On Nov 10, 12:49 pm, Doug Freyburger > wrote:
> Bobo Bonobo® > wrote:
> > aem > wrote:
> > > Bobo Bonobo® > wrote:
>
> > > > I put a whole chicken breast in the pressure cooker with two cloves of
> > > > pressed garlic, salt, cracked black pepper, Penzey's Aleppo chile
> > > > flakes, and a bit of water. It just seemed like a good idea.
> > > > The apartment smells very strongly of garlic. I hope the flavor gets
> > > > infused nicely into the chicken. [snip]
>
> > > The flavors sound good, but I'm wondering why the pressure cooker? I
> > > think of a pressure cooker as a way to deal with dishes that need long
> > > cooking, where the pressurized heat speeds up the process. And I
> > > think of chicken breast as a thing that cooks quickly. So I wouldn't
> > > have associated the two......how did it occur to you to take this
> > > approach?
>
> > I was hungry. The pressure cooker was clean, and right at eye level
> > in the cabinet. I thought it would keep the breast moist, and it
> > would be fast. All that was true. It only took about 7 or 8 minutes
> > of cooking. Next time, I'll only pressure cook it for about 5
> > minutes, then put it under the broiler to make the skin nice.
>
> I thought of pressure cooking as a way to forcefully diffuse the
> flavor of the garlic into the meat. With the faster cooking as a
> side effect of the pressure cooking method rather than the first
> goal. The opposite approach would be to mash the garlic, add
> to a marinade, then use a vacuum sealer to force the flavor into
> the meat. One's a positive pressure method, the other a negative
> pressure method.

I don't see how sealing meat inside a vacuum bag is going to force
marinade into the meat. And how can it be both pressure and vacuum
get marinade inside meat? If pressure causes liquid to flow in, I
would think vacuum would cause it to flow the opposite way.

The only vacuum method I'm aware of is the sous-vide method. With
that method you place raw meat and other ingedients in a plastic bag
under vacuum and then cook it at low temp, far below boiling, for a
longer time. The vaccum allows it to be cooked safely at temps
close to the danger zone, ie around 140 deg, without the risk of
bacteria growth. The low cooking temp and low temp poaching are
supposed to result in less change to the meat, giving it better
texture, look, taste, etc.



>
> If two cloves made your house seem filled with garlic, you
> don't cook with garic as often as we do. ;^) It's a great amount
> for one or two chicken breasts but a common amount at my
> home.- Hide quoted text -
>
> - Show quoted text -