COOLER-COOKED
CHICKEN
WITH LEMON OR SUN-DRIED-
TOMATO VINAIGRETTE
If you’re used to dry, well-done chicken, cooking it via
this method will be an absolute revelation. Who knew that
chicken could be so incredibly succulent and moist?
It’s up to you whether or not you want the chicken
skin on or off, but I prefer to keep the skin on because I
love crispy skin, and browning chicken without skin will
always leave you with a stringy layer, no matter what you
do. The skin provides insulation that allows you to brown
the chicken without sacrificing texture. With traditional
cooking methods, leaving chicken breasts on the bone
helps slow down the cooking process, resulting in more
evenly cooked meat. With sous-vide cooking, however, the
process is already so slow that I found little difference
between chicken cooked bone-in versus bone-off.
The last drawback to cooking chicken in a water bath
is that you develop very little fond—the flavorful bits that
stick to your pan when you sear meat—this makes
forming a pan sauce impossible. The good news is that the
reason those flavorful bits aren’t on the pan is that they
stay stuck to the chicken where they belong. A simple
squeeze of lemon or a vinaigrette will do the chicken just