Do Any of You Sous Vide?

[Eric]

I’ve never been good at cooking meats. Everything I try always comes out tough, or dry or both. I’ve tried a few different methods and kitchen gadgets to help, but haven’t had much luck, until I found out about Sous Vide. It’s a cooking method where you cook foods in vacuum bags immersed in water, at very precise temps.

i bought a Sous Vide appliance and have experimented with it a couple times. My second attempt yesterday was a seasoned turkey breast. It is the best turkey I’ve ever tasted. The texture is like nothing I’ve ever had, with poultry. It was easy to use. Even I couldn’t screw it up.

anyone else into this?

[OGW]

Yes. The trick is to use HOT cast iron for a very quick sear after whatever you make in the bath. Aside from steaks, lamb chops, pork chops and chicken breast, I use it to cook chicken (light and/or dark meat) or pork for dishes like Thai curries and add the meat at the very last minute after everything else in the dish is ready.  Chicken done at 140F doesn't get the tiniest bit tough and maintains its juiciness.  Just be sure to consult a good sous vide guide to make sure you achieve pasteurization, lower temps = longer times.

You can also do a pot roast at 135F for 36 hours and it'll be tender w/o being dry.  Prepare all the rest of the ingredients, onions, carrots, whatever else you like and then use the juices in the sous vide bag to make gravy, add the meat when done.

I haven't yet tried pulled pork, but that's coming.

ETA:  Foodlab/Serious Eats is an all encompassing website for sous vide information.

Edited August 20, 2019 by OGW

[Eric]

10 minutes ago, OGW said:

Yes. The trick is to use HOT cast iron for a very quick sear after whatever you make in the bath. Aside from steaks, lamb chops, pork chops and chicken breast, I use it to cook chicken (light and/or dark meat) or pork for dishes like Thai curries and add the meat at the very last minute after everything else in the dish is ready.  Chicken done at 140F doesn't get the tiniest bit tough and maintains its juiciness.  Just be sure to consult a good sous vide guide to make sure you achieve pasteurization, lower temps = longer times.

You can also do a pot roast at 135F for 36 hours and it'll be tender w/o being dry.  Prepare all the rest of the ingredients, onions, carrots, whatever else you like and then use the juices in the sous vide bag to make gravy, add the meat when done.

I haven't yet tried pulled pork, but that's coming.

ETA:  Foodlab/Serious Eats is an all encompassing website for sous vide information.

Thanks for the input. I’ve seen a bunch of videos on You Tube that I want to try. I’ll probably try a roast next. The vids I’ve seen say that you can make a really average hunk of roast taste like the best roast beef. I want to experiment with fish as well.

There are a couple of stores in my area that sell individually vacuum-packaged chicken breasts with a wide variety of marinades and spices. It seems really convenient to be able to just stick the already packaged meat right into the water bath. I used the original packaging with the turkey breast yesterday and it worked great.

I’ll check out that site. Thanks. 

[GlocknSpiehl]

My wife bought us a soup vide immersion unit, and while we were good cooks before, this has totally upped our game.

Ribeyes sous vide for like 3 hours at 120F then into the super hot fry pan with oil and butter for about 30 seconds per side.

Heaven!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[willie-pete]

Steaks, spare ribs and shrimp are my favorites.

[Eric]

4 minutes ago, willie-pete said:

Steaks, spare ribs and shrimp are my favorites.

I was just watching a video on Sous Vide steak on the Serious Eats website that @OGW recommended. My mouth is watering. I’m going to give that a try this week.

[Eric]

What kind of Sous Vide appliances do y’all have? I have a Dash Sous Vide cooker (Pictured in the first post of the thread). I’m finding the size a little restricting though. I am considering buying an Anova 800w unit, like the one below.

[Maser]

I'm always open to new cooking ideas, but I'm pretty stubborn in how I cook steak.  It's always either grilled or broiled.  One of these days I'll give low temperature steak cooking a try. 

[Eric]

1 hour ago, Maser said:

I'm always open to new cooking ideas, but I'm pretty stubborn in how I cook steak.  It's always either grilled or broiled.  One of these days I'll give low temperature steak cooking a try. 

I love the idea of the whole interior of the steak being a perfect rare, or medium-rare, etc. I don’t know of another cooking method that could accomplish that. I can’t wait to try it.

[Historian]

Eric it's the only way to cook thick luscious steaks.

[tous]

Everybody over to Eric's house for thick, luscious steak!

[Eric]

5 minutes ago, tous said:

Everybody over to Eric's house for thick, luscious steak!

I knew a guy named Lucius in the Army. Everyone called him Luscious, for no particular reason. His wife insisted he get a vasectomy and he let Army doctors do it. They nicked a vein during his operation and his scrotum swelled up big as a grapefruit afterward. It was painful to watch that poor bastard walk, for about three weeks. 

