Sous vide

[T.G]

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?

Originally Posted by jonumberone

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.

Yep, what Dom says. Bagged, frozen, then into the water bath.

Leaving them in the refrigerator, on the other hand, I've had mixed results with. Mostly disappointing. YMMV though.

[bonjing]

Thanks guys. Did a swordfish last night I think it came out pretty good 130degrees for 40 min. Now doing a rib eye for tonight and prepped some salmon for tomorrow.

[Grape Ape]

You guys are serious with this thing! Damn I want some ribeye right now. I ended up with one of those Anovas in a Yankee Swap at Christmas. I was the odd man out because no one knew what the hell it was or how to use it, so I got stuck with it. Joke's on them!! Going to try it out tonight!

[Grape Ape]

Tried out the Anova last night on some rib eye, and you can officially label me a convert. The interior of the meat was absolutely PERFECT. I do need to educate myself on searing techniques though. The (non-existent) crust was a bit of a failure. Looked bad, tasted great.

[jonumberone]

Originally Posted by Grape Ape

Tried out the Anova last night on some rib eye, and you can officially label me a convert. The interior of the meat was absolutely PERFECT. I do need to educate myself on searing techniques though. The (non-existent) crust was a bit of a failure. Looked bad, tasted great.

Searing is definitely the hardest part to get right.
I struggled with it at the start, too. It will come with time. Just need a little trial and error.
Get the pan HOT! Use oil with a high smoke point. And don't be afraid to let it sear.
I was always worried about having the food overcook while I was searing it off so I didn't leave it long enough to get a good sear.

[mahtofire14]

Have any of you tried the reverse sear? Look it up on YouTube if not. Goes in the oven first and then you sear. Gets rid of the bullseye affect where the middle is the desired temp but it gets gradually more well done as you move to the outside of the meat. With this method you get medium rare (or whatever you like) from top to bottom throughout the steak. Pretty cool.

[massphatness]

I can relate -- I'm still not an expert with the whole sear thing, but there's a few guys on here who can give you some tips. My big mistake was not allowing the skillet to get hot enough before attempting to sear.

[8lug]

Originally Posted by massphatness

I can relate -- I'm still not an expert with the whole sear thing, but there's a few guys on here who can give you some tips. My big mistake was not allowing the skillet to get hot enough before attempting to sear.

Vin, have you tried preheating the cast iron in a 500 degree oven, takes about 30-40 mins. then put it on the burner wide open.

[T.G]

More tri-tip - this time with no salt or powdered rubs in the bag because I wanted to avoid dealing with the sludge that it creates, and I suspect the salt might be contributing to loss of moisture from the meat into the bag, especially as much salt as you need for a tri-tip. So I figured I'd pack the bag with lots of fresh seasonings, to get some flavor in the meat, then coat with rub before I finish sear it on the grill.

This is probably 2/3 cup of chopped fresh garlic, two large springs of rosemary each about as long as the piece of meat, and about half an onion. Somehow I managed to forget the hot peppers /doh.



About 5 hours at 131F later. Most of the spices stayed in the bag and I was able to wipe the remainder clean with a paper towel in less than a minute. When I measured the juices from the bag, I had less than a 1/4 cup. IIRC, I had about double that last time for a similar size piece of meat at same temp and time, but the meat had been salted and coated with rub prior. Not real scientific, but eh...



Now it gets the salt and tri-tip rub.




Seared on all sides on the Santa Maria pit. Burning a mix of old wine / whiskey barrels that were used to barrel age beer before being retired along with some plum tree trimmings. Searing takes like 3-4 minutes or so per side.




Finished. Super tender and juicy.





Overall I would say it came it quite well aside from the point tip of the meat being a rosemary bomb. I'll have to dial back the rosemary and place it a bit better next time.


.

[markem]

Originally Posted by T.G

Overall I would say it came it quite well aside from the point tip of the meat being a rosemary bomb. I'll have to dial back the rosemary and place it a bit better next time.

Fresh rosemary has loads of oils. I find that rosemary and any form of thyme are best in moderate quantities.

I am particularly fond of garlic coupled with rosemary. A nice combo. Lemon thyme work well with garlic, but I find that the garlic needs to be fresh.

I may do a tri tip next week after I finish up the hugs chicken that I just did.

[massphatness]

Wanted to try my hand at pulled pork Sous Vide as one of the entrees for a Super Bowl shindig we’re hosting this afternoon. After doing some online research, I settled on a 5 lb pork butt and did a mild rub. I seared it prior to vacuum sealing because I had read that these can get fall-apart tender after a long cook in the water bath. I set my Anova for 136* and put the pork butt in for 60 hours.


Here’s the butt all rubbed up with spices and ready for the pre-sear. On a personal note, I do love rubbing butts.



