#sous vide

This afternoon I prepared chicken in my sous vide. While while the poultry cooked (90 minutes, 150 degrees) I looked for a side dish. This package of Knorr pasta has been in the cabinet for a long time. Time to try something.

I have experimented using the sous vide for things other than meat. While protein is cooking I've added added a second bag to the water. Some vegetables I tried turned out okay though they usually require a different temperature than the meat.

Some time ago I used the sous vide to infuse gin. The process takes a few hours instead of a few weeks. The results pleased me.

In another plastic bag today I added this Knorr pasta and water. I removed the air, sealed the bag and shook it vigorously to get the powder mixed into the water. First mistake -- Immediately I realized I should have used less water than the instructions called for. In the microwave or on the stove some water boils off. In the sous vide bag nothing escapes. I figured I would have to strain the pasta when it was done.

Mistake number two was leaving the mix in the hot water as long as the chicken.

The chicken turned out nicely. It always does with the sous vide. The Knorr mixture had separated into two layers. On the bottom was pasta that appeared to have been pureed so finely an infant could not have choked on it. Floating over it was a cup of chicken broth. I tasted the pasta, found it disgusting and washed it down the drain.

I will try again sometime. Less water and a shorter immersion time should help. These Knorr packets are inexpensive. There's little cost in experimenting.

Friiiiiied chicken! 

[ID: A plate covered in paper towel, on which are draining numerous chunks of golden-brown fried chicken, crusted with flour breading and dotted with pepper and onion seasoning.] 

I’ve been struggling with fried chicken not because it’s difficult, but because no matter what I tried, I couldn’t get the breading to stick to the chicken the way it does in recipes or in restaurants. I know some restaurants have pressure-fryers, but I’ve seen enough how-to videos to know you don’t need one of those to make it happen. 

I now have an immersion cooker, and I know that Shake Shack’s nuggets are sous-vide cooked and THEN breaded and fried, so I thought I’d try it. I reasoned that while the breading doesn’t stick all that well to Shake Shack’s either, their chicken is juicier and more flavorful, so I might as well give it a shot.

So I deboned and skinned a couple of chicken thighs, sous-vide cooked them at 155 for two hours, then took them out of the cooking bags, let them cool on a plate for a bit, and chucked them in the fridge. This morning I got them out, chopped the bigger bits into smaller bits, rolled them in an egg wash and then seasoned flour while I heated the oil, then fried ‘em. 

They came out WILDLY better than anticipated; the breading did stick, because the chicken was cooked so no moisture was leaving it and steaming the breading off the surface from the inside, which is the usual reason this happens. The sous-vide thighs were extremely juicy and because the chicken only fried for long enough to brown the breading, the exterior wasn’t super greasy. The cold chicken heated in the time it took the breading to brown, and there was less spatter because see: less moisture.