[Cougar_ml]

 

 

I'm cheap and wanted to try out the idea, so I bought a $15 digital temp controller with probe, used some old wiring and outlet, and a cheap crock pot.

Knock it all you want, but it works, and I'm into it something like $30-$40 total.  Just used it a couple days ago, bought a carne asada sliced bottom round roast, put it in at 125F overnight, then put it in the fridge.  Slowly eating my way through it a couple slices at a time quick seared on the cast iron pan on medium-high and some butter.  Can cut it with a plastic fork, but I normally just toss a couple slices in a tortilla with some cheese and some bbq or other sauce.  Also great with Indonesian instant noodles (take like 3 minutes to cook).  Pretty much just stick with roasts cooked overnight, then chilled in the fridge before frying up slices on the hot pan.  Gotta chill them or you will overcook the center before getting the mailard reaction done enough for good flavor.  The butter also helps.

I just toss everything in a gallon ziplock bag to put in the crock pot.  Handles about 4-5lb roast no problem, though I occasionally turn it over.  Just have to make sure the temp probe is down in the water or it will overcook everything.

[Eric]

9 minutes ago, Cougar_ml said:

 

 

I'm cheap and wanted to try out the idea, so I bought a $15 digital temp controller with probe, used some old wiring and outlet, and a cheap crock pot.

Knock it all you want, but it works, and I'm into it something like $30-$40 total.  Just used it a couple days ago, bought a carne asada sliced bottom round roast, put it in at 125F overnight, then put it in the fridge.  Slowly eating my way through it a couple slices at a time quick seared on the cast iron pan on medium-high and some butter.  Can cut it with a plastic fork, but I normally just toss a couple slices in a tortilla with some cheese and some bbq or other sauce.  Also great with Indonesian instant noodles (take like 3 minutes to cook).  Pretty much just stick with roasts cooked overnight, then chilled in the fridge before frying up slices on the hot pan.  Gotta chill them or you will overcook the center before getting the mailard reaction done enough for good flavor.  The butter also helps.

I just toss everything in a gallon ziplock bag to put in the crock pot.  Handles about 4-5lb roast no problem, though I occasionally turn it over.  Just have to make sure the temp probe is down in the water or it will overcook everything.

Whatever works. Clever setup. How precise do you think the temperature control is? I’m curious. 

[Eric]

11 minutes ago, Cougar_ml said:

 

 

I'm cheap and wanted to try out the idea, so I bought a $15 digital temp controller with probe, used some old wiring and outlet, and a cheap crock pot.

Knock it all you want, but it works, and I'm into it something like $30-$40 total.  Just used it a couple days ago, bought a carne asada sliced bottom round roast, put it in at 125F overnight, then put it in the fridge.  Slowly eating my way through it a couple slices at a time quick seared on the cast iron pan on medium-high and some butter.  Can cut it with a plastic fork, but I normally just toss a couple slices in a tortilla with some cheese and some bbq or other sauce.  Also great with Indonesian instant noodles (take like 3 minutes to cook).  Pretty much just stick with roasts cooked overnight, then chilled in the fridge before frying up slices on the hot pan.  Gotta chill them or you will overcook the center before getting the mailard reaction done enough for good flavor.  The butter also helps.

I just toss everything in a gallon ziplock bag to put in the crock pot.  Handles about 4-5lb roast no problem, though I occasionally turn it over.  Just have to make sure the temp probe is down in the water or it will overcook everything.

Thinking about it, if the temperature control is accurate enough, the only potential problem I see is the lack of water circulation. If the water isn’t moving around, you could have some temperature variation. Like I said though, it is a clever setup.

[tous]

6 minutes ago, Eric said:

Thinking about it, if the temperature control is accurate enough, the only potential problem I see is the lack of water circulation. If the water isn’t moving around, you could have some temperature variation. Like I said though, it is a clever setup.

ml of Cougar has a slide rule, so it has to work well. 

Unless the liquid is circulated, thermal layers will develop that may exhibit significant temperature difference.

Hotter near the source of energy, but the hotter water may just bump into a thermal layer that is colder rather than rise to the top and get lost to the environemnt.

So, you get hot liquid near the energy source, but relatively cold zones elsewhere.

If the liquid has other elements dissolved in it, such as lead or copper or a salt such as sodium chloride, calcium chloride or one of my favorites, sodium bisulfate, the effect is more pronounced.

I loves me my thermodynamics.

[SC Tiger]

7 hours ago, tous said:

ml of Cougar has a slide rule, so it has to work well. 

Unless the liquid is circulated, thermal layers will develop that may exhibit significant temperature difference.

Hotter near the source of energy, but the hotter water may just bump into a thermal layer that is colder rather than rise to the top and get lost to the environemnt.

