I wanted to try duck breast sous vide, which I had never made before. I scored and seared on the fat side, rubbed with salt and pepper, and bagged with the rendered fat from searing and a tiny bit of dark maple syrup. Following the Modernist Cuisine kitchen manual I cooked at 55.5C for about 3.5 hours. (MC recommends 55C for 2:17 after the core reaches temp; the disparity in time and temp was due to trying to schedule around a talk I wanted to hear.)
After cooking the meat had a pleasant pink color, though not the deep pink/almost red I was expecting. The flavor was very pleasant and the meat was moist, but the texture was dense and unpleasantly chewy.
What did I do wrong/how can I do better next time?
Thanks!
