Hello Sous vide-rs! I will be cooking chicken thigh (bone off), for a biggish group next week, and I already know two days before THE day I am to cook, I will be busy with other events as well. I’d like to know if I could cook the chicken (thigh) with its marinate, cook, then vacuum seal, and deep freeze about four or five days before doing the last step of grilling it? Has anyone come across this before? Would love to hear from the experienced sous vide community! Thanks a lot!
If you’re cooking chicken one usually cooks it long enough to pasteurise it. If you shock chill and refrigerate without opening the cooking bag you won’t need to freeze it. At 5C (which is 1C above recommended fridge temps) you have than 10 days of safe storage time.
You won’t need to worry about reheating the chicken prior to grilling. Grilling will be enough to bring it up to mouth hot and you won’t need to stress about uncooked chicken because it’s already cooked.
Ember’s correct Liza, restaurants have regularly used this technique for decades.
Just be certain you package the chicken thighs in a single layer for even cooking and chilling.
Your menu choice is going to be a challenge to grill-finish in a large quantity. Sugar burns easily at high temperatures so you are going to have to be quick and agile. If you’ve not made this item before you might want to test drive a sample portion to get a sense of your grill timing.
To finish, I would wipe the marinade off the chicken before grilling and then apply a freshly made teriyaki glaze just before service. The glaze can be made several days in advance and kept refrigerated.
Don’t forget a garnish, it tells your guests you really care.
Happy cooking.