Heard good things about it from a couple friends who were at a party where the hosts had done some sort of buffalo chicken that way and it was delicious. I bought an Anova one. It came with a little booklet with basic meat type/doneness/temp/time directions but that’s about it.
Anyone have some good ideas they’ve tried sous vide?
Ohh yeah.
Pretty much everything that goes on the grill can be done sous vide first.
Its great for steaks and such, especially if you’re hosting a party when the “eating time” is determined by how everyone is feeling.
The theory is to control the temperature precisely, and then the time is not critical.
1-4 hours for a steak at 132 degrees, for example, produce around the same results, very nice, fully cooked rare.
The level of cooking (rare, medium, well) is almost completely dependent on the set temperature.
When that’s all done, you just sear over medium high heat, about 2-3 minutes per side to keep it medium rare inside and crispy outside.
Leave it on a little longer if somebody wants it well done.
Also, grilling with hardwood charcoal on a egg style grill is a another whole dimension of awesome.
I think Hmac is a big sous vide practicioner/fan.
What is the threat of botulism? I was interested in it, but read something about that? Or is that only an issue if you are pre-cooking and freezing or storing?
It’s a non-issue… Clostridium botulinum dies around 126 F… so make sure you cook at a minimum of 130 (lowest most sous vide systems go usually). Most other dangerous organisms kick off at around 135F so you could choose that as your personal minimum as well. What you don’t want to do is cook it and leave it in the bag for hours after it’s done cooking. Either freeze it or eat it.
I read somewhere on a sous vide support forum that most if not all dishes can be cooked at lower than standard temperatures and be totally safe. For example, chicken, fish and eggs can be safely prepped at a temp that is well below the accepted minimum safe handling temps but be risk free, with the bonus of having very delicate texture due to the low temp/long cooking time.
Not sure how that translates into the pre-cooking and/storage aspect outside of the routine safe handling procedures for sterilzation and proper storage methods.
I’m looking at the Chef Steps device as my entry into the trend, in part because of social media presence they have. Tons of community support and documentation there, so you might find what you are looking for by joining their group.
You can pasteurize with longer times at lower temps. Most sous vide doesn’t involve anything this complicated.
Thick steaks is where it really rocks. I prefer a cast iron skillet to finish.
Chicken or turkey breast is great. Throw some herbs and garlic in the bag. Once you make it you will recognize how often you get sous vide chicken at a restaurant.
Carrots are my favorite so far. I was never a big fan of cooked carrots, but now I can cook them with no chance of getting mushy.
I have a $15 temp controller powering a crockpot.
I do tons of sous vide cooking. On a weekly basis actually. I use the Joule and mainly do proteins, but have cooked vegetables which come out nicely done too. The Chef Steps app is very easy to use and their times and temps are spot on in my experience. I’ve only had one sous vide disappointment - ribs. I prefer ribs cooked traditionally on the BBQ.
I’m eager to get a second unit. Just waiting for the next sale.
Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
https://polyscienceculinary.com/blogs/news/17215983-food-safety-with-sous-vide-cooking
Anymore data driven discussion of the safety and process pathway.
Are the tech companies trying to passivize us? I’ve been getting sous vide videos in my YouTube suggestions for days now…
I found a blog where a guy took a garage sale rice cooker and did something similar. Less than $20 for parts, including the cooker. A bit of know how and the willingness to tinker is all it takes.
I think it’s more a growing social media presence becoming a peer driven marketing campaign. Everybody tweets, posts on Facebook, uploads their videos. Search engine optimization focuses on top hits for search terms, media content, etc…so it follows that as more people do it, more new people get suggested links to explore.
I just bought one and used it a few times. I like it but you have to plan ahead. Grilling/oven/skillet all take less time to do essentially the same thing. This however gives you a set temp so that the food comes out evenly cooked and the same every time. I know that both my grill and my stove top have cool and hot spots so I have to constantly rotate and even then you loose track of time for just a second and end result is one piece is more well done then another.
It’s almost like a slow cooker with the time frame it takes but meat comes out tasty
Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk
Yeah I’ve heard steaks can be tweaked consistently to rare/medium rare/medium/medium well etc.
Can you cook veggies in the same ziplock as the meat or are they cooked separately?
They get cooked at much different temperatures, so separate.
One of the best things about sous vide is you can take a cheap piece of meat and make it amazing. I love to do chuck roast when I’m cooking for a lot of people. It’s a 24 hour cook and when it is done you would swear it was a higher quality piece of meat. Very tender. Also, I find sous vide great for leaner meats like pork chops and chicken breasts. I also like to brine first so that elevates those cuts as well.
I’ve also made yogurt, flan, cheesecake, egg bites and have used sous vide to infuse olive oil with garlic and herbs. All with great results.
Sent from my SM-G950U using Tapatalk
Would you have brine in the cooking bag, or just prior? That is a pretty long time frame to plan ahead. I think I might try pork tenderloin or chicken.
Saw an interesting thing on eggs and pasturizing, but not cooking them.
I equilibrium brine before.
Typically, I’ll buy meat in bulk at Costco or if there is a sale at the local grocery. I’ll prep all at once (portion, season, etc.), then package (vacuum seal would be best, but freezer bags are just fine) in quantities of 1-4. Cook some and then freeze the rest. Then I can pull out the serving size needed right from the freezer directly into the sous vide bath. Great for quick week night meals.
So, yes, there is some planning needed, but it can also be very quick and convenient. Just depends.
It’s virtually the only way I cook serious meat. The advantages are many, but chief among them are timing of bringing the meal to table, and accommodating different levels of done-ness for steaks and roasts. I use an Anova device and typically cook in Rubbermaid containers of varying sizes. I leave them all in the sous vide bath and when ready to serve I sear them at 90 seconds per side on the Big Green Egg at 700 degrees over lump charcoal with Applewood chunks. Typically, I’ll hit Costco for most meat, take it home, vacuum-seal the individual steaks and pop them in the freezer. At any given time we have eight or ten 2-inch thick ribeyes in the freezer. I usually get tenderloins at the butcher. They work great in sous vide but it can take awhile from frozen. I have a buddy that uses his Anova to cook multiple big roasts like that in a Yeti cooler.
The only cut of meat I don’t sous vide is filet mignon. I like to marinate those for a few hours before grilling them…the low fat content limits the flavor, which the marinade provides.
You can dial the done-ness to the 1/10th of a degree. It took each of us awhile to tweak the cooking temps and figure out each of us likes their steaks cooked. I will typically cook my wife’s steak to 134, mine and my daughter’s to 139, my son’s 145, etc. I have the preferred temps of just about everyone I likely cook for. There are many in my circle of likely dinner companions that use sous vide. That’s convenient because they can just tell me the cooking temp that they prefer. The accuracy and consistency is entirely related to the cooker itself, which is calibrated to some scientific standard (not consumer/commercial) and is accurate to 0.1 degree C.
When cooking to different temps/done-ness, I cook the most done first, leave it in the bath and dial the temp down to the next steak, same for additional steaks working from most-done to least-done. I keep them all in the bath at the last temp when finished until everyone feels like they’re ready to eat or when the sides/veggies are done, then sear them on the BGE.
on a rib eye from frozen vs fresh using this method (been wanting to try this for years now) how much dif in taste ? I know I have tried to freeze (vacum) rib eye but the break down of the meat when thawing is always horrid compared ? looses moisture texture etc… after thawing etc…
tend to use grill or steel for cooking meat finding I prefer good french steel pans over cast iron these days
cheap cuts we often do in slow cooker such as roasts etc…