Sous Vide Jumbo Chicken Breasts

[noboundaries]

I've never been a fan of the jumbo boneless/skinless chicken breasts because they always tasted tough and stringy to me, no matter how they were brined and/or prepared. They are commonly found in my area at Costco and WinCo. They were on sale recently, so time to see if the sous vide machine could change my mind. It did.

I bought a 4.5 lb five-pak, vacuum sealed the breasts with some teriyaki marinade overnight in the fridge, then tossed the packs into 140°F water for 3 hours, cooking and sterilizing the meat. Those breasts were cooked to perfection, moist and tender. Once again, my wife gave her OMG approval.

I make 2 quarts of 30-hour homemade reuteri yogurt about every 8-10 days, and use that cycle to sous vide meat. I sterilize the yogurt containers and utensils in a 16-quart stainless-steel stockpot. Afterwards, I allow the water to cool to a desired sous vide temp, and toss in the vacuum sealed meat. I did so yesterday. First was the chicken for its "short" cook. Once it was done, I tossed in a vacuumed sealed/seasoned 3 lb chuck roast at 150°F for 48 hours. It is still cooking as I type. So is the yogurt in the yogurt maker, BTW,

I'm still kicking my own butt for not getting a sous vide machine sooner.

Happy SV!

Ray

 

[kilo charlie]

The chicken sounds like it could be swell.. definitely wanna see pictures of this chuck roast.

 

[noboundaries]

Here it is in the sous vide bath. Used roast beef seasoning, ranch seasoning, and smashed garlic cloves. I cover the pot with HD aluminum foil while cooking.

 

[dr k]

Reuteri Yogurt. I'm interested in this. Neighbors from India would pasteurize milk in the microwave so it wouldn't scorch. Cool and pitch in their favorite greek single serve yogurt around 115*F and stir as the oven was preheating to 250-300*F. The milk was heated in a glass bowl and covered in plastic wrap and wrapped in a beach towel after cooling to pitch the starter and placed in the oven with the oven off and the light bulb on to incubate the stater. After 12 hours it had a tart greek flavor so I was wondering about Reuteri Yogurt tartness? I like the tartness, others not so much.

I have a 2 quart slow cooker and use my Auber PID controller WS-1510ELPM with their no carryover setting of P=4, I=0 and D=40 and holds to the degree at 110*F. I pasteurize the 2% milk to 180*F in the microwave since it breaks down the protein for a smooth creamy yogurt. Pitch in the starter at 115*F and go 4 hours 110*F for a less tart milk flavored yogurt I learned here on SMF. I take the plastic handle out of the glass lid and thread the sensor into the milk and is held in place with a wooden spring clothes pin inside and outside the lid. A good method of separating whey from the cultured solids is something I don't have and adding back in whey for the consistency I want. Maybe cheese cloth?

With the chxn and pasteurizing is something I wanted to try for chxn noodle soup or dumplings with the stick circulator at 140*-147* for the chxn only so I could pour in juices from the sou vide bag in the simmering stock pot and dice the chxn and add after the soup cools to 147* to not over cook the chxn. I've never sous vide anything other than beef but I know how to pasteurize all proteins with Baldwin's charts. I was wondering about 140*F for soft chxn texture or if going to 147*F would be better?

 

[noboundaries]

Reuteri Yogurt. I'm interested in this.

Look up Dr. William Davis, MD, on YouTube. He's published a book called Super Gut that outlines the benefits of L. Reuteri, a gut microbe with major health benefits we've lost due to antibiotics.

Gastrus product on Amazon has two L.
Reuteri strains; DSM 17938 and ATCC PTA 6475. The Gastrus tablets are actually for infants. DO NOT USE OTHER L. REUTERI pills. I did my first attempt to save money. Major yuck.

10 crushed tablets per quart of half/half. (After 1st batch, use one Tbs from previous batch instead of the tablets)
2 Tbs inulin prebiotic fiber
1 quart half and half.

He details how to make it in his video. I do all the mixing in a sterilized blender instead of by hand. The blender creates bubbles that subside after about 10 mins.

L. Reuteri likes body temp for long fermentation. 99°F or 100°F works best. The microbes die at 106°F, I believe. I have an Ultimate yogurt maker than can be set that low for long fermentation.

36 hours is pretty tart, but not bad IMO. 24-26 hours is creamy with almost no tartness (all the lactose had been consumed by microbes). 30-32 hours is my favorite target, and my wife will eat that. She dislikes tart.

