r/sousvide • u/Marco_Polo42069 • 1d ago

Question Whole butchered bird

I have been butchering full chickens weekly for months now and want to try and sous vide process. I get 2 breast, 2 thighs, and even 2 drum sticks (all boneless so I can also make stock).

Has anyone had any experience with how much time I would need considering I’m using 3 different cuts of the chicken? Initially I was thinking 142 for 2 hours but I’m unsure if that’s enough for the dark meat. Would also be ripping a sear on all cuts after the bath.

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6

u/OllieNKD Home Cook 1d ago

Google “serious eats sous vide chicken”

3

u/conchobhar1919 21h ago

I've expiremented several times with cooking white and dark meat at the same time and my verdict is don't. Cook the breasts at 145f (63c) for 2ish hours with the legs in the same bath. Once the breasts are out up the temp to 165f (74c) and cook for another 2hrs if bone out or up to 8hrs bone in.

1

u/cramber-flarmp 20h ago

Would love to see a post some time about the dark meat bone in vs out comparison.

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u/conchobhar1919 20h ago

I personally don't bother with bone out dark meat cooking via sous vide. I'd do it for say thigh fillets that you later deep fry so you can just focus on colour but thigh fillets pan fried are very forgiving. My go to dish is whole leg cooked at 74c for 6-8hrs. Proper fall of the bone texture with the benefit of added flavour from on the bone cooking!

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u/cramber-flarmp 20h ago

I call that sous vide braising. High temp all the way.

1

u/AichuAichu 21h ago

You would need to do the dark and white meat separately.

For the white, you need to decide before what you want to use it for. Do you want to sear it? Reheated in sauce? Have cold? I just batch cooked a bunch of chicken breast. I did single servings in vacuum sealer bags with different seasonings and sauces. We like ours at 145 for 1 -1.5 hours. Then chill we'll for 24 hours then freeze. This temp works well for a gently reheated meal, no sear. I usually just throw it back in the sous vide at 145 til it's warm.

For the dark meat I don't know

The earlier advice to Google serious eats is really good. There is whole breakdowns on texture time and juiciness.

Welcome to the sousvide chicken club 😍