A somewhat celebratory way to approach wild turkey breast with a rich sauce of fragrant herbs, bound with egg. You'll need an immersion circulator for this, but it does yield a perfectly cooked turkey breast.

I’m not a huge fan of sous vide, and certainly don’t find it to be the end-all cooking method. If you’re unfamiliar, this is a process (some equipment required) of sealing food in a vacuum seal bag and slowly cooking it at a very precise temperature by using what’s called an Immersion Circulator. Turkey breasts, in my opinion, can be almost perfectly cooked with this method. Season the breast with salt, pepper and whatever else you like, then seal it. Letting it sit for a day in the refrigerator seasons the turkey throughout, but a few hours will suffice. Herbes de Provence, a commonly found dry herb blend of aromatic herbs like thyme, rosemary, marjoram, savory and sometimes lavender, combined with garlic and some lemon zest, provides all of the subtle seasoning needed for the marinade here. You can skip this blend in favor of some dried or fresh herbs in any combination. Next, you cook the turkey at 145°F for 3 hours, yielding a nicely cooked and tender breast without the perils of drying out. From this point, you can slice the turkey, or add a little flavorful sear to it.

This recipe is very straightforward. It’s great for both picky eaters and turkey connoisseurs, as the sauce is simply turkey stock flavored with some residual herbs and a little lemon zest and thickened with egg yolks. The sauce is certainly the most tricky part of the process. Egg yolks are first tempered with hot stock, then this hot stock is added back into the pan and cooked slowly and carefully–do not stop stirring, whisking and scraping the bottom–until just thickened and glossy. I’d suggest passing this through a strainer to remove any cooked bits of egg. I’d almost require serving this with mashed potatoes.

Serves 4

20 ounces turkey breast (the top lobe works well for this)

Salt

2 tsp dried herbes de Provence or 1 tsp each fresh rosemary, thyme, marjoram, oregano and savory, leaves only 

Zest of 1 large organic lemon, grated, divided

2 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed

3 tbsp butter

1 ½ cups turkey stock

3 egg yolks

3 tbsp chopped fresh parsley (optional)

Season the turkey to taste with salt. Combine the turkey, herbs, half of the lemon zest and garlic in a vacuum bag and seal. Allow to marinate, refrigerated, for 1 day.

Preheat an immersion circulator to 145°F.

Cook the turkey for 3 hours. Remove the turkey from the bag, straining and reserving any liquid left in the vac seal bag; set this aside. Remove any herbs or garlic stuck to the turkey and dry it off with paper towels.

In a medium bowl, beat the egg yolks.

Heat the butter in a medium pan over medium-high heat. Once melted and sizzling, add the turkey and brown very well on one side. Remove the turkey to a plate and keep warm. Add the turkey stock and the reserved cooking liquid from the turkey to the pan and bring to a bare simmer.

Carefully add about ½ cup of the warm turkey stock to the bowl with the egg yolks and whisk to combine. Add another ½ cup and stir this in, too. Now, add the egg and stock mixture back to the pan and turn the heat down to low. Cook, stirring constantly around the edges and bottom, until thickened and silky. Remove immediately from the heat, season with salt and add the chopped parsley and remaining lemon zest.

Slice the turkey breast thinly against the grain. Pour the sauce onto a platter and arrange the slices of turkey on top, browned-side up. Serve immediately with mashed potatoes and a green vegetable like spinach, peas or green beans.