SV Boneless/Skinless Chicken Breasts

[Lowjiber]

The wife comes home a couple of days ago with four boneless/skinless chicken breasts from Albertsons. They were on sale for $1.27/lb, so she violated the unwritten rule that I buy all the meat. They were fresh, but varied in weight by as much as half-a-pound. When I asked her why she didn't get all about the same size/weight, she replied, "I just thought the butcher would know to do that." Wrong!

Anyway, I normally cook B/S chicken breasts by seasoning/searing in a ribbed cast iron skillet and throwing the skillet in the oven until they all (same size, duh) come up to temp... done! Since these varied greatly in thickness and weight, I didn't want to be watching the thinner one to pull it out, yadda, yadda, yadda. Sous Vide to the rescue.

I put each in a bag with a sprig of Rosemary, 3/4 Tblsp olive oil, 1/4 tsp of garlic powder, and 1/4 tsp black pepper.


Into the SV @146 degrees for two hours. (146 deg gives the degree of doneness that she likes, and the extra hour was just to ensure all were tender.)




I threw them in an ice bath for ten minutes so they wouldn't cook any more when searing. Then outta the bags; a heavy dose of blackened seasoning; and on the gasser with Grill Grates for finish.



I cut the thinnest one just to check. It was tender and juicier than shows in this picture...



That's my story and I'm sticking to it. LOL

[Thunder77]

Looks good! What blackening seasoning do you use? How do you get your captions on the photos like that? What sous vide machine do you use?

[Lowjiber]

Thunder77, I use this stuff all the time...


My hobby is taking pictures of the sun, so I have PhotoShop for processing them. I just stick the iPhone pic in there and add the caption.

I have the Anova 900 Watt model with WIFI. I don't use the WIFI, but the non-WIFI model is only 800 Watts.

[Thunder77]

Thanks for the info!

[Notavegan]

As of to-day, I am new owner of cast iron griddle. Long list of items I want to blacken...

[DWCowles]

Beautiful!

[Willy]

I think SV is just about the only way to get juicy breasts. Rotisserie works too, but then you have the whole bird.

[Atalanta]

I must concur. Chicken breasts were hit or miss, now they're always a hit. Love the Anovo and searching for a second 1st gen.

[Northside Brian]

Lowjiber Where did you get the cooking tub?

[tbob4]

Yes - good question. I have a really high volume pot but a tub with a lid would be ideal. Lowjiber, did you create the cut-out in it or was it designed that way?

[josht138]

Looks great. I can't imagine eating chicken breasts any other way now...

[josht138]

tbob4 and Northside Brian, here's what I did...

Buy this (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000R8JOUC/?tag=amazi0a8-20) and buy this (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000VAUFD6/?tag=amazi0a8-20). Take a sharpie and draw an outline of your circulator in the lid and cut a hole out. Don't pay $50-$100 for one that someone has pre-cut for you. I really don't think it needs to be gasketing or leak tight. I've done several 24 to 36 hr cooks without problems from evaporative losses.

I only use this setup for long cooks 8+ hours. Anything less than that I don't really worry about a cover as long as the temp is below 155F. Most everything else I just use a pot and for big cooks I use a cooler. If it gets above 155F I will just cover it with saran wrap to prevent evaporative losses and prevent evaporative cooling to insulate the water.

[tbob4]

Thanks!

[fuzzydaddy]

Thanks for the links! I have that tub. I have a couple of pieces of thin plastic I notched with scissors that I lay on top and add a little plastic wrap around the Anova or Joule.

[Atalanta]

I did the same thing (so I could re-claim my pressure cooker pot!). Got them from the local restaurant supply place - got two lids, one I cut and one I didn't so I could store the Anovo, mat, etc. when not in use. Haven't had it "not in use" enough to pack everything in it.

[Lowjiber]

Lowjiber Where did you get the cooking tub?

I ordered it from Amazon. Here's the brand/part number...



The lid is sold separately because they are cut out for your particular brand of cooker. Here's my data for the Anova...

[fuzzydaddy]

Great cook! Beautifully finished! Thanks for sharing.