Sous vide

[BigAsh]

Originally Posted by markem

Looks amazing Keith. How did you prepare the cauliflower? We do a lot of friend cauliflower but I've never thought of using it this way.

broke into florets and put in the Vitamix covered with water...give it a few pulses til "rice-sized"....drain and then blot to remove excess moisture....sheet pan with EVOO and seasoning into 400 oven for a 20 minute or so total, stirring halfway thru...it will brown quickly so keep an eye

Originally Posted by CigarNut

I did my first New York steaks last night -- until now I had only done Rib Eyes. I think the New York last night was the best steak I had done to-date.

On the Grill I always prefer the Rib Eye, so this was a surprise to me. Maybe due to less marbling?

Looking forward to doing flank steak. I normally do a soy-sauce-based marinade, but I think the meat will end up too salty with the sous vide, so I need to come up with something different.

Love the NY strip..."Beefy" goodness

Originally Posted by Chainsaw13

Michael, look into doing an equilibrium based marinade for salt content. I do this all the time when i make dry cured meats/salami. Take the weight of the muscle and multiply by the % of salt content you want. Typically 1.5% is a good starting point for non-dry cured products. You can always adjust up/down from there.

Example, 400g steak would be 6g salt. Now for the marinade, it might take a bit more math having to determine salinity levels of liquids used, but you get the idea.

Gotta love the "science" behind cooking....thanks for the tip

[Chainsaw13]

Originally Posted by BigAsh

Gotta love the "science" behind cooking....thanks for the tip

Yea, for dry curing meats it's a great as you're never going to go over that percentage. There's just not enough salt to be absorbed.

For an idea on what %'s I use for my recipes:

Bacon - 2%
Fresh Sausage - 1.5-1.7% (all depends on taste of the recipe)
Dry cured sausage/whole muscles - 2.75-3%

[CigarNut]

I did my first New York steaks last night -- until now I had only done Rib Eyes. I think the New York last night was the best steak I had done to-date.

On the Grill I always prefer the Rib Eye, so this was a surprise to me. Maybe due to less marbling?

Looking forward to doing flank steak. I normally do a soy-sauce-based marinade, but I think the meat will end up too salty with the sous vide, so I need to come up with something different.

[markem]

Originally Posted by CigarNut

I did my first New York steaks last night -- until now I had only done Rib Eyes. I think the New York last night was the best steak I had done to-date.

We found that a NY is very well suited for sous vide. Rib eye for the grill, but probably New York for the sous vide.

[Chainsaw13]

Michael, look into doing an equilibrium based marinade for salt content. I do this all the time when i make dry cured meats/salami. Take the weight of the muscle and multiply by the % of salt content you want. Typically 1.5% is a good starting point for non-dry cured products. You can always adjust up/down from there.

Example, 400g steak would be 6g salt. Now for the marinade, it might take a bit more math having to determine salinity levels of liquids used, but you get the idea.

[Chainsaw13]

As I think about my ratios of salt for things like sausage, salami, etc, those might not apply to items like steaks, chops, etc. I would suggest starting out lower, then working your way up. Easier to add then subtract.

This weekend I'm getting half a lamb that I'll be butchering myself. Plan is to sous vide a couple nice thick chops. This is all provided I don't get sent to Mexico for work.

[jonumberone]

I've been home the last few days because of the storm and decided to clean out the freezer.
First, I found a small roast beef about one and a half times the size of my fist.
No idea what cut it was, but it was likely top or bottom round.
4.5 hours at 131°. Much to my surprise it was unbelievably tender.
Used the juice in the bag and some mushrooms to make a gravy, and served it as open faced sandwiches.

Next up boneless turkey breast. Marinated for 4 hours, removed from marinade and did 3 hours at 145°.
Truly the moistest turkey I've ever had. Sliced it up and didn't even bother to make a gravy. Used the left overs to make Turkey clubs the following day and it was still plenty moist.
The texture was also very different, in a good way. It didn't have any of the stringy-ness ( is that a word?) that I associate with turkey or chicken.

Finally I found a few boneless chicken breasts. 145° for 60 min.
Used them to make chicken salad sandwiches. Again, unbelievably moist.
I commented to my wife that they were moist enough that we didn't need mayo.
Tried some with out mayo, and added a slice of avocado instead. It was really good.

[BigAsh]

Originally Posted by jonumberone

I've been home the last few days because of the storm and decided to clean out the freezer.
First, I found a small roast beef about one and a half times the size of my fist.
No idea what cut it was, but it was likely top or bottom round.
4.5 hours at 131°. Much to my surprise it was unbelievably tender.
Used the juice in the bag and some mushrooms to make a gravy, and served it as open faced sandwiches.

Next up boneless turkey breast. Marinated for 4 hours, removed from marinade and did 3 hours at 145°.
Truly the moistest turkey I've ever had. Sliced it up and didn't even bother to make a gravy. Used the left overs to make Turkey clubs the following day and it was still plenty moist.
The texture was also very different, in a good way. It didn't have any of the stringy-ness ( is that a word?) that I associate with turkey or chicken.