So, you get hot liquid near the energy source, but relatively cold zones elsewhere.

If the liquid has other elements dissolved in it, such as lead or copper or a salt such as sodium chloride, calcium chloride or one of my favorites, sodium bisulfate, the effect is more pronounced.

I loves me my thermodynamics.

Was thinking the same thing but the Sous Vide would have the same problem, no?  I assume the heat is introduced via the walls of the pot but is there a circulation system?

 

8 hours ago, tous said:

Everybody over to Eric's house for thick, luscious steak!

And afterwards we have a Maxima Welding Party!!!!

[SC Tiger]

7 hours ago, Cougar_ml said:

 

 

I'm cheap and wanted to try out the idea, so I bought a $15 digital temp controller with probe, used some old wiring and outlet, and a cheap crock pot.

Knock it all you want, but it works, and I'm into it something like $30-$40 total.  Just used it a couple days ago, bought a carne asada sliced bottom round roast, put it in at 125F overnight, then put it in the fridge.  Slowly eating my way through it a couple slices at a time quick seared on the cast iron pan on medium-high and some butter.  Can cut it with a plastic fork, but I normally just toss a couple slices in a tortilla with some cheese and some bbq or other sauce.  Also great with Indonesian instant noodles (take like 3 minutes to cook).  Pretty much just stick with roasts cooked overnight, then chilled in the fridge before frying up slices on the hot pan.  Gotta chill them or you will overcook the center before getting the mailard reaction done enough for good flavor.  The butter also helps.

I just toss everything in a gallon ziplock bag to put in the crock pot.  Handles about 4-5lb roast no problem, though I occasionally turn it over.  Just have to make sure the temp probe is down in the water or it will overcook everything.

I have those same countertops.  

[Al Czervik]

I have been using an immersion circulator for many years.  

The only way I can eat chicken or turkey breast is if it has been cooked in the hot tub.  I always kept SV chicken breast or eye of round for the kids' sandwiches when they were younger.

If you like roast beef, try an eye of round SV....super tender and juicy.

I frequently SV whole beef tenderloins, racks of lamb, galantines/ballotines, etc.  It makes entertaining much easier.

[Eric]

2 hours ago, SC Tiger said:

Was thinking the same thing but the Sous Vide would have the same problem, no?  I assume the heat is introduced via the walls of the pot but is there a circulation system?

 

And afterwards we have a Maxima Welding Party!!!!

Sous Vide cookers continuously circulate the water. Look at the pictures of my SV cooker in the first post. There is a vortex in the water from the circulation. In the case of that unit, there is a plastic covered steel capsule in that chamber on the bottom of the cooker that is spun by a magnetic field. 

[Maser]

5 minutes ago, Eric said:

There is a vortex in the water from the circulation.

 

I can't tell which way it's spinning in the pic.  Now I have no way of knowing if you're above or below the Equator. 

[OGW]

13 hours ago, Eric said:

 

13 hours ago, Eric said:

 I want to experiment with fish as well.

I find that fish falls apart when you take it out of the bag, no matter how low the temp you use.  I think I used 125F for halibut, tastes great that way but you can forget about searing it.  When I make a fish chowder, I do the fish in the sous vide tank and add it to everything else at the last minute, same as I do with chicken or pork in a curry.  I like not overcooking the fish or whatever other meat I use in the dish I'm prepping.

 

 

[Cougar_ml]

I've moved the temp probe around the crock pot a few times, didn't seem to make much difference.  It's 1/2" ceramic, so seems to spread the heat pretty evenly around everything.

I think the water circulation is more important on the other types because of single spot heat generation, it needs to be distributed, whereas the crock acts as the heat distributor/diffuser in this case.

As for accuracy, I don't really know.  I haven't measured it to compare with anything else, but it does seem to be consistent, which to me is more important.

 

And I'm technically a millennial, so I don't have a slide rule and can't remember if I've ever seen one in real life.  

[Al Czervik]

4 hours ago, OGW said:

 

I've only had luck with thick, fatty fish, like salmon.  SV butter poached lobster, though is a thing of beauty.  Plus, it can sit at done temp for up to 2 hours.

[OGW]

37 minutes ago, Al Czervik said:

I've only had luck with thick, fatty fish, like salmon.  SV butter poached lobster, though is a thing of beauty.  Plus, it can sit at done temp for up to 2 hours.

I do shrimp, too, similarly and also to cook for use in curries, again added at the very last minute.

I've done ribs with a dry rub in the bag, then a quick broil to make a bit of a crust.  With ribs, you can do them anywhere from 8 hours at 165F to 36 hours at 140F.  I find that I get nice texture (not fall off the bones) with ~12 hours at 143F.  It's all personal preference.  It's a nice way to make them in the middle of winter when I don't feel like tending the Weber.