Seared & Sealed



After 50+ hours in the water bath, you can see a boat load of juices in the sealed pouch



Here it is fresh out of the water bath



Ready for the post-cook sear

[massphatness]

Held together pretty well during the sear. I did have a little chunk fall off. Probably would have had more break away, but I handled the pork butt with BBQ gloves rather than tongs to allow for a better feel during the sear. As above, lovingly feeling butts is my forte.



Finished product


The proof of the pudding is in the tasting they say, and I have to say, I'm a little disappointed. The pieces of bark are decently flavorful, but the interior sections of the meat are decidedly lacking in any real flavor. It's extremely moist, which is a huge plus, but what I'm missing is that nice smoky quality I get when doing this on my Weber Smokey Mountain cooker. It's not inedible, but it will definitely need sauces to give it any real flavor.


The other thing that surprised is the amount of fat left in the meat. My research led me to believe that 60 hours - even at 136* - was ample time to really render the fat sufficiently. This photo, I think, says otherwise.



I'm calling this one a fail. Particularly given the high hopes and anticipation I had for it. It will get eaten, of course, but I'm not happy about the outcome.

[markem]

Originally Posted by massphatness

The proof of the pudding is in the tasting they say, and I have to say, I'm a little disappointed. The pieces of bark are decently flavorful, but the interior sections of the meat are decidedly lacking in any real flavor. It's extremely moist, which is a huge plus, but what I'm missing is that nice smoky quality I get when doing this on my Weber Smokey Mountain cooker. It's not inedible, but it will definitely need sauces to give it any real flavor.

I would recommend not serving without a sauce. We used our fave commercial BBQ sauce in small quantities and it was okay. I think that next time I will add some liquid smoke to the sauce. I've been cooking with onion salt good pepper and lots of freeze fried garlic powder and saucing at the end. We've been happy.

I did not sear last time but am thinking of doing so on the next one to get some crunchy bits.

[trogdor]

My wife got me a Sansaire for Christmas and I've been playing with it. It's made some really nice steaks. I've tried a few different seasoning mixtures on the steaks, but so far I like salt and pepper the best. I sear in a cast iron pan by adding a spoonful of bacon grease, heating it until it smokes, and throwing the meat in there for 60-90 seconds/side with the burners on full. The meat sears much better if you dry it with paper towels first. Save the juice from the bag to pour over it when you serve.
I use a cooler for cooking - I cut the corner off of the lid so that the Sansaire will fit with the lid down.
I did chicken breasts in the mid 140s (can't remember the exact temp now) and they came out extra juicy, but the texture wasn't quite right; I think I'll try 149 or 150 next time.
I've also started pasteurizing our eggs. The whites get slightly cloudy like the ones that I remember buying from the supermarket when they were available several years ago, but they mix up the same.

[markem]

Originally Posted by trogdor

My wife got me a Sansaire for Christmas and I've been playing with it. It's made some really nice steaks. I've tried a few different seasoning mixtures on the steaks, but so far I like salt and pepper the best.

Garlic powder. Trust me on this.

Or make your own garlic infused oil, but the flavor will be lighter.

[Chainsaw13]

I haven't tried chicken yet, but I've done turkey breast at 145F for 4 hours. For me, the texture was perfect, a little softer than a normal roasted turkey. If you look up sous vide turkey on Serious Eats, Kenji's article talks a lot about the differences in texture for the different temps.

[Dux]

This thread makes me hungry...

[Chainsaw13]

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[T.G]

Originally Posted by Chainsaw13

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00UKPBXM4/...77402741770316

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A friend of mine who doesn't post here says "Damn you and thanks"

[jonumberone]

Did a 48hr Chuck roast that I ate yesterday.
A lot of internet posts claiming this to be a poor man's ribeye had me intrigued.
The second I cut open the bag my first thought was " I should've just made a ribeye"
I seared it off with the Searzall, which was by far the best sear in the shortest amount of time that I have gotten.
At first bite my fears were confirmed, this was not a ribeye, not a poor man's ribeye, not a blind man's ribeye, this was a pot roast.
That said, this was the best pot roast I've ever had. Thankfully my wife had made a mushroom gravy, seemingly on a lark, but it was exactly what this cut needed.
Unbelievably tender, though not the braised, stringy, cut with a fork tender.
I preferred this to the more traditional style pot roast texture.

Thus far, none of the 24+hr cooks with the Anova have wowed me.
The only one that I would call good was the 48hr lamb shoulder I did. Good not great. Plus I should've seared it before hand as it was really tough to sear without it falling apart.
The rest suffered from texture issues and reminded me more of boiled meat.
This was perfect, and had zero texture issues! I would absolutely do it again. I also would absolutely try doing this cut again, pulling it and making pulled beef sandwiches.

134° for 48hrs