Questions about cooking whole spatchcocked chicken in sous vide

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What about asparagus?

For the potato wedges, I assume you leave the skin on, right?


Perfect, thanks

I dumped the entire contents of the original bag with all of the seasonings into a baking dish. As you can see from the photows above, there is quite a lot of liquid in the dish. Should I leave the chicken sitting in that liquid or raise it up a bit with a metal baking rack?

And would the veggies go under the rack or between the rack and the chicken?

Thanks for all the help. I may actually learn passable cooking! ?????
I don't bother with a rack. The pieces of veggie should be big enough to hold the chicken off the bottom of the pan. I either oil the roasting pan or use a silicon sheet designed for that. I think parchment paper would work. I don't want anything getting stuck to the pan.

If there is too much liquid, I would pour it off and set it aside. I often bring the liquid that I have marinated meat in to a boil and use it to make a sauce or as a sauce. I would also use some of the liquid to baste, if it looks like the meat or vegis could use some extra marinade during roasting.

As to asparagus, I'm afraid it would get overcooked. Maybe try with one or two stalks and let us know how it worked. I peel the potatoes, but I am sensitive to the solanine in the skins. Unpeeled should be fine. I think I used to leave the skins on, but I don't remember and I don't often include potatoes. Sweet potato would probably be good too, if you like it. We don't. Heck, even chunks of squash would probably work, if you like it.
 
Yes, flatten it but just by hand if you can. You might find it a bit more difficult to 'tuck the wings under the bird' now that it's spatchedcocked. That's usually done with whole birds that don't get tied down.
I think that your time and temp will not overly darken the wings, maybe just a tiny bit on the ends but nothing I would worry about.
Kenji managed to turn the wings in the video.
 
If you make stock with meat / bones from chicken that has been marinated, doesn't the stock taste of marinade? That might be good for some uses.
 
Experiment completed. A big thanks to everyone for the suggestions.

I went to the grocery store and bought one or two of several root veggies: potato, turnip, rutabaga, carrot, golden beet, and watermelon radish. I also added a few brussel sprouts, a sweet onion, and some asparagus.

I spread the chicken out as much as I could and crowded as many veggies as I could underneath. Then it all went into a 350 oven with a probe set for 165. An hour and 20 later it was done.

The chicken was perfect. The breast meat was more juicy and tender than the leg and thigh. The Trader Joe seasonings were a little more than we prefer, so we won't be buying this again.

The veggies were really delicious, but mostly undercooked. Do I need to pre-cook them next time?

As predicted, the asparagus was reduced to mush. The brussels sprouts were good.

Thanks for a fun experiment.
 
I'm sorry the veggies were undercooked. Mine come out fine, but maybe we like our veggies cooked less? How big were the pieces? Take note of which veggies were cooked enough and which were undercooked. Try to remember how big the pieces were. Some might take longer than others and need to be cut into smaller or thinner pieces.

I would maybe try roasting the veggies in the pan for 20 minutes or so before topping with the chicken. If you do, then toss the veggies with a little bit of oil (I like to use EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil)) before putting them on the pan. If anything is too small, it might burn. I would check on them after 10 minutes and stir them so you most of them flipped over.
 
I'm sorry the veggies were undercooked. Mine come out fine, but maybe we like our veggies cooked less? How big were the pieces? Take note of which veggies were cooked enough and which were undercooked. Try to remember how big the pieces were. Some might take longer than others and need to be cut into smaller or thinner pieces.

I would maybe try roasting the veggies in the pan for 20 minutes or so before topping with the chicken. If you do, then toss the veggies with a little bit of oil (I like to use EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil)) before putting them on the pan. If anything is too small, it might burn. I would check on them after 10 minutes and stir them so you most of them flipped over.
That may be the problem -- the pieces were too large. For the carrots, I cut them into pieves about 3" long. I guess I should have sliced them lengthwise, too. The potatoes and other root veggies I cut in half then in wedges. Average size was a little bigger than a large brussel sprout. I should have taken a photo.

I saved the veggies and the broth in a Tupperware bowl. Can I microwave them a bit to soften them up a little.
 
That may be the problem -- the pieces were too large. For the carrots, I cut them into pieves about 3" long. I guess I should have sliced them lengthwise, too. The potatoes and other root veggies I cut in half then in wedges. Average size was a little bigger than a large brussel sprout. I should have taken a photo.

I saved the veggies and the broth in a Tupperware bowl. Can I microwave them a bit to soften them up a little.
Sounds like you have the beginnings of a tasty soup. I think that nuking them a bit would work.

When I cut carrots for something like this, I use what's called a roll cut. It's the best way I know to make biggish pieces of carrot that are fairly uniform in size. Here's a video that demonstrates it. Notice that she makes more cuts when she gets to the fat end of the carrot.

 
Sounds like you have the beginnings of a tasty soup. I think that nuking them a bit would work.

When I cut carrots for something like this, I use what's called a roll cut. It's the best way I know to make biggish pieces of carrot that are fairly uniform in size. Here's a video that demonstrates it. Notice that she makes more cuts when she gets to the fat end of the carrot.

Cool video. My pieces are about the size of 6-7 of hers.

Thanks
 
You can still add soft vegies such as your asparagus or green beans. Add them during the last part of cooking.
Look up some sheet pan recipes. Often they will tell you to cook one section for a bit, then add soft vegies to cook for the last bit.

I have one recipe that cooks the green beans for only about 10 minutes at the end. Another does the asparagus a bit longer. Surprised me but it works.

Also meant to mention, don't quite agree with roasting your vegies in advance 1.5 hours should be plenty for them - I think the size was more the problem.
 
Here is a link to the perfect recipe to give you ideas. spatchcocked one pan This recipe is from Food Network, Ree Drummond. Check how she sets the oven temps at different points of cooking.

LOL - not much help in the sous-vide area! But, and I think the others would agree with me, a spatchcocked chicken is definitely best for roasting.
 

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