Sous vide

[pnoon]

Forgot to post other recent sous vide successes.

1" thick swordfish steak seasoned with salt, pepper, EVOO, lemon juice, and fresh thyme . Cooked at 128 for 40 minutes. Finished in a cCast iron skillet ~60 seconds per side.
Moist and tender. Definitely will do this again.

Johnsonville Bratwurst seasoned with salt. Cooked at 147.5 for just under 3 hours. Brats were great. Finishing with Searzall a big fail. Cast iron next time.

Sweet Italian sausage. No pre-seasoning. Cooked at 147.5 for 2.5 hours. Delicious. Very tender and juicy. Served with homemade lasagna. Might try a higher temp to give links more of a snap/bite.


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[stearns]

Spent most of the weekend cooking, made a ramen broth ala momofuku, similar to this but following the directions from Chang in Mind Of A Chef (same recipe, longer times). The whole broth process took about 12 hours, but it was all eclipsed by the pork belly.

Got a chunk about 2 pounds from the butcher, didn't have time to do a full 36 hour cook so I did 10 hours at 170*. I used a tare-like sauce similar to here, but the best part was following the directions at the end of this one for after coming out of the tub. I strained the cooking juice and reduced it down probably by 75%, what was left was a thick black syrup, I used that to glaze the belly and holy ****, this was one of the best things I've eaten in a long time. I could have used canned chicken soup and the whole dish would have shined almost as brightly because of the belly. Can't wait to make it again, next time with the full 36 hour cook.

Prepped the juicy lucy's to make for dinner tonight, used 2/3 ground beef 1/3 chorizo, made the patties 0.5 oz bigger to try to add some girth to the outside to prevent spillage and vac sealed, will report back with results

[stearns]

I'd call attempt #2 at juicy lucy's a success, cheese stayed in all three up until I flipped them, after there were a few spots where you could see it but only one of the three had enough spill over to touch the grill pan. I cooked them to 133* in the SV but I was worried about the temperature of the chorizo I put in so I kept them on the pan for a little longer than I would with just beef. The vacuum sealer definitely helped them keep their shape and seal the seams. The cheese kept in their little pockets for all and stayed there pretty much until the last bite, but was still oozy and not too hot. One did overflow out the other side on the first bite but that wasn't the one I was eating, so I'll chalk that up to user error

[stearns]

Cooked up a little hunk of brisket yesterday, it was about 1.75LB, leftovers from a couple weeks ago when I bought a bigger chunk but didn't need all of it. When I first cut it up I made a roasted garlic paste/marinade similar to this one, slathered it on and vac sealed. Saturday afternoon I put that from the freezer into a 155* bath for 24 hours, took it out yesterday afternoon and put it on the cast iron with a little bacon fat and olive oil. It seared up excellently, not quite the bark you'd expect from smoked brisket but enough of a little crunch to fit in. This thing was super tender, just enough fat to keep things interesting but once sliced I didn't even need a knife to cut further, just the side of a fork. The juice from the bag made a great pan sauce while the steak was resting with just a little shallots, extra garlic, white wine and a touch of cream. It was a lot of time/effort for such a small piece, but it was a generous portion for three people, or in my case two people and leftovers for lunch

[stearns]

Next mini-project is bourbon infused cherries, probably don't need to do it in the SV but not gonna let that stop me. From what I gather it's just take the pit out of the cherries, put in a mason jar and cover with bourbon, let it sit in a water bath at 135* for a couple hours. Cherries were looking good at the store last week so I got a big bag of them, and took a hand full out to de-pit. These are now sitting in a mason jar in the freezer, gonna pick up some bourbon soon and will just cover them then put in the bath. This should also yield some cherry bourbon, not the intended output but it should be fun to experiment with in small amounts mixing into drinks. I'll probably take a separate mini mason and put some maraschinos in following the same process just to see what happens

[BigAsh]

