***** Upfront, I want to say that cooking a whole chicken sous vide can be a very dangerous thing. The cavity of a bird can contain dangerous salmonella, that if not heated to 165-F to kill them, they can make you very sick or even kill you. Generally speaking, you have to find a way to pasteurize the entire chicken, inside the cavity and outside the bird, to make it safe. Sous vide can do this at much lower temperature than 165-F, but it requires that the sous vide bag is in contact with all surfaces of the chicken, inside and out, and the length of the cook and temperature are sufficient to pasteurize it. *****
Sometimes, I want to put a whole chicken on the table for show and carving. Otherwise, I just break down the parts or spatchcock the bird, or cut it in half by additionally removing the backbone.
The chicken goes into the bath with just the breast bone cut out and spreading the bird when bagged and sealed. This allows a 2-gallon bag to come in contact with the cavity to pasteurize it.
***Don't sous vide a whole intact bird any other way as salmonella can flourish in the sous vide low temp environment unless the heated water is in direct contact with all surfaces. Cavities are known trouble areas.***
If you have what you think is a safe method to sous vide cook a whole bird, please post it here. I'm still learning how to do this.
*** Proceed at your own risk ***
The advantage of cutting the breastbone out, besides allowing sous vide to pasteurize the cavity, is that I can put it on the spit and tie the legs and wings to prevent them from flopping. By the time it goes on the spit, it has been cooked (and pasteurized) so all that I am trying to do is brown it, taking care not to raise the internal breast or thigh temperatures any hinger than what it was cooked at in the sous vide. Patting it dry is important so you don't delay the smoker cook extra long waiting for the water to steam off before it can brown.
We cooked in the smoker, about 45-minutes at 300-F, with some sweet corn on the cob and baby potatoes on the grate under it. A marsala reduction gravy is sitting on the burner and a thunderstorm is about to go over and hopefully temper this sultry Southern weather for the rest of the day. Gotta chill some pineapple cider!
My smoker is gravity fed charcoal and a blower pumps air into the cook box. For all intents, it is a convection oven.
If of interest, I bought 2-gal Zipper Lock bags from ULine several years ago. Being 4-mil they are sturdy but not cheap. They are also FDA BPA free. I don't use 2-gallon very often so I've had them hanging around for years.
I originally posted this thread here.
Much love and peace everyone! 💕​
Sometimes, I want to put a whole chicken on the table for show and carving. Otherwise, I just break down the parts or spatchcock the bird, or cut it in half by additionally removing the backbone.
The chicken goes into the bath with just the breast bone cut out and spreading the bird when bagged and sealed. This allows a 2-gallon bag to come in contact with the cavity to pasteurize it.
***Don't sous vide a whole intact bird any other way as salmonella can flourish in the sous vide low temp environment unless the heated water is in direct contact with all surfaces. Cavities are known trouble areas.***
If you have what you think is a safe method to sous vide cook a whole bird, please post it here. I'm still learning how to do this.
*** Proceed at your own risk ***
The advantage of cutting the breastbone out, besides allowing sous vide to pasteurize the cavity, is that I can put it on the spit and tie the legs and wings to prevent them from flopping. By the time it goes on the spit, it has been cooked (and pasteurized) so all that I am trying to do is brown it, taking care not to raise the internal breast or thigh temperatures any hinger than what it was cooked at in the sous vide. Patting it dry is important so you don't delay the smoker cook extra long waiting for the water to steam off before it can brown.
We cooked in the smoker, about 45-minutes at 300-F, with some sweet corn on the cob and baby potatoes on the grate under it. A marsala reduction gravy is sitting on the burner and a thunderstorm is about to go over and hopefully temper this sultry Southern weather for the rest of the day. Gotta chill some pineapple cider!
My smoker is gravity fed charcoal and a blower pumps air into the cook box. For all intents, it is a convection oven.
If of interest, I bought 2-gal Zipper Lock bags from ULine several years ago. Being 4-mil they are sturdy but not cheap. They are also FDA BPA free. I don't use 2-gallon very often so I've had them hanging around for years.
I originally posted this thread here.
Much love and peace everyone! 💕​
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