I am dying to trysomething sous vide style. I watch shows like Top Chef and Iron chef and what not and I see the technique used a lot but not a lot about "how". I poked around on the web and all I find is a lot of people disagreeing on everything from safety issues to supplies needed.

So here is what I am thinking and would like to put out for comment and suggestions.

I am thinking of taking a nice piece of chicken, putting it in a ziploc bag (the kind you can pump out the air), with butter and herbs (or some sort of vinegrette) and put it in the hot water. I have a good sturdy pot, digal thermometer, and vaccuum bags. Will this actually work since I obviously cant afford one of those vaccuum packers or an immersion circulator?

The next question is one of food safety. I was a pretty darn good solid line cook years ago and one thing that was just hammered into me was safe food handling, hygene, etc...you get the picture. This means I take ZERO chances with items like chicken.

So my questions:

1. Does my method have potential?
2. At what temp can I safely cook the chicken? And for how long?
3. Suggestions on recipe or technique?

I welcome all comments. I'm no rookie so no need to dumb it down or hold back either. I'm not qualified to even carry the VoBro's cutting boards, but complicated prep doesn't scare me a bit.

Thanks everyone!

The Paupered Chef did a post about sous-vide chicken breast a few weeks ago: http://thepauperedchef.com/2009/11/experiments-with-sous-vide-chicken.html   It seems like his basic idea is the same as yours (except as a pretty well-known food blogger he got a free test model of a new sous-vide circulator just put out for home use.)   I've played around with sous-vide style salmon at home with the same type of setup you are talking about and with pretty good success.  My main issue with using a stovetop setup is controlling the temperature of the water, which takes some diligence and would be a true pain in the butt for any longer projects (36 hour short ribs, anyone?)

how did you handle the salmon (specifics please) ?

Ziploc make a vacuum bag system that might work:

http://www.ziploc.com/?p=b10

I've used exactly the method you described (heavy-duty ziplock bags) and a thermometer in my pot, and it's worked perfect.

The only suggestion I'd have is to start the water well in advance, and to have quite a bit of it. It took me a while fumbling with the flame until i found the point where the temperature stayed more or less constant, and you want to have lots of water so that the temperature doesn't drop too much when you add your bags.

really I haven't done too much research here or found anything you can't just Google, but I found this link on brining salmon helpful:

http://chadzilla.typepad.com/chadzilla/2007/10/brining-salmon-.html

brining the salmone helps prevent it from exuding white stuff (protein, maybe?) when it is cooked sous-vide.    I do prefer my salmon medium well and sous-vide is perfect for this since the salmon doesn't dry out in the same way as other cooking methods. 

I've played with adding spice pastes to the packet (tandoori-spiced salmon was good) and I generally go with 145 degrees F for 20-30 minutes, but I do prefer a more well done salmon.  I second the suggestion for a big pot/lots of water; it does make it easier to control the temperatures.  Sous-vide (at least at my level) is a much more flexible method than I expected it to be.  Experiment and you'll figure it out.

I have also been really eager to give this style a try. Has anyone had experience with buying used lab equipment and giving it a thorough cleaning? I found a suggestion in a related discussion to search for a thermoregulator instead of an immersion circulator on ebay, as they seem to do the same thing. Anyone gone down this path before? I was also curious as to how many such devices people tend to have in their restaurants.. Feedback most welcome.

Helpful and interesting article on Sous Vide at home:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122004224561584255.html

Does anyone know how you determine the temperature of your water when using the sous vide method?