Eat the yogurt with blueberries, or blackberries, and a little allulose. Great dessert. I'm on my 23rd batch from the first Gastrus batch.

Ray

Oh, and I use ultra-pasteurized half/half so I don't have to pasteurize it myself.

 

[noboundaries]

Chicken breast Sous vide info I found online:

 

[dr k]

Look up Dr. William Davis, MD, on YouTube. He's published a book called Super Gut that outlines the benefits of L. Reuteri, a gut microbe with major health benefits we've lost due to antibiotics.

Gastrus product on Amazon has two L.
Reuteri strains; DSM 17938 and ATCC PTA 6475. The Gastrus tablets are actually for infants. DO NOT USE OTHER L. REUTERI pills. I did my first attempt to save money. Major yuck.

10 crushed tablets per quart of half/half. (After 1st batch, use one Tbs from previous batch instead of the tablets)
2 Tbs inulin prebiotic fiber
1 quart half and half.

He details how to make it in his video. I do all the mixing in a sterilized blender instead of by hand. The blender creates bubbles that subside after about 10 mins.

L. Reuteri likes body temp for long fermentation. 99°F or 100°F works best. The microbes die at 106°F, I believe. I have an Ultimate yogurt maker than can be set that low for long fermentation.

36 hours is pretty tart, but not bad IMO. 24-26 hours is creamy with almost no tartness (all the lactose had been consumed by microbes). 30-32 hours is my favorite target, and my wife will eat that. She dislikes tart.

Eat the yogurt with blueberries, or blackberries, and a little allulose. Great dessert. I'm on my 23rd batch from the first Gastrus batch.

Ray

Oh, and I use ultra-pasteurized half/half so I don't have to pasteurize it myself.

Thanks I'll look it up. I ferment Kimchi and hot sauces and like berries with yogurt.

 

[zwiller]

Thanks for that data. I have not run chicken that low yet but will try it now. Intrigued on the yogurt and diving in now.

 

[voyager 663rd]

The ONLY way I do steaks now--sous vide. (Obviously) chicken works as well.

The only downside is: you still have to pan fry for a few seconds/minute to crisp it up and there is no "grilled" flavour (natural anyways).

 

[sandyut]

No pics of the finished product? Hmmm

 

[noboundaries]

The chicken is kinda boring. I did not reverse sear. The chuck roast has another 20 mins to go. Then I'll post a pic.

 

[sandyut]

The chicken is kinda boring. I did not reverse sear. The chuck roast has another 20 mins to go. Then I'll post a pic.

funny, I tried SV chicken once. it was ok, but I shoulda spiced it up more. Usually i just SV beef. Maybe ill try it again. I am curious how your turned out.

 

[noboundaries]

Here's pics of the remaining teriyaki chicken and the fresh out of the sous vide pot roast. The pot roast is tender and sliceable, just what I wanted. Is 48 hours necessary? I doubt it, but it was a 1st try experiment. No browning necessary, which was interesting.

 

[noboundaries]

funny, I tried SV chicken once. it was ok, but I shoulda spiced it up more. Usually i just SV beef. Maybe ill try it again. I am curious how your turned out.

My first chicken attempt was chicken legs. Meh. No different, either better or worse, than oven baking.

These jumbo breasts were/are a different story; so juicy and tender. And pork loin? Same. My wife insists on SV pork loin. I agree.

Ray

 

[Fueling Around]

Looks really good Ray

...
I'm still kicking my own butt for not getting a sous vide machine sooner.
...

I'm going to take the plunge so to speak this summer.

 

[zwiller]

Looks really good Ray

+1

Edible = WIN. Appearance is low on my scale. ALSO those pics help others. NICE structure for 140F. Thought it might look unnatural. SV is odd. Wrap of saran and those bag marks gone. Working on PERFECT shredded chicken from breasts ...

Wife likes pork loin??? Take one, trim it, cover in Canadian/Montreal/Chicago steak seasoning (Webers has some in stores), vac seal, and dry brine like week. SV to "cook" then throw in the fridge and forget about it. Remember it, fire up a grill HOT. Cut loin into thick chops and sear. HOLY F!!! chopsaw Stole and adpated from him.

 

[BrianGSDTexoma]

Looks nice and tender Ray. About the only way I do breast are cured. I might have to try this.