• Break turkey down. *See video link above for more detailed explanation. Keeping legs and thighs connected to each other, cut them off the turkey. Cutting close to the bone in the back will help you keep the oyster as part of the leg/thigh piece.
• Cut the last two segments of wings off leaving the drummie attached to the breast.
• Cut the wing tip off and save it for stock. Remove the wishbone if you want so you can make a wish ;-).
• Slicing close to the bone, remove the breasts from the carcass.
• If using carcass to make stock, break the carcass down into smaller portions so it will fit easily into a slow cooker or stock pot. Save all bones extra skin and giblets for stock. Since you have all these bones and giblets now, you don’t have to wait to make stock. See Roast Turkey Stock Recipe.
• Coat each of the portions with one tablespoon of olive oil. Place skin side down and season generously with fresh thyme springs, kosher salt and black pepper on the other side. Place one breast and wing piece into a vacuum or resealable plastic bag, repeat with other breast, then repeat with one leg quarter per bag.
• Sous Vide Option 1: Get a very large container that’s big enough to hold all four bags while being submerged under water along with your sous vide device. Set the device temp to 149°F/65°C. Place the bags with the dark meat in the container and cook for 12-24 hours.
• After dark meat has cooked for 12 hours, turn heat down to 131°F/55°C. Add the bags of white meat and cook for 12-18 hours. *If cooking just white meat, you can cook it for 12-24 hours.
• Sous Vide Option 2: Sous Vide both dark and white meat at 140°F/60°C for 12-24 hours. Longer time will be more tender.

Finishing:

• Grill: Remove turkey from bag. Get a super hot grill (with or without smoke) and grill or 4-7 minutes. Skin side down if you want to have the grill marks.
• Smoker: Soak wood chips of choice for at least an hour before smoking (we like pecan or cherry for this). Remove turkey from bag. Remove herbs. Place turkey skin side up in a cold smoker (we used an electric smoker). Set temperature for 225°F/107°C and smoke for one hour. We placed digital temperature probes into the thickest part of each piece to make sure temp did not get too high. I don’t want it to go past 150°F/65°C since it’s already cooked and I don’t want it to dry out.
• Crisp the skin: Whether you smoked your turkey or not, once done with smoking and or sous vide, place them all skin side up and rub with butter. Season with a bit more salt and broil at 500°F/260°C for 4-7 minutes or until browned and crispy.
• Tent and let rest for 15-20 minutes before carving.