Sous Vide: Getting Started Class

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ChefSteps

Joule® Turbo Sous Vide

1-gallon Ziplock-style freezer bag(s)

Large pot(s)

Sous Vide Chicken Breast

Warm Mustard Potato Salad

NOTE: Once you’ve got the breasts in the bath, you can move on to Step 2 and make the potato salad, then sear the breasts just before serving.{activity:17CSh4WWmALIessgOY6CFR}

Sous vide chicken breast is juicy, tender, and just how you like it, every single time. This is worry-free weekday cooking at its finest.

Make Sous Vide Chicken Breasts

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Make Warm Mustard Potato Salad

Divide salad among warmed plates. Place chicken breasts on top. Serve immediately.

Assemble

For a moment, forget the potato salad on summer picnics—the cold, simple side that pairs so well with porky barbecue. Picture, instead, a candlelit kitchen on a chilly fall or winter evening. There’s you and your family, gathered closely around the table. Maybe you’ve got a nice-sized goblet of pinot noir or gewürztraminer—a wine with a little spice, let’s say, but not too heavy bodied. And oh, here’s dinner: a warm potato salad, made from earthy fingerlings and whole-grain mustard and nestled beneath crisp-skinned chicken breast, cooked gently to retain its light, lovely juices and tender meat. Fragrant and cozy, this is comfort food sans the signature heavy quality, a dish you can whip up easily on a weekday evening and savor like it was Christmas Eve. It’s a dish that sets a scene, then delivers a performance that exceeds expectations.

Chicken Breast With Warm Mustard Potato Salad

How do you cook chicken breasts that are juicy, well-seasoned, and have a perfectly browned and crisped cap of skin? Easy: Cook them sous vide.Chicken breasts have a bad reputation: They’re dry; they’re bland; they’re the protein of choice for the elderly, the infirm, and people who meal prep on Sundays. They’re protein as medicine, for those with sensitive stomachs or insensate tongues. They’re very bad; no gourmand would want them.None of this is true. The truth is chicken breasts are delicious, but they’re just hard to cook well using conventional methods. They’re shaped weird, and they&#39;re very lean: If you don’t nail the cooking technique, then yes, they’re gonna be dry (although they never really have to be bland!). Sous vide makes cooking chicken breasts easy. Pick a temperature—[f 149] is our favorite—and bag the breasts up with some seasoning and let them gently cook. When you pull them out, they’ll be incredibly juicy and perfectly cooked from edge to edge. They’re so good you’ll wonder if you’ve ever really tasted a chicken breast before! Sear them up and serve them with a <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/bright-and-bold-carrot-puree">carrot purée</a> and a <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/crispy-crunchy-apple-fennel-salad-with-walnuts-and-honeybright">shaved apple-fennel salad</a>, and you’ve got a meal straight out of a beloved neighborhood bistro. (Only the chicken is 10 times better!)

Some foods are best at their simplest, and potato salad is most certainly among them. We like ours with a healthy amount of tangy mustard and are not shy about tossing some room-temperature butter into the mix. Vinegar lends more tang, and homemade mayonnaise amps up the flavor—though you can always use store-bought in a pinch. Season with a little salt and pepper, then sprinkle with fresh minced chives, and you’ve got a great side dish to serve alongside juicy chicken breasts or pork chops. Alternatively, you can chill the salad in the fridge and bring it along to your next tailgate party or neighborhood potluck. Crack a beer, kick back, and savor an uncomplicated, deeply comforting dish.