New to this method of cooking so have some more or less newbie questions
.
I can buy very nice boneless turkey breasts in my supermarket. As I live in the country I usually freeze them for later use.
Can I just put them in the water at the same degree for chicken breasts? Can I use the original packaging? How much time should I add to the cook time? Would it be advisable to defrost them first? I say this because it would seem putting something frozen in the water would probably be the same as adding ice to the water.
Thanks for any help on this.
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Mein, all meat has a high water content. So yes, frozen meat would be essentially the same as adding an equivalent mass of ice to the water bath.
I advise always thawing poultry slowly in your refrigerator. Fast thawing in hot water causes more cells to rupture in the process resulting in excessive moisture loss, which includes flavour loss too.
Unless the turkey breasts are packed in Cryovac brand shrink film, or an equivalent commercial product, don’t plan on using the store’s packaging film as it won’t hold a vacuum. Grocery store meat wrap is made to allow some molecules to pass through it to preserve appearance. That’s also why you shouldn’t freeze meat in it.
Cook time begins when the water temperature stabilizes at the set point. If you are satisfied with your chicken breasts, use that temperature. No higher.
Paper labels glued to the outside will start to shed little pieces and may cause problems with the heater and water flow. Easy enough to clean, but I always repackage.
Thanks for taking the time to respond to my query. Very helpful.
So my gut feeling was pretty correct.
Thaw.
Take the meat out of the vacuum pack from the supermarket.
Place in another pack with seasoning and cook at the recommended temp and time for poultry.
Thanks again.
Richard.
Never thought of that. Good advice.
Thanks.
Richard in Spain.
My pleasure.
You’ve got it now.
I did that once (kept the food in original packaging) with some pork ribs and it almost went horribly wrong as the bag ruptured right at the end of the cook as I was slowly taking them out of the water bath. I was super lucky that time, but never again. I would always repackage.
Richard’s comment about labels peeling off is also spot on.
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Anything with a bone is very risky when cooked in the retail packaging material. The ends of bones can be very sharp and as the meat cooks it shrinks so the bones protrude against the packaging. Water circulation can cause the bones to wear a hole in the package. Best to double pack.
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I have used the original packaging a few times. All ok, but as mentioned remove the paper labels!
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