My first attempt at cooking chicken via the sous vide method was a resounding success.

First, I had to read up on cooking chicken breasts; I had some boneless skinless in the freezer I wanted to use up.

This discussion was about bone-in skin-on chicken breasts, but there was a lot of general info that I found helpful, especially with regard to how the texture of the meat changes depending on the temperature you cook it to.

https://www.seriouseats.com/20...-chicken-breast.html

This was helpful as it was about boneless skinless:

https://www.allrecipes.com/rec...vide-chicken-breast/


I put a little bit of olive oil, salt, and pepper on them before putting them in the bag. Cooked to 150 degrees for two hours; I wanted that slightly more cooked texture as part of the batch was going to be used in chicken salad.

A success! They came out super moist and flavorful. Mr wtg had his with a portobello mushroom cream sauce, some little creamer potatoes with butter and dill, and a German green bean salad (last beans of the season from my garden). I had mine with some TJ's Chimichurri Rice and hot sauce.

Can't wait to make chicken salad.

Had my doubts about whether the sous vide is worth it, but I can definitely see why folks use it for certain dishes. I think I'm going to try pork chops next.

Mr wtg said that I should buy one of the thousand dollar Wagyu roasts from Costco and sous vide it.

We were looking at those roasts in the ads. Wondered if it was worth the pressure of potentially messing up such an expensive piece of meat!

It is awfully difficult, if not impossible, to ruin a cut of meat sous vide. The temperature cannot go beyond your set point. Give it a shot.

Boy, Costco sure has a ton of Wagyu, both Japanese and American.

https://www.costco.com/Catalog...l&keyword=wagyu+beef

But as we'd say in Lithuanian, "ne mano kišeniai". "Not for my wallet (literally "pocket", but translates to "wallet)".

Did a cheap London Broil in the sous vide last night. Came out nice and tender!

Tell us more...what temp, how much time, how'd you finish it?



edit: I found this article about London Broil. Did you use a flank steak or top round?

https://izzycooking.com/sous-vide-london-broil/

Top round. 7 hours at 132 degrees, starting from frozen. Salt, pepper, garlic powder.

Seared it on the catalytic sear burner on the new grill.

That sounds good.

What do you think of this?

quote:

Start with marinating the steak with balsamic vinegar, honey, garlic, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, and olive oil in a bowl or zip-top bag for 30 minutes to 2 hours.

https://izzycooking.com/sous-vide-london-broil/

Top round doesn’t have much fat so I think a marinade would be a good idea.

Sous vide a whole chicken.

Game hens might be even better...

So I've done two different kinds of steak.

I picked up a T-bone at a local grocery. I looked at the Anova website and went by their guidelines, setting the temp to 127. Meat was pretty rare after 2 hours, so I just bumped the temp up to 130 and went another 50 minutes. Seared it on the grill. Flavor and texture were amazing.

I bought something labeled as Prime Beef Loin Top Sirloin Cap Steaks at Costco. They're $7.99 a pound and are boneless and beautifully marbled. They're about an inch and a quarter thick. I use them for stroganoff all the time and I've also grilled them on our little electric grill. I made one of those today using the sous vide method, 130 degrees and an hour and a half. Came out rare as I like it, but mr wtg likes his steaks a little more done. We're going to try 132 or 133 next time and see if we can find a happy medium (rare).

One thing I'll say for sous vide is that it takes the guesswork about how long to cook something to get it to the desired degree of doneness. Food comes out exactly as you'd expect it to. I really like that.

Pork chops and salmon will be next up on the sous vide parade....

I know the books all say to cook at 130° for medium rare but I find that to be a little too rare for me. 132 or 133 seems to work a lot better and the fact it’s nearly impossible to overcook it makes it possible to get that close

If you decide to do pork chops, see if you can find a butcher who will them a true 2 inches thick. It would be impossible to cook a chop like that normally but with sous vide they come out perfectly. I know the USDA recommendation used to be for 165° for pork but the newer recommendations allow for 145° if you keep it at that temperature long enough. According to what I’ve read two hours is long enough. The meat comes up slightly pink at 145 and if that bothers you maybe kick it up to 150 or so. The result is amazing.

As for the sear, I usually use the grill but I think a scorching hot cast iron pan might be even better. It’s the French chef method and Greg has gotten very good at it, ladling butter over the top like a pro. It makes a gawdawful mess of the stove so both he and I have been using the side burner on the grill to maintain domestic harmony. The Sous Vide Everything guy uses a torch and I want to try that method as well. There are special torches for this purpose and I’ve put one on my Christmas list.

If you like your chop, try stuffing the next ones you do. Stuffed chops are often dry but with sous vide they don’t have to be. A truly spectacular dish to serve dinner guests and easy to do. If your guests show up two hours late it won’t matter. The chop will still be perfect

I used the grill to sear the t-bone. Not up for the mess on the stove.

Today we didn't even bother to sear. I just sliced and plated our respective portions and it looked beautiful. If I'd been more energetic I could have made a bernaise.

I should have prepared a second steak and saved it for steak sandwiches for lunch.

Haven't tried it yet, but using mayo and then searing on the stovetop(probably cast iron pan)is supposed to be amazing!

Pork is great - I get the thick-cut from the butcher and then finish on the gas grill to add some texture. And mom always used caraway seeds, so it's not really pork - unless I add them as well!

For those who might be considering a sous vide gizmo, Costco will have them on sale online for $149.99, which is ten bucks less than I paid for mine a while back. Includes the nifty plastic bucket thing.

Sale starts on 11/24. Item number is 1463739;(it's not on the site yet).

While supplies last, I'm sure they'll go quickly.