HOW TO EASILY SOUS-VIDE IN OVEN, WITH OR WITHOUT WATER

First, for chicken breasts, you can have them bone-in, bone-out, skin-on, skin-off, whatever.  I personally prefer boneless, but skin-on chicken breasts.  For each chicken breasts (not a “pair” of breasts but a single side), evenly rub 2 tsp of salt and 1 tbsp of neutral wine like Japanese sake, and let sit for 30 min.  The salt seasons and draws excess water out of the breasts, bettering the flavours, and the sake gives the chicken a cleaner/more refined tastes.  

Rinse the chicken off of any excess salt then pat dry with a towel.

FOR WATER-BATH: place the chicken breast inside a zip-lock bag, then drizzle with just enough olive oil to coat evenly.  Zip the bag until it’s 80% sealed, leaving a small air-slit.  Then roll the chicken inside the bag tightly, squeezing out as much air as out of the bag as you can, then close the air-slit to seal the bag completely.

FOR NO WATER-BATH: place the chicken breast on top of a large piece of parchment, then coat it evenly with olive oil.  Wrap the chicken tightly inside the parchment like wrapping a sandwich.

FOR WATER-BATH:  We want to cook the chicken breasts in a 150 F/65 C water-bath for 1:00.

Preheat the oven 30 min ahead of time until the oven thermometer reads and stays at 175~185 F/80~85 C (the oven-temperature needs to be higher to make up for the heat-loss that goes into cooking the meat).  Every oven is different, so you’ll need to get to know your oven a little.  ALWAYS GO WITH THE TRUE TEMPERATURE ON THE THERMOMETER, and not the oven setting.  My oven usually starts at a lower temperature when the preheating-light goes off, but then the temperature goes up pretty accurately after a 30 min of preheating-time.  Meanwhile, tie the water/meat thermometer to the pot so it doesn’t fall, then fill the pot with the hottest tap-water (which is usually around 120F/50C).  Heat the pot of water on the stove until it goes up to 155 F/68 C, then turn off the heat, and slowly submerge the chicken inside the bag, into the water (DO NOT do more than 2 breasts at a time).  The temperature will drop back to 150 F/65 C, which is what we want.  Now transfer the pot into the preheated oven.  Close it.  Then set the timer for 1:00.  You may need to come back to it once or twice to monitor the temperature for the first time, but once you find the “sweet spot”, it’ll all be effortless.

FOR NO WATER-BATH:  We want to cook the chicken breasts in dry heat, at 195 F/90 C for 1:40.

Air conducts heat not as well as water, so the temperature needs to be slightly higher compared to a water-bath, and the cooking-time a bit longer.  But I prefer this method, which in m opinion, is fuss-free and easier.  Preheat the oven 30 min ahead of time until the temperature reaches and stays at 195 F/90 C.  Again, always go with the true temperature on the thermometer and NOT the oven setting.  Now, without any baking-sheet or pan, place the parchment-wrapped chicken breasts directly on the middle baking-rack (with the skin-side up if your chicken has skin)(that thing on the right was a pork-chop, which is another post).  Then set the timer for 1:40.

Remove the chicken breasts from the bath or oven after cooking, and let rest for 15 min.

As you can see, there’s very little difference on the appearance of the cooked chicken breasts, except for the dents from the baking-rack for “no water-bath”.  Now if you used skin-on breasts, crisp up the skin in a hot skillet until golden browned.  What’s great about this method is that you can cook the breasts the day before, then crisp it up/warm it up before serving.

Now, the set of rules goes just the same as cooking salmon.  Rub 1 tbsp of salt on a mid-cut section of a skin-on salmon fillet, and let sit for 30 min.  It draws the water out and seasons the fish.

See, same thing here.

Rinse the salmon off of any excess salt then pat dry with a towel.

FOR WATER-BATH: place the salmon inside a zip-lock bag, then drizzle with just enough olive oil to coat evenly.  Zip the bag until it’s 80% sealed, leaving a small air-slit.  Then roll the salmon inside the bag tightly, squeezing out as much air as out of the bag as you can, then close the air-slit to seal the bag completely.

FOR NO WATER-BATH: place the salmon on top of a large piece of parchment, then coat it evenly with olive oil.  Wrap the salmon tightly inside the parchment like wrapping a sandwich.

FOR WATER-BATH:  We want to cook the salmon in a 120 F/50 C water-bath for 0:40 min.

Preheat the oven 30 min ahead of time until the oven thermometer reads and stays at 150~158 F/65~70 C (the oven-temperature needs to be higher to make up for the heat-loss that goes into cooking the meat).  The same techniques.  Tie the water/meat thermometer to the pot so it doesn’t fall, then fill the pot with the hottest tap-water (which is usually around 120F/50C).  Heat the pot of water on the stove until it goes up to 127 F/53 C, then turn off the heat, and slowly submerge the salmon inside the bag, into the water (DO NOT do more than 2 salmon at a time).  The temperature will drop back to 120 F/50 C, which is what we want.  Now transfer the pot into the preheated oven.  Close it.  Then set the timer for 40 min.  You may need to come back to it once or twice to monitor the temperature for the first time, but once you find the “sweet spot”, it’ll all be effortless.

FOR NO WATER-BATH:  We want to cook the salmon in dry heat at 150~158 F/65~70 C for 1:20.

Preheat the oven 30 min ahead of time until the oven thermometer reads and stays at 150~158 F/65~70 C.  Without any baking-sheet or pan, place the parchment-wrapped salmon directly on the middle baking-rack, with the skin-side down.  Set the timer for 1:20.

Remove the salmon from the bath or oven, and let rest for 15 min.

See, barely any difference.

Nothing but edible epiphany.  I urge you to try this technique with this recipe.

Now, the hot spring/onsen/soft-boiled eggs.  I already published a post on cooking these eggs on the stove, or using dry heat which I called sauna eggs (in a nut-shell, we want to cook the eggs in dry heat at 185 F/85 C for 0:53 min), so I won’t repeat myself.

FOR WATER-BATH in the oven:  we want to cook the eggs in a water-bath at 158 F/70 C for 0:23 min.

Preheat the oven 30 min ahead of time until the oven thermometer reads and stays at 185 F/85 C (the oven-temperature needs to be higher to make up for the heat-loss that goes into cooking the eggs).  The same techniques.  Tie the water/meat thermometer to the pot so it doesn’t fall, then fill the pot with the hottest tap-water (which is usually around 120F/50C).  Heat the pot of water on the stove until it goes up to 163 F/73 C, then turn off the heat, and slowly submerge the 6~8 large eggs into the water.  The temperature will drop back to 158 F/70 C, which is what we want.  Now transfer the pot into the preheated oven.  Close it.  Then set the timer for 23 min.  You may need to come back to it once or twice to monitor the temperature for the first time, but once you find the “sweet spot”, it’ll all be effortless.

You can keep the cooked eggs in the fridge, and crack them as needed.