TURKEY THIGH ROULADE

Turkey Thigh Roulade image

This is a fun spin on traditional roasted turkey. It cooks evenly, slices beautifully, and cooks much more quickly than the whole bird. We've even used it on Turkey Day with great success. The Jaccard is a spring-loaded meat tenderizer that has fifteen, sixteen, or forty-eight blades, depending on the model you purchase. It creates tiny, evenly spaced holes throughout the flesh, shortening the muscle fibers. This allows seasonings to penetrate to the interior of the meat, speeds the cooking time, and helps it cook more evenly. It may seem counterintuitive, but it actually works very well. You can skip this step if you don't have a Jaccard, but we really recommend keeping one in your kitchen. It's a very handy tool to have around.

Yield serves 4

Number Of Ingredients 6

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Ingredients

200 grams room-temperature water
50 grams Activa GS (see Sources, page 309)
2 turkey thighs (1.36 kilograms)
6 grams fine sea salt
2.5 grams togarashi spice blend (see Sources, page 309)
454 grams sliced bacon

Steps:

Pour the water into a bowl. Slowly sprinkle the Activa over the water and whisk to combine. The mixture will begin to foam and look like lightly whipped cream. Once all the Activa is dispersed in the water, let the mixture rest for 10 minutes. The foam will subside and the GS is ready to use. Refrigerate until the thighs and bacon are ready to be assembled.
Remove the skin from the turkey. Cut out the thighbone and remove any obvious pockets of fat and sinew. Starting from the place where the thighbone was, butterfly the thighs. Cut from the center outward on each side, leaving enough meat intact to hold the pieces together. Tenderize the thighs by pressing the Jaccard evenly over the thighs to cut uniform incisions into the muscle fibers. Combine the salt and togarashi in a small bowl, and season both sides of the thighs with the spices. (You may have some left over.)
Lay the bacon out flat on a cutting board. Use a pastry brush to apply a fine layer of the Activa slurry over both sides of each slice of bacon. Brush the Activa mixture on the turkey thighs, making sure to get into all the nooks and crannies.
Lay two 3-foot (1-meter) sheets of plastic wrap on the counter. Let the sheets overlap slightly so you have a double-wide sheet of plastic. Begin laying the bacon in the center of the plastic, overlapping the slices by one-third to create what looks like a raft of bacon.
Arrange the turkey thighs on the edge of the bacon nearest you, one on top of the other and slightly offset so they form a uniform thickness. Use the plastic wrap to help lift the bacon up and around the thighs, like a giant sushi roll. Once the bacon is wrapped around the turkey, use the plastic to pull the bacon tight around the thighs. Pull and roll the plastic around the turkey bacon roll, making a tight roulade. Use another sheet of plastic to roll around the roulade one more time and squeeze it tight. Place the roulade in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours or up to 24 hours.
To cook the roulade, preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C).
Remove the plastic wrap, place the roulade on a rack set over a roasting pan, and roast for 1 hour. The bacon should be brown and caramelized. If it's not fully cooked, turn on the broiler to finish cooking the bacon. Remove the roulade from the oven and let it rest for 15 minutes. Slice and serve.