How I make amazing grilled chicken in two minutes
Posted by: admin / Category: Cooking, FeaturedGrilling’s great, but sometimes we just want something really quick and effortless. That’s why we turn to the microwave, or the takeaway menu. Or, in my case, the sous-vide cooker.
Sous vide is a technique pioneered by top chefs like Heston Blumenthal, but it’s coming into general use more and more in the kitchen. You can Google to find a few sous vide water baths for the price of an expensive pot, or even ways to improvise water baths for less than that.
But why? Well, partially for the taste. Partially for the unique stuff you can do with variety meats like mutton and lamb belly. But often, for the convenience.
And that’s where the chicken comes in.
See, if I want a stunning piece of grilled chicken I’ll start with a good, free-range chicken breast, which I’ll vacuum seal into a pack with some butter, some thyme, maybe some lemon or lime juice. (liquids are tricky in vacuum sealing, but you can get a little bit in there by rubbing it on). Then I’ll stick it in my water bath, and set it to sixty-one degrees centigrade / 141 Fahrenheit for a few hours.
(Sounds crazy? Nope. That temperature will kill salmonella, and will do it without drying the meat out. There’s loads of information about sous vide water baths on the Internet, like that link – check it out. )
Whenever I’m ready to cook – and I can hold the chicken at that temperature for a few hours, so it waits for me – I’ll just remove it from the sous-vide bag and stick it on a smoking-hot grill pan for about a minute either side, to char it a bit and get the beautiful flavours from the grilling going on the surface. Then, I’ll serve it. And that’s it.
And if you want more ideas for grilled chicken – hey, look, there’s a link!