Seasoning chicken in sous vide?
Question: should chicken be pre-seasoned or post-seasoned when sous vide-ing?
See my results below, but please post your own preferences and results as well.
Best Answer
I have an answer for you, and then I will comment above about your post. In terms of salt and sous vide, in general for shorter cooking times, say less then 2-4 hours, salting in advance is fine. In longer cooks, salting in advance produces more of a "cured" result in terms of texture. Some folks like this, others not so much. In general, I salt after the sous vide step and before the finishing step. So my preference, based on lots of sous vide cooking, is no pre-seasoning.
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Do you season chicken before sous vide?
It's important to season the chicken well, or you'll have bland meat. Fold the sous vide rim over to add the chicken, to keep the seal from getting contaminated. Place the chicken, oil and seasoning at the bottom of the bag before vacuum sealing.How do you season sous vide chicken?
But my favorite method for seasoning Sous Vide Chicken Breasts is a simple one. I like to sprinkle them with salt and pepper, add a couple sprigs of fresh herbs (thyme, rosemary, parsley) and a few lemon slices. Then, once they're done cooking, I sear them in a hot skillet with some compound butter.Can you sous vide marinated chicken?
You can quickly finish marinated sous vide chicken That's because chicken is completely cooked (basically it's done) from time spent in the sous vide water bath. The finishing step just gives it another blast of flavor \u2013 usually driven by high heat on the chicken marinate.Should you salt chicken before sous vide?
Traditionally it makes a ton of sense to brine your chicken, pork or fish. It can add a lot of flavor as well as keep them really juicy. With sous vide, you don't need the additional moisture for chicken or pork, so skipping the brine is often best unless it's for flavor reasons alone.The BEST way to cook juicy chicken breasts - Sous Vide
More answers regarding seasoning chicken in sous vide?
Answer 2
Experiment: cook four boneless, skinless thighs in a sous vide bath at 165°F.
1) 3.5 hours pre-seasoned with kosher salt, both sides 2) 3.5 hours no salt 3) 8 hours pre-seasoned 4) 8 hours no salt
Result: there was a bigger difference between the seasoned and unseasoned 3.5-hour thighs. The un-salted (beforehand) had a better texture than the pre-seasoned one. There was a much more minor difference between the two at eight hours, but I still preferred the one that was not pre-seasoned. Between the four the eight-hour, un-seasoned thigh was best.
I will also try this test with white meat but I expect similar results.
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Images: Zo Willibrord, Tim Douglas, Ivan Babydov, Ivan Babydov