Sous-Vide: A First Success
(Cross-posted to food_porn)
Last week I asked for advice regarding the sous-vide technique, and what I got was substantially helpful. I unfortunately forgot to take pictures of my first successful attempt, so I made a point of it for the next time.
After trying with a really thin strip steak and failing, I turned to the bagged chicken I have in my freezer. Not too long ago, I bought a bunch of chicken breasts, vacuum-sealed them and threw them in the freezer. Yesterday, I took one out and thawed it (with effectively the same technique, actually; a pot of water with the stove set to about 80 degrees F will thaw frozen meat reasonably quickly without damaging it or partially cooking it. Once it was thawed, I started the marinating process.
In responding to the advice I was given, I took the opportunity to sing the praises of my Foodsaver vacuum sealer, and I do so again. They recently started selling what they call "lunch and leftover" containers, which I find to be the perfect size for marinating a single serving of meat.
I've been making my own marinades since I figured out how it worked with the help of a cookbook centered on the proper application of spices, and in this case, I coated the breast with salt, pepper, sage, thyme and rosemary, then poured in about half a cup of merlot.
I sealed it and left it for about an hour, and when I came back it looked like this:
The first picture is unfortunately a little too blurry to tell, but the chicken absorbed almost all the wine. Next, I sealed it in a vacuum bag. For this instance, I used one that had been used and washed, which unfortunately never really works as well as a fresh bag, but it's adequate for this. A fresh bag would have less air in it and there wouldn't be so much of the wine sucked into the top of the bag.
I put that in a pot of water that was stable at 180 degrees F, and got started on my side dish: Mushrooms and onions saute`ed in olive oil and cooking sherry.
Here's the chicken after about 45 minutes. Again, all that liquid got pulled out because it was a used bag. The chicken was, unfortunately, a little dry compared to the first, but not as dry as all that liquid would lead you to believe.
Sear the outside to kill the germs.
And the meal.
The final product, close-up, just looks great.
Last week I asked for advice regarding the sous-vide technique, and what I got was substantially helpful. I unfortunately forgot to take pictures of my first successful attempt, so I made a point of it for the next time.
After trying with a really thin strip steak and failing, I turned to the bagged chicken I have in my freezer. Not too long ago, I bought a bunch of chicken breasts, vacuum-sealed them and threw them in the freezer. Yesterday, I took one out and thawed it (with effectively the same technique, actually; a pot of water with the stove set to about 80 degrees F will thaw frozen meat reasonably quickly without damaging it or partially cooking it. Once it was thawed, I started the marinating process.
In responding to the advice I was given, I took the opportunity to sing the praises of my Foodsaver vacuum sealer, and I do so again. They recently started selling what they call "lunch and leftover" containers, which I find to be the perfect size for marinating a single serving of meat.
I've been making my own marinades since I figured out how it worked with the help of a cookbook centered on the proper application of spices, and in this case, I coated the breast with salt, pepper, sage, thyme and rosemary, then poured in about half a cup of merlot.
I sealed it and left it for about an hour, and when I came back it looked like this:
The first picture is unfortunately a little too blurry to tell, but the chicken absorbed almost all the wine. Next, I sealed it in a vacuum bag. For this instance, I used one that had been used and washed, which unfortunately never really works as well as a fresh bag, but it's adequate for this. A fresh bag would have less air in it and there wouldn't be so much of the wine sucked into the top of the bag.
I put that in a pot of water that was stable at 180 degrees F, and got started on my side dish: Mushrooms and onions saute`ed in olive oil and cooking sherry.
Here's the chicken after about 45 minutes. Again, all that liquid got pulled out because it was a used bag. The chicken was, unfortunately, a little dry compared to the first, but not as dry as all that liquid would lead you to believe.
Sear the outside to kill the germs.
And the meal.
The final product, close-up, just looks great.