Originally Posted by stearns

Next mini-project is bourbon infused cherries, probably don't need to do it in the SV but not gonna let that stop me. From what I gather it's just take the pit out of the cherries, put in a mason jar and cover with bourbon, let it sit in a water bath at 135* for a couple hours. Cherries were looking good at the store last week so I got a big bag of them, and took a hand full out to de-pit. These are now sitting in a mason jar in the freezer, gonna pick up some bourbon soon and will just cover them then put in the bath. This should also yield some cherry bourbon, not the intended output but it should be fun to experiment with in small amounts mixing into drinks. I'll probably take a separate mini mason and put some maraschinos in following the same process just to see what happens

...interested to see how this comes out....recent cooks sound great, especially the belly

[stearns]

I'm not the best about remembering to take/post pictures, but I'll keep updating with anything interesting I try. I'm going to do that 48 hour bacon one day (or days), even if it kills me

[stearns]

Another weekend of good food, had a few people over for a cookout on Saturday so I decided to take out a ~4lb pork shoulder I've had in the freezer for a month waiting to be used. I made pulled pork sammies, loosely following the process/recipe here. I cooked it for 22 hours in the SV at 165*, then pat dry and applied another healthy coat of the dry rub. After that two hours in the oven at 300/325*, with five minutes at the end under the broiler to get the brown sugar in the dry rub to really start glistening.

Made a sauce out of the juice from the bag, mixed with a half full bottle of some pineapple bbq sauce that I had in the fridge and a few other ingredients from my honey bbq sauce, it was amazing, poured most of it over the pork after pulling. I'm not sure if it's possible to recreate that sauce without a ton of pork juice, so it might be the type of thing I only make as one-offs to go with the bbq, but it's really good.

The article I was going off mentioned that you can "make a smoke ring" by using curing salts, anybody try those? I don't care about the asthetics too much, but it seemed interesting, might keep an eye open for some for the future.

[T.G]

Originally Posted by stearns

The article I was going off mentioned that you can "make a smoke ring" by using curing salts, anybody try those? I don't care about the asthetics too much, but it seemed interesting, might keep an eye open for some for the future.

I've heard stories of guys using it for hacking a smoke ring in bbq competitions by mixing it in the mop sauce. Don't know anyone who actually claims to have done it though, competition or not.

Prague #1, aka Instacure #1, aka Heller's Modern Cure #1, etc... is the one you would want for that. You wouldn't need much, for dry mixing, like for summer sausage, the dosing is 1oz per 25 lbs (1:400). Morton's tender quick would also work (different application rate), but it's insanely salty.

Thinking it would be applied in the initial dry rub, but I'd be worried it might make everything taste like ham instead of pulled pork.


BTW - I started messing around with the melting salts for cheese, neat stuff. Just have to remember to never use cheddar with it for a cheese sauce or everyone will think it's velveeta.

[CigarNut]

Got a question: I need to cook 3 steaks medium-rare and one medium. I cook my medium rare steaks at 129 degrees and the medium at 135 degrees -- all for an hour.

I was thinking that I would cook the medium rare steaks first, then take them out of the bath and heat the bath up to 135 and then cook the medium steak. This means that the MR steaks will sit out (in their bags) for a bit over an hour and I don't know if that's OK. And, I'm loath to refrigerate the MR steaks as they may not heat up enough from the quick sear...

Is there a better way to do this?

[pnoon]

Originally Posted by CigarNut

Got a question: I need to cook 3 steaks medium-rare and one medium. I cook my medium rare steaks at 129 degrees and the medium at 135 degrees -- all for an hour.

I was thinking that I would cook the medium rare steaks first, then take them out of the bath and heat the bath up to 135 and then cook the medium steak. This means that the MR steaks will sit out (in their bags) for a bit over an hour and I don't know if that's OK. And, I'm loath to refrigerate the MR steaks as they may not heat up enough from the quick sear...

Is there a better way to do this?

I would cook them all MR and just sear one another 60-90 seconds each side.

[T.G]

Originally Posted by CigarNut

Got a question: I need to cook 3 steaks medium-rare and one medium. I cook my medium rare steaks at 129 degrees and the medium at 135 degrees -- all for an hour.

