Sous Vide Chicken - FIrst try


 
CaseT

CaseT

TVWBB Platinum Member
I convinced myself to buy an Anova Sous Vide. So for the first try I did some chicken legs and a breast. All of which I marinated in Alabama white sauce. The sauce was the star of the show.

Alabama White Sauce:

1 1/2 Cups of Mayo
1/4 cup of white vinegar
1 garlic clove minced
1 Tbs coarse ground pepper
1 Tbs spicy brown mustard
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp horseradish


Drummies were done at 165° for 3.5 hours (per Kenji Lopez)

Breast was cooked at 146 for 1.5 hours (per Anova)

The drumsticks while good meat wise were horrible skin wise. The breast was moist and flavorful, but as my wife put it was like eating poached chicken minus the wine.

I tried to sear the breast off on the hot CI griddle, but it had plumped up so much that it was pretty rollie pollie.

Verdict is we prefer or chicken grilled or smoked over high temp charcoal. I will try chicken breast again a bit differently. Legs or any chicken with skin on we will not.

I plan on doing a tri tip this weekend to see how that goes.

I should mention that the Anova did work great. The unit I have is wifi and Bluetooth. Both functions worked flawlessly. The app is simple to use. One issue I have and cant find an answer for is there's no way to turn of the timer. When done it beeps. Had to turn off the unit to get it to stop. Probably a way somehow I just couldn't find it.

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Looks moist Case and bet the flavor was great. Love Alabama White Sauce too. I haven't warmed up to Sous Vide yet, but looks interesting. I like techie stuff so I'll probably keep an eye on them.
 
Interesting write up Case. I've never really been interested in Sous Vide I have enough trouble getting things to come out right with what I do now. Interested to see how the TT comes out and your opinion of it.
 
Cliff Bartlett said:
Looks moist Case and bet the flavor was great. Love Alabama White Sauce too. I haven't warmed up to Sous Vide yet, but looks interesting. I like techie stuff so I'll probably keep an eye on them.
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Rich Dahl said:
Interesting write up Case. I've never really been interested in Sous Vide I have enough trouble getting things to come out right with what I do now. Interested to see how the TT comes out and your opinion of it.
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Yeah I'm not much into Sous Vide, but I had to try it. I was interested in it primarily because I could set it up in morning and then WIFI start the cook before coming home. Which I still plan on doing.

Don't get me wrong the meat was super tender and moist, but as mentioned more like it had been poached. I really like the texture of grilled better.

I am hoping that the tri tip will be to our liking.

FYI, the Alabama White sauce is great and I can see using it on pork and beef in addition to chicken.
 
Live & learn, Case. Seems like most of the folks doing Sous Vide are using beef. Thanks for the comments.

I'm a fool for Alabama White sauce. Saw a post on another forum where they used it on leg of lamb & loved it.
 
I manage a country club and grilled chicken breast is a favorite atop many salads at lunch. It used to hold up the kitchen waiting for chicken to finish grilling during the rush. We now put a quick sear/marks on our breasts during the slow periods and sous vide them until ordered,,,, snip the pouch and top the salad. quick, easy, tender and flavorful. We also seared, sealed and sent to the bath 180 14oz NY steaks in the down time the other night for a steak cookout where all 180 guests hit the BBQ grill at the same time,,,, it was great to be able to finish them in 30 seconds rather than start from scratch and have 180 experts watching the chefs trying to hit med rare while they stare at them. Sous vide is your friend,,, learn how to use it.
 
Tom Jordan said:
I manage a country club and grilled chicken breast is a favorite atop many salads at lunch. It used to hold up the kitchen waiting for chicken to finish grilling during the rush. We now put a quick sear/marks on our breasts during the slow periods and sous vide them until ordered,,,, snip the pouch and top the salad. quick, easy, tender and flavorful. We also seared, sealed and sent to the bath 180 14oz NY steaks in the down time the other night for a steak cookout where all 180 guests hit the BBQ grill at the same time,,,, it was great to be able to finish them in 30 seconds rather than start from scratch and have 180 experts watching the chefs trying to hit med rare while they stare at them. Sous vide is your friend,,, learn how to use it.
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What a great comment! Def something to consider.
 
The chicken cooked I have seen sous vide doesn't look appealing to me except for BSCB. All I have done sous vide is ribeyes and tri tips. I am going to try and do some eggs in mason jars this weekend if I have the time. I have been wanting to try a cheap tough piece of meet like a round steak or chuck steak but haven't gotten a round tuit yet.
 
CaseT said:
The sauce was the star of the show.

Alabama White Sauce:

1 1/2 Cups of Mayo
1/4 cup of white vinegar
1 garlic clove minced
1 Tbs coarse ground pepper
1 Tbs spicy brown mustard
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 tsp horseradish
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This sauce sounds amazing, will be making this. Bummer about the skin, crispy skin is such a hard thing to get when you try, LOL - Enrico busts out some serious good cooks using his Sous-Vide, not saying yours doesn't look good, just saying you can get some great ideas from his cooks
 
Tom, what a well composed post! My mind boggles at the thought of 180 guests being "swept" with perfectly grilled steaks. My brother just asked me if I wanted a sous vide. After your post I might just tell him yes, I have a birthday coming!
 
I personally found sous-vide mostly suitable for two things:

1. Thick lean beef filets; if you like them medium rare, which you then finish in a skillet and with a torch. If the meat has any fat in it, then grilling is better.
2. Doing large amounts of meat, for like 10+ people, then having them all at the correct temperature makes the final searing quicker and all steaks are ready at the same time.
 
Yeah I'll be trying a tri tip this weekend.

I was really hoping that the chicken would be above the top because its one of the only meats my wife eats regularly. I was hoping that it would be more set and forget. But after reading more on chicken and Sous Vide you have to basically cook it with no sauce or you will end up with poached meat. Then you have to take extra steps before or after which to me seems to defeat the purpose. Especially when I know I can achieve a better product straight up grilling it.

I'll give breast meat another try, but it will be done differently.
 
Try chicken saltimbocca. It turned out great sous vide and a quick sear on a chimney starter.

The chimney starter is great for sous vide steak and pork chops as well. Great searing on each side in less than 10 seconds.
 
Slow responder here...
Love my Anova! Best pork chop I have made (ala Kenji), great buttered corn-on-the-cob, wonderful steaks (I can please everyone more often, rare to well-done, finished at the same time.

JesseT said:
Try chicken saltimbocca. It turned out great sous vide and a quick sear on a chimney starter.

The chimney starter is great for sous vide steak and pork chops as well. Great searing on each side in less than 10 seconds.
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Recipe? Nevermind.
https://recipes.anovaculinary.com/recipe/sous-vide-chicken-saltimbocca
 
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Very interesting cook, I know your cooking and that doesn't seem to suit you, but hey you nailed it
 
Case, it looks delicious and really moist. We have used the Alabama sauce and its great.
 
To get skin worth eating from sous vide, you gotta sear. Here's what I do:

After cooking, dry with paper towels and sprits with oil. I really mean get the chicken DRY.

Sear on the grill for 4 minutes or skin-down in a hot pan until crispy.
 
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