I cooked sous vide in a bbq competition where we were not allowed to use electricity. Brought water up to temp in a lobster pot, poured into igloo cooler, waited for temp to stabilize, added vacuum sealed meat and placed top on cooler. Checked temp every 15 mins and added hot water as needed.
Some pizza obsessives (like me) do something similar with dough fermentation and run a temp probe under the cover of a cooler with ice.
Now that I see what a relative lot of work it seems to be, I will stick with poaching or roasting! Too much other stuff going on in my life.
if your instapot/air fryer has a sous vide mode…
Are you a fan of Charlie the Chain Baker? He similarly seems obsessed with temp and dough fermentation effects of temperature.
I’m not very careful that way, other than sometimes putting a resting dough in the oven with the light on to hasten fermentation, and that’s probably at least one of the reasons his results consistently outshine mine. I could list other reasons, too… I’ve learned a ton of stuff watching his vids and reading his website.
No, never heard of him, the term pizza obsessives comes from the pizza making forum. Here’s a typical journey:
Many thanks. I’ve learned a huge amount of info from that forum in just the few days since you linked it in the “Pizza temperature” thread (including I’ve ordered a steel to be delivered next week!).
Charlie is here (below) - he’s got a lot of very finely tuned bread recipes.
Thanks, looks like a talented baker!
Don’t be afraid to start your own thread over at pizza making, you’ll find, much like here, a supportive community.
Best,
The Frugal Gourmet and others call for submerging a whole chicken in salted water, then bringing it to a slow boil. Turn off the burner, cover the pot, and leave it alone for an hour. Remove bird from pot, cool enough to debone. Return skin and carcass to pot, add aromatic vegetables, keep simmering to make soup stock or demi-glace.
If a whole chicken takes an hour of steeping, a breast (whole) should take around 30-40 minutes.
Don’t have one of those either 
One of the following (though most often I’m using leftover chicken from something else for salad):
– Low & slow in the oven (250-275) — cover with foil or parchment if you’re worried about the outside drying out a bit
— Poached Chinese white-cut style (aka Hainanese style) — bring water to a boil with aromatics, submerge chicken, bring back to a simmer, then turn down and cover or turn off the heat and leave till done.
When I’m done with the main protein on the Smokey Joe, I’m sure to throw down some blsl thighs for my chickeny needs over the next few days. Then comes the veg.
Coming back to update this.
Sous vide at 145 for 3 hours, best textured chicken salad I’ve made to date. (150-155 for thighs.)
@CCE i think you should be able to approximate it stovetop, as it’s a similar texture to Cantonese poached chicken (white cut chicken).
Thanks!
I poach them in a large baking dish covered in water dashes of white pepper, covered for a hour or so, turning twice until done. I remove them after they’ve cooled down a bit and refrigerate until needed. I have two shredded and ready to make a curried chicken salad later today.
It could be just my imagination, but I found that when I poach chicken breast at barely a simmer, and then let it cool down in the broth, it tends to leave the meat much softer and less stringy than if I boil it hard or remove it and let it cool on a plate.
+1 on sous vide chicken breast at 142 to 145f. I do that for chicken soup and chicken salad. Also prepare turkey breast for Thanksgiving at that temp.
