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Chicken thighs 65C, 1.5 hrs: bloody?

Ryan_79893

Hey, Sorry but I'm not sure where to post this question.

I followed the chefsteps time and temperature guide for chicken (dark meat - tender), but ended up with bloody chicken. I hadn't noticed until after we sat down at the table. After picking up the thigh to take a bite, I noticed a dark red puddle on the plate. Safe or not, it was unappetizing and that would have been pretty embarrassing if I had been cooking for a group of people.

Here's the process I used in case it has anything to do with the issue:

1.) 1.5% equilibrium brine (24 hours)

2.) Cooked chicken thighs sous vide - 65C for 1.5 hours

NOTE: they were vacuum sealed with duck fat and at refrigerator temperature before going into the bath. I was sure to use a large enough container to allow good water circulation and even made sure the bag wasn't able to rest on the bottom of the tank or against the side. It was also fully submerged at all times.

3.) Cooled in ice water bath completely before freezing

4.) 2 weeks later, thawed in the refrigerator over night

5.) seared to crisp up skin and warm through

I'm a bit frustrated because I want to be able to trust the time and temperature guide but this makes it a little bit difficult. What are your thoughts? I know I could increase the temperature but I wanted the tender results that chefsteps recommends!

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Comments

douglas_bd

Sounds like you cooked these on the bone? I'd bone them out first and try again. Should be fine at those temps.

Matthew_Snyder_68770

It's not blood. It's hemoglobin and marrow that has come out of the soft bones of a young-ish chicken as ice crystals that formed in the chilling process melt as the bird heats up. It may be unappetizing, but it's perfectly safe. If you are actually getting chicken meat with blood in it, there are some major issues in your food supply chain!

Think about it this way: If that were a steak, and there was a little reddish juice on the plate, you'd be saying, "Oooh, look at how delectable this meat is!" We have a sort of irrational fear of undercooked chicken in this country that prevents many people from enjoying properly delicious and juicy chicken. 1.5 hrs at 65 is perfect.

Says the guy whose biggest pet peeve is having people over for a cookout who ask to put their chicken on the grill for a bit longer because it's a little red in the middle. Look, squirt, that chicken was cooked in a bath two hours before you even showed up today; it's only going on the grill to get some color and crisp the skin. Away with you and your phobias.

Samuel_68313

What guide did you use? The chefsteps one says 75 for 1.5 hours:

https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/sous-vide-time-and-temperature-guide

Ryan_79893

Hey Samuel,

There are two options for dark meat chicken on the chefsteps time/temp guide. One says "Tender" 65C 1.5 hours and the other says "Falling off the bone" 75C 1.5 hours.

Ryan_79893

Hey I totally hear you about the irrational fear thing. And actually I was pretty sure it wasn't blood because blood would clot right?

But here's the thing, I think the blood-looking liquid would be unappetizing to a lot of people, am I right? And if you ask me, if a good portion of the people I'm serving are grossed out by it, then I should probably rethink my strategy, right?

Ryan_79893

Are you saying that if I want to do them on the bone, I should try a different temp?

Brandon_Byrd_40557

I don't think the time/temp combo is the problem. The vacuum might be a problem. Dave Arnold has mentioned that subjecting chicken bones to vacuum can suck the inside bits of the bone (marrow and whatnot) out of the bone and lead to gross-looking pinking/bloodiness around the meat. His solution is either to use Ziplocks with the displacement method or just to bone out the chicken before cooking it.

douglas_bd

No, I don't think changing the temp will help. However, boning it out before cooking should solve the problem. If you need to serve it on the bone, @Brandon_Byrd_40557's recommendation to not pull a vacuum, but use water displacement should help too.

Matthew_Snyder_68770

It goes back to the analogy of steak; if it was a strip or ribeye, everyone would be commenting on how nice and juicy it was. I take such circumstances as an opportunity to educate my guests. ymmv

Ryan_79893

Hey Brandon,

Thanks a lot for the response! That makes sense but that's news to me. I'll definitely keep that in mind for next time.

Ryan_79893

Oh I see. Thanks a lot for the help Brian!

artstype

Aren't you supposed to bring it back up temp in a water bath after refrigerating, and THEN sear?

david_111729

I have had the same experience with fried chicken thats been cooked to temp. The problem is poultry nowadays is grown so large that even the veins are larger. After processing blood can remain in the leg thighs vein. Even though its fully cooked and pasteurized theres still blood that hasnt congealed running through this vein and will leak onto your plate or ooze out when bitten. I have had people get grossed out and accuse me of serving them undercooked chicken when its really not the temperature but the way it was processed and the size of the bird. If its at temp its cooked. Theres nothing wrong with the temp and times on their charts.

Ryan_79893

I figured searing the cold chicken would give me a little more time to get some color before the internal temp started getting too high. I don't see anything wrong with it but anyone else have anything to say about that?

Ryan_79893

What you said about the size makes total sense except that I live in Germany where they don't grow chickens the size of cows. haha And this particular one was a pretty small, organic bird from a local farm. Besides the size thing, what you described is exactly what happened. I guess I'll have to try the water displacement method to see if that solves the issue like Brandon said, or debone.

artstype

If you examine the thighs carefully, you will sometimes find a blood vessel with blood in it (still raw), and you can manipulate it with your fingers to squeeze it out.