven forbid I feed my picky family a dry turkey, I would never hear the end of it.

I would practice with a large bird, but there's no way we'll be able to eat 40 lbs of turkey in a month!

Answer

I've spatchcocked our turkey the past two years and will never go back to the usual way. It just cooks so much faster. The spatchcocking itself isn't to hard, although you do have to be willing to inflict a little violence on the turkey.

I basically follow Mark Bittman's recipe. The video is located here. I do, however cook a larger bird. The time I did it with an 18 pound bird it too a bit more than 90 minutes.

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How long do you let a turkey rest after cooking?

Question

I have heard mixed advice on how long you should let a turkey rest after cooking. Last year my wife and I watched a Thanksgiving cooking show with Gordon Ramsey and he said you should let the turkey rest for as long as you cooked it... If you cook it 3 hours, it should rest for 3 hours. That seems like an awful long time to me. Everything else I've read looks like 30 minutes to an hour is fine. Any suggestions?

Thanks!

Answer

The purpose- as with any cooked meat- is to let the meat firm up so it doesn't spill water when you cut into it.

In the case of a turkey it also helps to let it cool enough to not burn you when you are carving and eating it.

Both of these goals will be met in 30 minutes to an hour.

I don't know why that chef would recommend 3 hours. At that length of time the turkey would start to approach room temperature and would be less appealing to eat as well as start the clock on the danger zone.

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How to identify turkey liver

Question

Making turkey gravy - the recipe says to not use the liver. How can I identify the liver from the magical bag of turkey bits?

I ended up with 4 things. The first looked like 2 organs connected by some sort of tendon. The 2nd was more firm and sort of bean shaped - a little bigger than the first digit of my thumb. The last 2 looked like they might be the same thing - dark red (I would say "liver colored" but they are all this sort of darkish red color), kind of flat, with tear drop shapes on one end.

Still need to find the neck - I know what that looks like - hopefully it's in this bird somewhere.

Answer

Here is a great place to go to compare identified inards with what you have.

http://www.eatmedaily.com/2009/11/offal-of-the-week-turkey-offal/

Personally, when making gravy, I just use the drippings from the turkey, sometimes I throw the neck in for a little extra, if I need to make some more. Call me squimish, but I usually toss the rest, but that's just me.

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