I definitely have a Sous Vide Supreme on my want list but since I recently dropped about $700 on a VitaMix set at Costoc it will probably be a while. :D One dish that really fascinates me when prepared Sous Vide is Fried Chicken. Have you tried this before? I love experimenting with new techniques to improve fried chicken and this one is very promising. (My other favorite method is pressure cooker fried chicken but that's pretty dangerous if you don't have the right equipment!) To make Sous Vide Fried Chicken soak your chicken in a strong brine for 30-40 minutes, rinse and soak in seasoned buttermilk for 8-12 hours. Season the meat with your preferred spices, maybe a little hot sauce or fresh buttermilk. Put the chicken in vacuum bags and cook at 160F for an hour. At that point you can dry the meat, coat in seasoned flour and fry it. Alternatively you can chill the meat down in ice water and hold in the fridge for quick frying later. The benefit to that method is that you can do all of the prep work for fried chicken in advance. Also, there are no worries about undercooked centers or dried meat. The chicken stays incredibly moist and the flavors really penetrate the meat. It's great if you want to cook a large amount of fried chicken for a crowd in a short amount of time. It's also good if you want to fry chicken to order. One warning though, you might want to cook the chicken to 165 though since the USDA has recently revised their meat cooking guidelines. Here is a link that might be useful: Hacking Your Slow Cooker: D.I.Y. Sous Vide Setup

Dcarch I hadn't thought about the relatively slight difference in temp for artichokes steamed and cooked SV. I was hoping that avoiding the loss of flavor into the water would be a significant difference. Water even under steamed artichokes is fragrant and green. Maybe I'll try SV again with small and very fresh 'chokes. And I'll be MUCH more sparing with the lemon. I routinely SV fish, lamb, beef, and venison, and the meats are always interesting and usually just flat great. I just discovered the SV Kitchen site as I searched for SV artichoke recipes and quite like it. I think this Saturday I will try their recipe for Chickpea Soup with Shrimp and Chorizo. Never considered soup in the SV. You have been my inspiration and resource more often than you can imagine. Because of your information, I am seriously considering putting together an inexpensive and easily stored SV system I can use in smallish saucepans or small coolers. Cranking up the Supreme for four eggs is a bit much. I would love to know which other forums you might recommend. Sandra (edited to add link to the soup) Here is a link that might be useful: Chickpea soup with chorizo and shrimp This post was edited by Bellsmom on Fri, Mar 7, 14 at 11:16

Made chicken breasts yesterday, after some research. It's the reason I bought the sous vide. I will be raising chickens this year, but I've never ever eaten chicken breast that I truly enjoyed. It's dry and it's stringy, no matter how it is prepared or by whom. 149 F, 2 hours, skin on. Cooked with salt, pepper, fresh thyme. Wrapped one with a slice of bacon, added avocado oil to the other. Sliced and served under a sauce/topping of butter, onion, lime, many mushrooms, spinach, tarragon, melted cheese, wine. I'm a fan!!! I even enjoyed the test slice I topped with nothing.

It's another toy. Buy one. Have fun! I haven't had mine for too long, but so far, so good! Tonight we had steak, which I put in the bath for a couple of hours before finishing it on the grill. The best part is that I don't have to worry about final timing....need an extra 30 minutes? No worries and no disasters! And I've never made such moist and tender chicken breast or pork chops as when it's done SV.