Sous Vide and Grilled Chicken Breasts

Combination of

https://amazingribs.com/tested-recipes/chicken-recipes/grilled-skinless-buxom-chicken-breasts-recipe https://amazingribs.com/tested-recipes/chicken-recipes/sous-vide-que-boneless-chicken-breasts I combined this recipe with the sous-vide-que process on AmazingRibs.com in an effort to get tender, juicy ribs along with a nice, tested flavor. The sous-vide-que “recipe” (which is really just a description of an experiment) only mentioned a rub that I don’t have and the taste of Meathead’s grilled chicken breasts sounded good.

I also put to work the breast pieces I acquired from my chicken breakdown for ramen. We don’t usually buy chicken breast (because thighs are generally cheaper, are harder to mess up, and generally taste better) so I’d been trying to figure out how to make the most of these breasts. I think I accomplished that here.

Ingredients

• Breast portions of 1 medium-sized chicken, broken down
• Kosher salt

Marinade

• 1/4 C Seasoned Rice Wine Vinegar
• 1/4 C Apple Cider Vinegar
• 1/3 cup dry white wine
• Loose 1/4 C (probably ~1/5 C) brown sugar, light or dark
• 2 tablespoons Dijon-stye mustard
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce, light or dark
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 cloves garlic, pressed

Process

1. Dry brine the meat by salting it about 4 hours before cooking. This gives the salt a chance to penetrate.
2. Put all the marinade ingredients into a bowl and whisk it together. Pour into a zipper bag. Per Meathead’s article on the science of marinades, they do not penetrate very far. But they do find their way into cracks and cuts. So add the meat to the bag about 2 hours before cooking. And if you want, cut diamond patterns in the surface of both sides about 1/8″ deep. These grooves with gather and hold the marinade.
3. Prepare sous vide machine to 150° F, immerse chicken in marinade, leave in bath for 1.5 to 4 hours.
4. Prepare grill for direct heat, timing to be ready when the breasts are done. Sear breasts over direct flame, covered if the grill flares up, until nice grill marks are formed (~5 minutes per side).

Impressions

This was a really great chicken breast. It was nice and juicy with tender meat. The marinade tasted great, but was a little too faint for me. I didn’t bother making the diamond pattern cuts like I should have. We actually ate this with the Indian Spiced Chickpea Gravy, whose strong flavor over-powered the chicken. Individually, both recipes are great. They don’t work so well together, though.

Since I’d sous vide it, I was able to reduce the marinade while the chicken was on the grill. At the time, I didn’t have a plan for it, but it worked well to pour over the chicken to amp up the flavor.

##Modifications

Next time, I’d like to follow Meathead’s suggestion to score the chicken in a diamond pattern to get more of the marinade flavor without having to add sauce.