Sous Vide cooking

[pianoman9701]

Chicken's a tough one. Most of the instructions I read have you cook chicken at 145 or 146 degrees. The breasts come out nice and juicy; no problem. Legs are another story. The meat is unattractive and it feels like you're eating raw chicken. It's tender and everything, but the appearance and texture say raw. I cooked some Buffalo wings two nights ago - same result. So next time I cook legs or thighs, I think I'm going hotter, like at least 155-160. Anyone else have feedback on this?

I haven't done chicken, but that's the age old problem with them damn birds. Cook white meat correctly, and dark meat is rare, and vice versa. Someone needs to engineer an all dark meat chicken (and turkey) and put a stop to this nonsense!

The meat is all cooked and evenly. But the texture suggests it's raw and that's not appetizing. I am going to try the higher temps and see how that works out.

[Angry Perch]

Yes. Flaccid chicken is less than appetizing.

[pianoman9701]

Boneless breasts come out fine at 146. Put in some wine/sherry, a little garlic and thyme or tarragon, salt and pepper. Let it go for 2 hours. Nice!

[merkaba93]

One thing that I've done before.
Brine Chicken Thighs

4 cup Water
3 TBS Kosher Salt
1 onion quartered (ok to leave skin)
1 bulb garlic cut in half
A few sprigs thyme or rosemary
Bayleaf
One lemon halved
5 black peppercorns.

Then sous vide them. I agree they look horrible. Then take them dunk in buttermilk, then seasoned flour (flour, salt, pepper, paprika) then back to buttermilk, then again in flour. Then deep fry at 350 until it's the perfect golden brown. Just pull em when the skin is to your liking, they are already cooked. That few extra degrees makes the meat near the bone look a ton better and the skin won't be overcooked (dark brown) because you had to fry them for too long to get them done.
A lot of work yes. But if you got the time it's worth a go.

[jstamsch]

I love my Anova.  This is the best way I have found to make steaks.


130 for 1-2 hours, nothing but salt, pepper, and thyme
Finish over a charcoal grill chimney for 60 seconds a side:


You end up with a perfect medium rare steak

[quadrafire]

Messing around the other day and tried something that was pretty good. May play around with it a bit.

Buttermilk fried chicken

Sous Vide chicken thighs and legs in buttermilk at 145 for 2 hrs.
drain and dredge in seasoned flour, pan fried in oil until brown and crispy, just a few minutes per side. Could be deep fried and would be even easier i'd imagine.

I thought it turned out pretty danged good.

PS. Chicken looks terrible after the sous vide cooking but once fried you would not know the difference. Meat is cooked through even with short frying time.

[pianoman9701]

Messing around the other day and tried something that was pretty good. May play around with it a bit.

Buttermilk fried chicken

Sous Vide chicken thighs and legs in buttermilk at 145 for 2 hrs.
drain and dredge in seasoned flour, pan fried in oil until brown and crispy, just a few minutes per side. Could be deep fried and would be even easier i'd imagine.

I thought it turned out pretty danged good.

PS. Chicken looks terrible after the sous vide cooking but once fried you would not know the difference. Meat is cooked through even with short frying time.

When cooking chicken at 145F, texture is often a factor, as well. I cook chicken at 155F for the same amount of time and the texture is no longer like eating raw chicken.