I have done a little reading, and I realize that in a lot of cases sous vide cooking with a good circulating immersion heater, is fairly expensive. Maybe this isn't the same, but I wanted to experiment after seeing it done so often on TV. I'd like to try with chicken combining butter, herbs (rosemary & thyme), and thin sliced either tenderloins or breast and vacuum sealing it with my food saver.
My main intent being to keep the food in direct constant contact with the butter and herbs. I imagine, that when I have sauteed chicken with herbs and butter by spooning the butter over it repeatedly, that maybe that would be similar, but I am curious about the texture difference.
My main question is, how do you gauge doneness on something like this? I suppose if the water is at a high temp, (just below a boil) that it would be fairly quick to cook thinly sliced chicken. Am I missing the point of sous vide technique? I see people do fish like this as well, and they do it fairly rapidly. I've never eaten food prepared like this so if someone could possibly describe the difference between something being poached this way vs sauteed, in flavor and texture, I'd be grateful.
