did a wonderful pan roasted “sous vide” brined chicken thigh today on 10.12.2016. ^^
skin was so crispy, meat so tender, juicy, tasty, just fabulous la… 🙂
it was my usual pan roasted skin on brined chicken recipe. a dish i have not done for like 3 years liao..
this time though, i added the “sous vide” part.
i found on the very scientific seriouuseats.com which recommended sous vide at 60degC for 2 hrs.
i don’t have a sous vide machine (yet) so approximate by putting the chicken thigh in a brine bath in a sealed oven dish in a 95degC oven for about 2.5hours. when i measured the internal temp, it was about 65degC…for me just agak-logy not very scientific la…
then i did the usual panfry skin down with just a little olive oil to grease the pan, about 4-5mins in a non stick wokpan, first high heat the lower to medim/low.
& the result was absolutely brilliant.
pan roast delivered the crispy skin.
brining with sugar & salt the juiciness & the taste.
and “sous vide” the wonderful tender texture….i think this was very good indeed! ^^
i only had thigh today as i did the chicken breast for a friend for a 13pax dinner the day before.
she doesn’t take beef & doesn’t like chicken thigh.
it was ok but i couldn’t grilled/brown the skin for the chicken breast. first my ceramic coated non-stick pan was holding the pink sauce for seafood pasta & i was lazy to transfer & wash the pan. but also the breast skin tends to shrink a bit unlike the thigh which is quite taut.
anyhow i think that it would be great to do this sous vide method on the chicken breast & though lesser skin, it will be no problem to brown the skin properly like what i did 3 yrs back. 🙂
c.h.e.f andy
Ingredients:
- 2 x chicken breasts skin on w/o wings (easier to brown skin)
- 2 x chicken thigh with drumstick (I use a 1.4kg chicken from Sheng Shiong or Giant hypermarket)
brine solution:
- 1 litre water
- 3tbsp salt
- 3 tbsp sugar
Directions:
- Preparing the chicken – use kitchen scissors to cut chicken in 1/2, then knife cut around the drumstick into 1/4 (breast remove wings & drumstick quarters), then cut away & remove the bones under the breast & thigh completely, then cut away the fat, wash & clean
- Brining – add 1 litre water in a large plastic container, mix in about 3 tablespoon salt & 3 tablespoon sugar & stir to dissolve. Put 2x cleaned chicken breasts & 2x chicken thigh into the container and place container in fridge for 24hours. Remove & wash chicken breasts/thighs thoroughly in slow running water & place on a rack to airdry in fridge for 24hrs (can also skip this step & dry with kitchen towels)
- Cooking – Remove chicken breasts/thighs from fridge & leave it at room temperature for at least 1/2hr. place chicken covered with brine in a sealed oven dish in a 95degC oven for 2.5hrs to reach an internal temp of 65degC, or shorter for 60degC if desired.
- Heat non-stick pan on high heat, add little olive oil to grease pan & turn to medium heat. Place the chicken breasts & thighs 2 at a time skin-down in hot pan. press, hold with hand & move around pan for even temp distribution, fry for 4minutes to get crispy skin. The oil will sputter a bit, turn to low heat after 1 minute. remove chicken breasts/thighs from pan & let them rest for 10 minutes, Serve.





