Breasts or thighs? What do you prefer?
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I’ve never been fond of breasts, I’ve always been keen on thighs. I find breasts dry and stringy, even when people tell me they have great breasts I’m usually disappointed. Thighs, however, rarely disappoint me. Thighs are succulent, juicy and moist without any of the dry stringiness of breasts.
I was recently challenged by my blogger friend, Mabel Kwong, to try to prepare breasts and make them as succulent, juicy and moist as thighs.
Well, until recently, I thought it would be impossible, but now that I am cooking sous vide, I may be able to find out if I can make breasts as well as thighs.
I mean I have my MEATER wireless meat thermometer, but in my mind, a meat thermometer is more for safety rather than texture and mouthfeel. I could poke my MEATER wireless meat thermometer into a breast and cook it precisely using the app until the internal temperature reaches the safe point for a breast. Such an approach wouldn’t necessarily guarantee a soft, tender, moist, and juicy breast.
The one disappointment though with this challenge is that I couldn’t find a breast with the bone in and skin on. I know I could have bought a whole bird and dissected out the breasts and thighs but I didn’t want to buy a whole bird. I wonder if dissecting out the breast can be called a mastectomy, I expect not. Dissecting out the maryland though, I reckon could be regarded as a hindquarter amputation.
So for this challenge, I used a breast sans skin and bone along with a thigh with bone in and skin on.
The cooking conditions I chose were 60 °C (140 °F) for three hours which should successfully pasteurise the flesh of harmful microorganisms.
The most common microorganisms of concern are Salmonella and Campylobacter. Both are pathogenic enteric bacteria which can cause not only diarrhoea but severe abdominal pain which presents as colic, along with fever and occasionally in severe infections, especially in immunocompromised persons, bacteræmia. Campylobacteriosis is also associated with arthritis and Guillain Barré Syndrome. Salmonellosis also has its share of nasty post-infectious problems too. It’s really important to ensure your meat is pasteurised and you handle your meat with tender loving care.
This advice goes for all forms of poultry.
If you read my recipe on sous vide kangaroo, you’ll also know there are concerns about parasites too.
I bought everything from Coles.
The zucchini noodles were prepared by Coles and in a microwave radiation-safe plastic bag.
I cooked sous vide with my Anova Culinary Precision Cooker.
