Roasted chicken breast with bacon and cheese

[Josh71]

I just watched this Aussie Chicken recipe :

https://youtu.be/yHnWgiQDKcc

Basically, it's roasted chicken breast with bacon, sautéed mushrooms, honey mustard sauce and topped crispy cheese.

But I am thinking of better method instead of guessing the roasting time. I have never done this before and I don't like overcooked roast chicken breast.

Ok, sous vide would help.

Here is my idea of better method :

Sous vide chicken breast together with few pieces of bacon at 150F (65C) for 1 hour.

Then sear with oil and a bit of butter to brown it.

And finally, arrange it in baking tray.

"Glaze" with the honey mustard sauce.

Put some sautéed mushrooms, topped with cheese. Broil it under very hot oven (240C) "just" to melt the cheese.

Serve with more honey mustard sauce and crispy bacon.

Sounds good?

My concern is with the last broiling step, if that will dry up the seared chicken breast. But I don't have any other ideas.

[Smithy]

I can't comment on the sous vide time and temperature, but here's my thought: if you're worried about overcooking the meat during the cheese-melting stage (and I think I would be), try cooking the meat just a little less: until it's almost done, but not quite, and let the chicken finish cooking while the cheese is melting. What do you think?

[gfweb]

I'd say t hat that's too hot for the breast and not hot enough for the bacon.

 

I'd have to look it up, but 140 or 145F x 1 hour feels right for the chicken

 

The Mushroom layer would probably insulate t he breast for the time it took to melt the cheese

Edited November 2, 2015 by gfweb (log)

[Chris Hennes]

Yeah, I agree, I prefer 140F for chicken breast, but that's obviously not going to get the bacon to a reasonable doneness. How dedicated are you to cooking the chicken and the bacon at the same time? 

[Lisa Shock]

I'd separate out cooking the cheese. You can put it on a hot (greasy) pan and melt, then pick it up with a spatula  and place on top. If you want some browned bubbling, just broil for a few seconds before removing.

 

Sonic makes their 'grilled cheese' sandwich like this; they put two slices of bread and cheese all on the griddle, when the cheese is melty, they put it on top of one slice of bread then flip the other slice on top, and cut in half.

[rotuts]

too much honey

 

finish everything ( but the cheese ) in a steam oven together     as they do in an older ' dry ' oven    sans cheese 

 

pick the times and temps that finish what you started perfecty - in the steam oven ( still sans cheese )

 

you have a steam oven,  right ?

 

then steam-broil the cheese after you add it to the top

 

3 min max

 

less honey Id say

 

you can SV ahead the Chicks at indeed 140, chill, reheat etc  in that steam-0ven you have.

Edited November 2, 2015 by rotuts (log)

[Lisa Shock]

And, I should clarify. When I take a dish apart, I ask myself what would be the best way to prepare each component? And, does the dish really gain anything from having the ingredients being cooked together?

 

My answer right away is that I don't see the bacon benefiting from being treated like this, it's bound to become overcooked, steamed, soggy. I don't really know why the mushrooms are there, they are already cooked once, adding them to the bake isn't helping anything. The mushroom also seem an odd pairing with honey-mustard. I am also perplexed by the cheese, which does not seem to have much in common with the sauce -my guess is that it's being used to hide the food and keep people happy with it's addictive cheesy qualities, it wasn't chosen because it is delicious with HM. The chicken is clearly at risk of being improperly cooked in the original recipe. (and the original recipe seems like one of those recipes based on what a restaurant already has prepared just tossed together because it's easy/using leftovers)

 

My personal preference would be to serve just chicken and HM sauce, or chicken with a mushroom bacon sauce, or chicken and cheese. I am seeing a lot of umami being tossed into the pan here without thought for other flavor components, or harmony.

 

But, going forward with all components, I would make a plated entree rather than a casserole.

 

I'd look at adding honey (maybe powdered) and mustard flavor (maybe powdered) and possibly some bacon and powdered mushroom, during the dry brine phase, possibly under vacuum. -Just to tie it all together.

 

Sous vide with a final sear in brown butter sounds like a good finish for the chicken.

 

I'd cook the bacon separately and hold til plating. Same with the mushrooms, although I'd add a dash of mustard to their spice mix just to tie things together a little. (because, honestly, honey-mustard doesn't seem to really 'match' with mushrooms for me, nor with bacon, IMO, but I can see adjsuting bacon for a match with HM more easily than mushrooms)

 

I'd look at making a honey mustard sauce for the plate which incorporates bacon and mushroom flavors. Or, maybe make 2-3 sauces for the plate: honey mustard, mushroom, bacon.

 

Then, as stated before, I would cook the cheese on its own and slip it on just before service.

[gfweb]

I had been just thinking about the cooking temps, but I agree w Lisa, mustard and honey  clash with the mushrooms and don 't really cooperate with the bacon either. Lots of heavy flavors that don't pair well.

 

I think I'd add a touch of acid...diced cornichons or pickled onions or something...to brighten the thing.

 

Or maybe pickled mushrooms...

[Josh71]

Thanks for all the inputs, really appreciated.

 

For the temperature and timing, I took it from Serious Eats: 

http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/07/the-food-lab-complete-guide-to-sous-vide-chicken-breast.html

 

To be honest, I have never done sous vide chicken breast. So, I will adjust the temperature to 145F for 1 hour 15 minutes

 

I added the bacon in the sous vide bag is just for flavor, as I also found it in other recipe by David Chang Momofuku:

http://momofukufor2.com/2010/01/chicken-egg/

 

I thought this would improve the original recipe which also uses bacon during roasting.

 

For serving, I would add crispy bacon which would be cooked separately.

 

For the honey-mustard sauce, you right, the original recipe will be too sweet, much too sweet. And I don't like it either. But, I haven't figured out the sauce. For sure I would reduce the honey a lot, and replace the mayonnaise with Japanese Kewpie because it tastes more savory. 

 

Well, this all started because I watched that video. It looks interesting, and I thought it's a good start to try sous vide chicken breast

[rotuts]

very nice ref. for SV CkBr.

 

thanks