Ghetto Sous Vide

To define the technique of Sous Vide would be a cooking process in which food is encased in an airtight plastic pouch (typically vacuum sealed) and cooked for a very long period of time at a very low temperature, usually under 200˚F and for many hours.  The technique was first developed by French chef Georges Pralus, who discovered that cooking foie gras in this way kept it from shrinking and losing fat content.

These days most restaurant chefs use Thermal Immersion Circulators which are very costly, around $1000 a unit.  So after doing some research and talking to some area chefs I decided to try to Sous Vide the Ghetto way. 

I decided to Sous Vide some chicken breast.  I started by seasoning them with some salt, pepper, cumin, fresh chopped garlic and some onion powder.  Next I wrapped each breast in plastic wrap so the would keep there form while cooking.  Once each breast was firmly wrapped I vacuum sealed them and dropped them into a stock pot with the water temperature kept at 142 degrees Fahrenheit for 1 hour.  To regulate the temperature I would drop an ice cube in the pot whenever it would jump up to 143 degrees.  When the chicken was done I dropped them into an ice bath to bring the temperature down and prevent any bacteria from developing and placed them in the refrigerator until dinner.

Since the chicken is already cooked all you need to do is heat a saute pan with some oil and crisp up the skin and just heat them through about ten minutes.