I was thinking that I would cook the medium rare steaks first, then take them out of the bath and heat the bath up to 135 and then cook the medium steak. This means that the MR steaks will sit out (in their bags) for a bit over an hour and I don't know if that's OK. And, I'm loath to refrigerate the MR steaks as they may not heat up enough from the quick sear...

Is there a better way to do this?

Set the temp for the medium steak. Cook it first.

Add ice to drop the bath temp to what is appropriate for the rare steak.

Toss in the raw steaks that are desired to be served rare.

Mark the bag of the medium steak, toss it in too. It won't cook any more since the temp is lower than it was cooked at, but it will stay warm.

Pull all the steaks out at once, dry, season and sear.

[jonumberone]

I'd prefer to use the method Peter mentioned.
Using Adam's method won't cook the steak any more, like he said, but the extra time could impact the texture.
Especially if other things start to take longer, or guests arrive latter than planned.

[pnoon]

Originally Posted by jonumberone

I'd prefer to use the method Peter mentioned.
Using Adam's method won't cook the steak any more, like he said, but the extra time could impact the texture.
Especially if other things start to take longer, or guests arrive latter than planned.

True.

But I wouldn't think 2 hours would have an impact on texture. He could leave the medium steak out for the first 30 minutes and toss it back in with the medium rare for the last 30 minutes.

The method I mentioned may or may not be the best. But it IS the easiest.

[croatan]

Originally Posted by pnoon

True.

But I wouldn't think 2 hours would have an impact on texture. He could leave the medium steak out for the first 30 minutes and toss it back in with the medium rare for the last 30 minutes.

The method I mentioned may or may not be the best. But it IS the easiest.

Yeah, I've always done as Peter described for cooking my mother's steaks to her preferred level of overcooked (she's always the odd person out at family gatherings), but might try Adam's method in the future.

[bonjing]

I don't know if I'm going to make any sense but I'll give it a shot.

Has your guests ever had a souse vide steak before? The reason for my thinking is that a sous vide cooked steak at 129deg versus a steak cooked on the grill at 129deg will both have different consistencies/looks when compared to each other. Maybe your 129deg would be just fine.

Or do i just cooked totally f-u'ed up

[Tio Gato]

Greg, there's nothing wrong with traditional grilling. Guests will appreciate both preparations. Sous vide will cook the steak evenly from the outside to the center, all at the same temp. Grilling a steak to 129F in the center will cook it from the outside in. So by the time the center reaches 129F the outer parts will be cooked to a higher temp. Sous vide produces the same temp through out the meat. It will need to be browned fast and furious on the outside for the texture and taste. It's that even cooking that makes the sous vide steak different.

both are yummy. Do whatever you like. Your guest will enjoy. The first few times I made sous vide steak for guests, they went nuts with joy.

[bonjing]

That's kind of what I am trying to, but unsuccessfully, trying to put down. A lot of people are grossed out by the look of a steak that's done on a grill, oven or stove top to a med-rare temp because it looks more bloody on the inside compared to a steak done to the same temp in a souse vide.

Myself I like med-rare (the 129 deg recommended by the annova cookbook), but even at some steakhouses a med-rare can come out pretty bloody, I don't mind it but most people that are used to that type of preparation are mostly turned off and and go with a more cooked meat. Marie likes a med done steak when we go out, but doesn't mind the med-rare on the souse vide, although sometimes she will ask me to sear the steak a little longer to get rid of the pink, she goes back and forth.

[Tio Gato]

To please all types I'll do a whole tenderloin to 129F. A good sear at the end will cook the tapered end even more yielding a more med. rare or med. cook.
I slice the whole thing and serve on a platter and let the guests choose the degree of "doneness" they like.

[Brlesq]

Originally Posted by Tio Gato

To please all types I'll do a whole tenderloin to 129F. A good sear at the end will cook the tapered end even more yielding a more med. rare or med. cook.
I slice the whole thing and serve on a platter and let the guests choose the degree of "doneness" they like.

Tenderloins @ 129F are so easy and tender. Cut with a fork like butter.