Teriyaki Chicken

Use chicken thighs, not breast. Breast meat dries out under any glazing process - even with sous vide as a cushion. Thighs have the fat content to stand up to the high-heat finish that gives teriyaki its lacquered, slightly charred edge.

Make the teriyaki sauce yourself. Bottled teriyaki is mostly soy and sugar with no depth. Real teriyaki is soy, sake, mirin, and sugar in roughly equal parts, reduced until syrupy. Five minutes of work for a 10x flavor improvement.

Sous vide at 150°–155°F for 2 h. The bath cooks the chicken through and renders the thigh fat into the meat, so when you glaze and sear it, you're working with a clean, juicy base. The sauce can do its job without fighting raw protein.

Lacquer in layers, not one big brush. Brush, sear, brush, sear, brush, sear - three coats of sauce reduced one at a time over the highest heat your stove can muster. That's how teriyaki gets the deep mahogany shine you can't fake.

Anti-tip: don't put the sauce in the sous vide bag. It'll cook out the flavor and leave the chicken pale and the sauce thin. Save the sauce for the finish, where high heat can caramelize the sugars properly.

Marinate chicken for at least 2 h before sous vide for deeper flavor penetration

Always reserve clean marinade before adding raw chicken - never use marinade that touched raw meat for glazing

Pat chicken very dry after removing from bags - moisture prevents the glaze from caramelizing into that glossy coating

This temperature gives traditional appearance that guests expect

Still incredibly moist compared to conventional methods thanks to sealed bag

Perfect for slicing thin for salads or sandwiches