Sous vide

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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.


.

[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 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.

[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.