Chicken thighs sous vide

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I try to keep a couple of handy ready-to-go food items on hand - tuna fish and cooked chicken thighs. My favorite way of cooking chicken thighs and breasts is sous vide. I'll generally default to thighs because I prefer the flavor and the portion size of a modern chicken breast is often more than I need for a single serving. The sous vide method guarantees that these will be moist and flavorful since the juices are sealed in and the meat doesn't get hot enough to dry out.

My default recipe doesn't call for seasoning the chicken since I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it when it's time to eat - might end up as tex-mex grilled chicken, buffalo chicken salad, blackened, grilled and served with a Cesar salad or what ever strikes my fancy.

Boneless, skinless chicken thighs should cook in about an hour, I normally go 90 to 120 minutes to be safe. Since sous vide time is based on thickness of the food being cooked, I'll normally go to 120 minutes for chicken boneless, skinless chicken breasts.

Cooked up a batch of boneless, skinless chicken thighs yesterday - was working in the office and time got away from me so they cooked for a little over two hours at 146F, not expecting a large impact on flavor or texture. Chilled them in an ice bath for 12 minutes, then stored them in the fridge. Will have 35g for lunch today. Will probably give it a quick sear in a small bit of olive oil and serve with a dash of paprika & a squirt of sriracha.

While 146F is a safe when the internal temperature of the meat has been held for at least 10 minutes, some people prefer the texture when cooked at 148F for a couple of hours. I like 146F since I normally end up either reheating or grinding the chicken thigh.

Remember if you're not going to serve anything cooked sous vide immediately it should be chilled in a 50% water / 50% ice bath for at least 10 minutes to reduce the risk of botulism. The sous vide safety guidelines I use are to make sure that it's cooked at the correct time & temperature to reduce the risk of salmonella and then chilled to avoid botulism. Here's a link to the current USDA standards - Attachment 1 is for beef, scroll to the next page for Attachment 2 on chicken and turkey.

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/oppde/rdad/fsisnotices/rte_poultry_tables.pdf

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Sounds complex do you need a vaccum pump to achieve the "vide"

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A seal a meal type vacuum sealer makes it easier. You can also do it with a zip lock bag and a bowl of water - just lower the bag with the chicken in it so the lip of the bag is just above the water line and then zip it shut.

Another technique if you're cooking something that can be rolled is to roll it tightly in several layers of shrink wrap and twist tie the ends closed.