Eggs Crack Under Pressure

I have been bitten by the Sous Vide bug and have been working to perfect my potato salad. Last week, I made the most delicious ribs with a side of potato salad and, in thinking that all the things must be vacuum sealed; was reminded that eggs crack under pressure.

It was a great lesson that taught me how to make use of the displacement method. I’ll be providing more information on the delicious potato salad at a later date. This week, I thought I would share my take on this recipe that I learned about while enjoying a flight at 2A wine.

Butcher Box Chicken

What inspired the acquisition of the Sous Vide machine was my decision to use Butcher Box where I can get a supply of meat for the freezer delivered to my door about once every six weeks. Check them out here.

I thought I required a meat thermometer. I asked for a recommendation from a friend, who took into account the amount of meat I’m eating and said that Sous Vide would be the way to go – emphasizing that the device was his most used kitchen appliance. An ask around town and through other channels led me to select the Anova Nano bundle and vacuum sealer.

The Marinade

I noted that the recipe reminded me quite a bit of Teriyaki. The teriyaki flavor is my go to flavor for just about any chicken marinade because I don’t always have the other ingredients on hand. I noticed a call for vinegar and olive oil and thought it would be kind of fun to improvise and make use of what was in the kitchen.

I combined these in parts, placed them in a zip lock bag with the chicken, and let it marinade over night.

ANOVA Sous Vide Machine

After letting the chicken marinade, it was time to set up the machine. I decided to go with any ole’ marinated chicken breast recipe. This one looked fine enough. I selected it and clicked the ‘start cooking’ button that started the bucket of water preheating.

It was advised that I put the chicken in a little early so that I wouldn’t burn my hands when I pushed the air out of the bag. Here we have the marinated chicken, air removed, cooking.

Once the Anova timer went off, it was time to take the chicken out of the bath. Here it is, in all its glory.

It doesn’t look like much, yet.

Searing 101

It should probably be led with the fact that if you’re going to become a sous vide chef, you will need to master the art of searing. I have not mastered this art. I can tell you that for this experiment, I used a cast iron skillet, a couple of tablespoons of canola oil, medium-high heat, and went with about 90 seconds on each side.

The intention was to make a salad with this meat. As such, I busted out some spinach, tomatoes, avocado, and croutons and had at it.

Verdict

I overdid it on the balsamic vinegar and it over powered the taste, but not in too bad of a way. Since I was eating a salad, I used a little bit more of the marinade to work as the dressing. With the extra tartness, my assumption was that a nice glass of sparkling would ease the tang, so I busted out a bottle of Sauvage that I picked up at 2A wine.

The Rose paired nicely and succeeded at neutralizing the tart flavor of the balsamic, but . . . I wanted to see if I could get a little more oomph onto my palate. So – I opened up a bottle of red wine that I purchased with the Sauvage. A nice dolcetto.

My taste buds were most pleased.

So there we have it – salad with balsamic vinaigrette and sous vide chicken paired nicely with wine. I highly recommend Sous Vide. Just remember that eggs crack under pressure – so don’t vacuum seal those things.