Finally I found a few boneless chicken breasts. 145° for 60 min.
Used them to make chicken salad sandwiches. Again, unbelievably moist.
I commented to my wife that they were moist enough that we didn't need mayo.
Tried some with out mayo, and added a slice of avocado instead. It was really good.

who woulda thought!....nice!....gotta try the turkey breast

[AdamJoshua]

Originally Posted by jonumberone

I've been home the last few days because of the storm and decided to clean out the freezer.
First, I found a small roast beef about one and a half times the size of my fist.
No idea what cut it was, but it was likely top or bottom round.
4.5 hours at 131°. Much to my surprise it was unbelievably tender.
Used the juice in the bag and some mushrooms to make a gravy, and served it as open faced sandwiches.

Next up boneless turkey breast. Marinated for 4 hours, removed from marinade and did 3 hours at 145°.
Truly the moistest turkey I've ever had. Sliced it up and didn't even bother to make a gravy. Used the left overs to make Turkey clubs the following day and it was still plenty moist.
The texture was also very different, in a good way. It didn't have any of the stringy-ness ( is that a word?) that I associate with turkey or chicken.

Finally I found a few boneless chicken breasts. 145° for 60 min.
Used them to make chicken salad sandwiches. Again, unbelievably moist.
I commented to my wife that they were moist enough that we didn't need mayo.
Tried some with out mayo, and added a slice of avocado instead. It was really good.

I have to think that cooking a good thick London broil like this would make for some outstanding French dips. Best dip I have ever had was thin sliced rare London broil....ruined all other dips for me.

[bonjing]

Just got a food saver from Costco. Are there any special bags that you guys are using? Also have any noticed health benefits to cooking using this method? Looking to order a anova soon and hoping to do fish and chicken using the cooker.

[T.G]

Originally Posted by bonjing

Just got a food saver from Costco. Are there any special bags that you guys are using? Also have any noticed health benefits to cooking using this method? Looking to order a anova soon and hoping to do fish and chicken using the cooker.

Just about any standard vacuum sealer bags for clamp sealers will work. I've been primarily using bags from both "FoodVac Bags" and "Commercial Bargains" on Amazon and I can't say that I've noticed any difference between them and the FoodSaver brand bags other than these two brands cost me a lot less per bag than the foodsaver brand.

100pack - 11x16 - $30
200 pack - 8x12 - $30
200 pack - 6x10 - $22

Some companies like VacMaster have a 3-layer bag design, where the middle layer is a mesh for air removal. While they work fine for cooking, the mesh layer ends up making one side of the meat look like a non-skid floor coating.

Not sure on the scientific health benefits. Cooking with less oil and less destruction to meat seems like the obvious ones. That and being able to take one of the most flavorless yet healthiest meats on the planet: the boneless, skinless chicken breast, and make it edible, has to somehow be good for you.

[icehog3]

Of course I open this thread for the first time when I happen to be starving.

Kudos to all of you, looks like some wonderful cooking y'all are doing.

[bonjing]

Thanks Adam!

[bvilchez]

Anyone see the movie Burnt? One of the restaurants apparently cooks this way and is touted as one of the best in Europe. But again, it is a movie.

I'm still waiting to break mine in when I go home next time. Wife got it for Christmas and it's still collecting dust on the counter.

[CigarNut]

I put up some flank steaks this morning (two pieces, that I had to cut in half to fit into my sous vide stock pot -- It's a 20 quart pot, but only 12" in diameter).



I am planning to cook them 10 hours @ 133*.

[T.G]

Cooked some lobster tails the other day. 134 for 1 hr.

Eh.

Nothing actually wrong with them, I'm just not into drowning lobster, or anything for that matter, in beurre monté. I prefer lobster grilled / cooked in a wood fired oven like in my pellet grill (like a Traeger).


Also cooked some boneless, skinless chicken thighs, they make for a decent cold sandwich - 165 for 1 hr.

Hard boiled eggs, conveniently, have the same cook temp and time, so I tossed a few of them in to see how they came out and I'm somewhat impressed, they came out basically perfect, no rubbery-ness at all. PITA to peel though. I think I'll add some white vinegar to the water next time. What I did screw up on was not reading the last few paragraphs of J. Kenji Lopez-Alt's article on eggs, about pre-boiling them to prevent the shells from sticking. oops.

http://www.seriouseats.com/2013/10/s...bout-eggs.html

[CigarNut]

The flank steak came out perfect. My wife may never let me cook one on the grill again

The texture was great and it was very tender and moist. Used Lawry's season salt instead of my normal marinade (soy sauce, crush red pepper, garlic, salt, pepper and lemon).

[Porch Dweller]

[bonjing]

So just got an anova and my first foodsealer. Can you prepare foods, like vacuum seal fish and meats a few days in advance and just toss them in the water?

[jonumberone]

Originally Posted by bonjing

So just got an anova and my first foodsealer. Can you prepare foods, like vacuum seal fish and meats a few days in advance and just toss them in the water?

Yes, Greg, that'll work just fine.
I've started vac sealing things before freezing them, and then tossing them in the water bath frozen when the time comes.