This is Baldwin's A practical guide to Sou Vide
https://douglasbaldwin.com/sous-vide.html
This is the Poultry pasteurization section from the table of contents from this online book.
Traditionally, light poultry meat is cooked well-done (160°F/70°C to 175°F/80°C) for "food safety" reasons. When cooking chicken and turkey breasts sous vide, they can be cooked to a medium doneness (140°F/60°C to 150°F/65°C) while still being pasteurized for safety.
- Boneless Chicken or Turkey Breast
- Salt and Pepper
Remove any skin from the breast and reserve for garnish or discard. Reserved skin can easily be crisped using either a salamander/broiler or with a blowtorch.
If brining, place the poultry meat in a 5% salt water solution (50 grams per 1 liter) in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to 1 hour. (If tenderizing with a Jaccard, do so before brining.)
Rinse and dry with paper towels. Then season with Kosher/sea salt and coarse ground pepper. Vacuum seal breasts (one per bag). The breasts may be frozen at this point until needed.
To cook and pasteurize, place (thawed) breast in a 146°F (63.5°C) water bath for the times listed in Table 4.1. [After cooking, the breasts may be rapidly cooled in ice water (see Table 1.1) and frozen or refrigerated at below 38°F (3.3°C) for up to three to four weeks until needed.]
Remove breast from plastic pouch and dry with a paper towel. The meat can then be served as is or browned slightly by using either a very hot pan (with just smoking oil) or a blowtorch. Serve immediately (garnished with crisped skin).
Pasteurization Time for Poultry
(starting at 41°F / 5°C and put in a 134.5–149°F / 57–65°C water bath)
| 134.5°F | 136.5°F | 138°F | 140°F | 142°F | 143.5°F | 145.5°F | 147°F | 149°F |
Thickness | 57°C | 58°C | 59°C | 60°C | 61°C | 62°C | 63°C | 64°C | 65°C |
5 mm | 2¼ hr | 1¾ hr | 1¼ hr | 45 min | 35 min | 25 min | 18 min | 15 min | 13 min |
10 mm | 2¼ hr | 1¾ hr | 1¼ hr | 55 min | 40 min | 35 min | 30 min | 25 min | 20 min |
15 mm | 2½ hr | 1¾ hr | 1½ hr | 1¼ hr | 50 min | 45 min | 40 min | 35 min | 30 min |
20 mm | 2¾ hr | 2 hr | 1¾ hr | 1¼ hr | 1¼ hr | 55 min | 50 min | 45 min | 40 min |
25 mm | 3 hr | 2¼ hr | 2 hr | 1½ hr | 1½ hr | 1¼ hr | 1¼ hr | 60 min | 55 min |
30 mm | 3¼ hr | 2¾ hr | 2¼ hr | 2 hr | 1¾ hr | 1½ hr | 1½ hr | 1¼ hr | 1¼ hr |
35 mm | 3¾ hr | 3 hr | 2½ hr | 2¼ hr | 2 hr | 1¾ hr | 1¾ hr | 1½ hr | 1½ hr |
40 mm | 4 hr | 3¼ hr | 2¾ hr | 2½ hr | 2¼ hr | 2 hr | 2 hr | 1¾ hr | 1¾ hr |
45 mm | 4½ hr | 3¾ hr | 3¼ hr | 3 hr | 2¾ hr | 2½ hr | 2¼ hr | 2 hr | 2 hr |
50 mm | 4¾ hr | 4¼ hr | 3¾ hr | 3¼ hr | 3 hr | 2¾ hr | 2½ hr | 2½ hr | 2¼ hr |
55 mm | 5¼ hr | 4½ hr | 4 hr | 3¾ hr | 3½ hr | 3¼ hr | 3 hr | 2¾ hr | 2¾ hr |
60 mm | 5¾ hr | 5 hr | 4½ hr | 4¼ hr | 3¾ hr | 3½ hr | 3¼ hr | 3¼ hr | 3 hr |
65 mm | 6¼ hr | 5½ hr | 5 hr | 4½ hr | 4¼ hr | 4 hr | 3¾ hr | 3½ hr | 3¼ hr |
70 mm | 7 hr | 6 hr | 5½ hr | 5 hr | 4¾ hr | 4½ hr | 4¼ hr | 4 hr | 3¾ hr |
Table 4.1: Time required for at least a one million to one reduction in
Listeria and a ten million to one reduction in
Salmonella in poultry starting at 41°F (5°C). I calculated the D- and z-values using linear regression from (O'Bryan et al., 2006): for
Salmonella I used D606.45 = 4.68 minutes and for
Listeria I used D605.66 = 5.94 minutes. For my calculations I used a thermal diffusivity of 1.08×10-7 m2/s, a surface heat transfer coefficient of 95 W/m2-K, and took β=0.28 (to simulate the heating speed of a 2:3:5 box). For more information on calculating log reductions, see
Appendix A.
Turkey, Duck or Goose Leg Confit
- Duck, Goose or Turkey Legs
- Rendered Duck or Goose Fat (or Lard)
- Salt and Pepper
Place legs in a 5–10% brine (50–100 grams salt per 1 liter) for three to six hours. The brine may be flavored with sprigs of thyme, bay leaves, garlic, and orange/ lemon slices.
After brining, rinse legs and pat dry with paper towels. Season with Kosher/sea salt and coarse ground pepper. Individually vacuum seal the legs with 2–4 tablespoons of rendered fat.
Place the vacuum sealed legs in a 176°F (80°C) water bath for 8 to 12 hours. Since some of the liquid in the bag will change phase (to gas), the bag will puff and may float to the surface. To prevent uneven cooking, the bags should be held under water using a wire rack or some other restraint. [After cooking, the legs may be rapidly cooled in ice water (see Table 1.1) and frozen or refrigerated at below 39°F (4°C) indefinitely.]
To serve, (reheat and) sear until skin is crispy. May also be served without skin and torn into pieces.