I’m planning to cook 3 chicken breasts tomorrow evening and I have two questions.
The breasts are in the freezer.
They are vac packed in 3s, “sitting” in a line, ie the top side and bottom side of each is touching the outside of the pack they are in.
2. Can I just cook them in that vac pack, frozen or defrosted dependent of the answer to 1 above, or must I revac pack them individually?
Yes is the answer to both of your questions. Provided things are packed side by side rather than stacked on top of each other they can be cooked in their multiple pack.
To cook from frozen the ;recommendation’ is to add an extra half of the planned cooking time to allow for thawing…
Excellent. Thank you.
From frozen is how I normally prepare them. When bulk packs are on sale I will get one or two. I then seal them 2 to a bag and freeze. Easy to just pop in the water for a quick lunch or dinner for us.
Thanks John. I just popped them in, directly from the freezer, as the water bath was coming up to temp. Plan to finish them on the BBQ grill. Hope that will work okay. #learningcurve
You may need to experiment with the temperature as some people do not care for the chicken cooked at lower temperatures. I prefer around 150°F
Popped them in the “bath” straight from the freezer and set the temp to 150. When it reached 150, I then set the timer for 1 hour. Then when the rest of the grub was ready I put just one, on the grill directly over the coals and opened the vents fully, flipping they a few times. Got a lovely crust on it and it was succulent inside. Because it was my first try with chicken, I just seasoned with a little salt and pepper. The other two I will use cold in sandwiches or maybe a salad tomorrow. Thanks #result
Please note, chicken should be cooked to pasteurisation. Please refer to the following section of the sous vide ‘bible’ for times at temperature.