To have smoke-style breast without having to light a grill, try this recipe using a sous vide machine and its oven to give you tender and seasoned sous vide breast, perfect for sandwiches!
If you love breast, but don’t have a sous vide machine, be sure to check out this recipe.
What is sous vide?
Sous-vide means cooking something at a lower temperature for longer. Food is sealed in plastic bags or glass jars and cooked in a water bath, at a temperature that is precisely regulated at all times. I use the Anova pressure cooker. It’s not an affiliate link, I really love this tool! It has bluetooth so you can control it from your phone and is a great way to elevate home cooking, giving restaurant-style results.
Why should you sous vide meat?
Because of the precision with which
the water temperature is controlled, cook the meat so precisely that it will be almost impossible to get overcooked meat. Just follow the time/temperature range depending on the type of meat you like, and you are guaranteed good results. One of our favorite things to eat is the sous vide steak, truly quality grill beef in the comfort of your own living room.
How to prepare a sous vide breast:
The beauty of this is that the preparation work is minimal. Even the ingredients are minimal! You need salt and coarse pepper. That’s all. You will rub most of the salt/pepper mixture on the surface of the raw breast, reserving some that you will rub once the breast is out of the sous vide and enters the oven.
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How to make coarse pepper:
I found it easier to take whole peppercorns and grind them in a small spice grinder. You can also use a pepper grinder, but it will take some arm work to get the amount of pepper you need. You can also try using a small blender.
Vacuum sealing of the breast
:
Vacuum sealing is very convenient because it removes all the air inside the plastic bag into which the breast enters. This means that the breast will lie well in the water bath without floating to the top. If the entire breast does not fit the size of the vacuum sealing bags you have, you can cut the breast in half and use two bags.
If you don’t have a vacuum sealant, how do you prevent bags from floating in water? There’s
a great article about this on the Anova website. There are a few tricks, such as getting as much air out of the bag as you can, weighing the inside of the bag by adding some blunt butter knives to the bag, and placing weight externally on the bag.
Temperature settings in sous vide
:
I got the recipe and guidelines from Serious Eats, who are experts in technical cuisine
. For breasts like
the ones shown in this post, with a more tender texture like steak: Set it to 135°F (57°C) and cook for 36 to 72 hours. For more traditional grated breast: Set at 155°F (68°C) and cook for 24 to 36 hours.
It seems like a long time, and it is, but it’s all completely hands-free
.
What to do after the breast has been sous-vided: Cool the breast to
room temperature. If you want this to happen faster, you can dip the vacuum bag with the breast in a bath of ice water.
After this, you can keep the sous-vide breast in the fridge for 5-7 days and finish in the oven whenever you want. If you cook immediately:
Heat oven to 150 C (300 F) or convection 135 C (275F). Dry the breast with paper towels, season with the remaining salt/pepper mixture and cook the fat side up on a roasting tray lined with a wire rack for 1.5-2 hours or until a dark crust has formed.
Rest for 30 minutes before cutting.
What to serve the breast with:
bread rolls, dill pickles, sliced onions and barbecue sauce.
Want to make your own pickles? EASY. Try this recipe.
To amplify store-bought barbecue sauce, you
can use some of the liquid inside the sous vide bags, reduce it on the stove, and mix the store-bought barbecue sauce until you get the consistency and flavor you like.
For a delicious and healthy homemade version of barbecue sauce, Check out this recipe.
Storage of leftover
breast:
The stored breast (not in sauce) will last up to four days in the fridge.
If you liked this recipe, you may be interested in:
Slow cooker Barbecue
Easy breast overnight Dill pickles
Slow cooker Pulled BBQ Beef
Sous Vide Eggs
Did
you do this? Tag @everylittlecrumb or hashtag #everylittlecrumb and I’ll share your images!
