Leftover liquid in chicken thighs cooked sous vide

[the_one_the_only]

Hi all! I'm new to sous vide and just made a batch of chicken thighs. I rubbed them with salt, pepper, garlic, oregano, and a bit of olive oil, bagged them in Ziploc, and left them at 150F for about 8 hours.

 

They were great, but there was all this leftover liquid in the bags. Definitely some fat (more than the olive oil I added), as well as a lot of what seemed like basically gelatin.

 

Two questions:

 

1. Does this mean that I'm doing something wrong? After all, I want that delicious gelatin in the meat! Maybe I left too much air in the bag?
2. What's the best way to use this tasty bonus output?

Thanks!

[Dave W]

This is normal - you get moisture and gelatin from the meat. You can use it to make a sauce, but proteins in the liquid will coagulate during cooking. Some people strain them, some people don't. 

[KennethT]

I wouldn't salt the meat prior to cooking for that long... this usually causes more liquid than normal to come out. With that said, even with no salt, you will still see some liquid after cooking that long. I usually do chicken thighs at 150F for 4-5 hours... I think it makes them a bit juicier.

[paulraphael]

The longer you cook, the more juices will be pushed out of the meat. It's just one of those factors you have to take into account. You might want to try cooking for a shorter time. I do thighs for just a couple of hours and like them fine ... probably less tender this way, but juicier.

 

Agree on avoiding pre-salting. Especially with a long cook, which risks the meat curing. It will also put salt into those bag juices, which makes reducing for use in a sauce problematic.