11 replies to this topic

[Blues_Cookin]

I have loved doing chicken thighs in the smoker for many years. Because of a pot-luck coming up at work on Wednesday, I thought this would be a great time to take advantage of the advantages of Sous Vide in pre-cooking thighs, pulling them, then vacuum packing until they need to be warmed up for lunch on Wednesday.

So the plan (already in action!) is to brine the thighs for a few hours, then toss on the BBQ at about 140 degrees for 5 to 6 hours. Cool, vacuum seal and toss in the fridge until Monday, at which time I will place in a water bath. So, my question is, anyone have experience with full size thighs and sous vide? What temp do you recommend and what is the target core temp of the thighs? Standard BBQ/smoker method would be to get them up to about 180, but I believe thats going to be way to hot for sous vide.

I would appreciate any thoughts!

[HowardLi]

SV thighs do not require brining.

[rotuts]

Very Interesting. I have not brined any chicken/turkey for SV.

Today on America's Test Kitchen, they did a 'thanks-giving' turkey. They brined it.

Is it that SV, being cooked at a lower temp, does not need the penetrating salt to keep the meat moist as it might at the higher temp?

Ive been very happy with my SV chicken and turkey with out the added salt.

Your SV thoughts?

Many thanks!

[nickrey]

Thighs are darker meat and need a slightly higher temperature than breasts. I'd aim for cooking at 65C (150F) the final temperature will be around 64C. Depending on your setup and how many you are doing, I'd give them around an hour and a half at which stage they should be both cooked through and pasteurised.

[mgaretz]

So if I understand, the thighs will be pre-cooked on the BBQ and you're just using the bath to warm them to serving temp? If so, then you can go with whatever temp you want to seve at and in an hour they will be ready. Probably less but an hour works. I have used this technique to cook breasts SV and warm pre-cooked thighs in the same bath.

[Blues_Cookin]

So if I understand, the thighs will be pre-cooked on the BBQ and you're just using the bath to warm them to serving temp?

Not exactly, the thighs were in the smoker at 140 F for 6 hours, and are not vacuum packed in the fridge. I want a mouth feel similar to pulled pork - so I need to cook them in the SV bath long enough to break down the collagen in the thighs.

Thighs are darker meat and need a slightly higher temperature than breasts. I'd aim for cooking at 65C (150F) the final temperature will be around 64C.

Because I want the collagen to break down, I want them at temp a bit longer than 90 min, right? My guess at this point would be to go 5-6 hours at 140?

[Heartsurgeon]

i have cooked chicken thighs at several temps..my current fav is 150 degrees, 2 hours, no seasoning, stick of butter, sous vide.

at one hour, the chicken is cooked , but does not come off the bone easily.

at 2 hours, the chicken still retains enough integrity that you can sear it in a pan, without having it fall apart, but the meat comes off the bone pretty easily.

at 180 degrees for 6 hours. the thigh is fabulous, and the bones will simply pull out clean, with no effort (all collagen dissolved).

180 for 6-12 hours (depending on the size/thickness) in fat butter or duck fat) is the way to go for confit chicken/duck/turkey!

I have gone seasoning after cooking sous vide for several reasons. sous vide seems to mute/dull the seasoning effect. using fat within the bag results in fat soluble goodies being sequestered in the fat! This means unless you use the fat for a dressing/sauce, all that seasoning/flavor/goodness is not in the protein.

[rod rock]

i have cooked chicken thighs at several temps..my current fav is 150 degrees, 2 hours, no seasoning, stick of butter, sous vide.

at one hour, the chicken is cooked , but does not come off the bone easily.

at 2 hours, the chicken still retains enough integrity that you can sear it in a pan, without having it fall apart, but the meat comes off the bone pretty easily.

at 180 degrees for 6 hours. the thigh is fabulous, and the bones will simply pull out clean, with no effort (all collagen dissolved).

180 for 6-12 hours (depending on the size/thickness) in fat butter or duck fat) is the way to go for confit chicken/duck/turkey!

I have gone seasoning after cooking sous vide for several reasons. sous vide seems to mute/dull the seasoning effect. using fat within the bag results in fat soluble goodies being sequestered in the fat! This means unless you use the fat for a dressing/sauce, all that seasoning/flavor/goodness is not in the protein.

I apsolutely agree with this.

[nickrey]

180 (82C) is what I confit my ducks legs at and they work perfectly. I don't add extra fat because enough comes out of the leg. Fat is not absorbed, it serves as a cooking and preservation medium. Additional fat is likely to be redundant in sous vide cookery and later storage in the vacuum packaging.

I try to use sous vide cooking to achieve effects that cannot be easily achieved in other ways. If there is a bone, I'll most often serve the meat on the bone, hence the 1 to 1 1/2 hour recommendation above.

I'm wondering why you have chosen this combined method of cooking to achieve something (pulling meat) that works well on the BBQ. If you pull the thighs and then repackage for later heating, you lose the advantages of pasteurisation. It would be interesting to smoke one lot and then cook sous vide and continue the other lot in the smoker until done. Pull each and compare the products. My suspicion is that there may not be much difference between the two.

Edited by nickrey, 09 April 2012 - 03:22 AM.

[Blues_Cookin]

Ok, looks like 180 for 6 hours is the consensus, thanks for the feedback!

I'm wondering why you have chosen this combined method of cooking to achieve something (pulling meat) that works well on the BBQ.

Mostly because I have just started cooking sous vide only a couple months ago, so am having fun experimenting. My wife asks me the same question about sous vide soft-boiled eggs :-)

[rotuts]

I do white meat ( turkey and chicken ) 145 for 3 - 4 hours. Dark meat ( also turkey and chicken, bone in or not ) 160 12 hours.

to each their own.

[ojisan]

I'm wondering why you have chosen this combined method of cooking to achieve something (pulling meat) that works well on the BBQ.

Mostly because I have just started cooking sous vide only a couple months ago, so am having fun experimenting. My wife asks me the same question about sous vide soft-boiled eggs :-)

As a recent owner of the ICA SideKIC, I am reminded of the saying: "Give a monkey a hammer, and everything looks like a nail".