Go to the Recipe: Chicken Tartare
that looks like a superb quenelle spoon...... I want it haha any particular brand?
Luke, We have a nice random collection of silver spoons—no particular brand.
Could you sous vide pasteurize the chicken without altering the texture?
No. Even low temperature pasteurization is hot enough to notably alter the texture of the meat.
Definitely one of those counter intuitive recipe at first that really makes sense when you look more closely at it. The freeze/boil step makes a lot of sense though, I ought to try it soon !
Unlike beef flesh which can be eaten rare in the middle, chicken meat is permeable to bacteria which is why you have to cook it all the way through so this phrase "beyond that, bugs will always live on the surface of the food" isn't correct. The only way to be sure when eating rare chicken is if you know it was raised and butchered cleanly and recently.
If you are looking for a great spoon to use, I really like this one I picked up at World Market from the Slate flatware line. It makes a beautiful shape and is plenty thick to hold some heat in when you quenelle with it. I use both spoon sizes depending on my presentation, so I got both! They are very inexpensive, too.
Raw chicken is consumed in Japan without any problems.
I recently had a discussion with someone that american chickens are genetically prone to having salmonella. Would you still suggest trying this recipe? I live in the Hudson Valley area around tons of local farms and would love to try this.
I had a thought about this - do you suppose it would be possible to pasteurize the chicken without cooking it using a sous vide setup?
Japan doesn't have salmonella issues like the U.S. does.
Pasteurization, by it's definition, is heating a substance to a sufficient temperature, for a sufficient time, to inactivate enzymes, and to kill most bacteria. the lowest temperature that I've seen is down around 50°C/122°F, but this is for wine. Wine, and other alcohols, require a significantly less time and temperature because most processes involve a heating step, and with the alcohol content, provide a less than ideal environment for many bacteria and other spoilage organisms. With milk, orange juice, apple juice, etc. low temperature pasteurization tend to be in the 60°C/140°F ballpark. When you heat food up to this temperature, it will begin to cook. I'm not sure there is any method that you can effectively pasteurize a piece of chicken and still have it remain raw.
https://www.businessinsider.com/raw-chicken-sashimi-putting-people-at-serious-risk-2017-9
I saw this recipe about a year ago after subscribing and thought it was insane. I'd never try this! Until I went to Thailand and ate at a fantastic yakitori restaurant that served medium-rare chicken breasts on a skewer, and it was amazing. Great melt-in-your-mouth texture, and the flavor is similar to a good white fish. For anyone concerned about safety I offer some ignorant, bad advice: just go for it. Yolo.
