Hot Tub Sous Vide

[lancastermike]

So I saw the thread on beer cooler sous vide. And it got me thinking. I have a hot tub. If I dial the temperture down to around 156F or 68C, which I can do with some tinkering and I go to my butcher and get a sub-primal cut of beef that they get in the box already cryro-vaced and suspend it in the tub in a net or by strings and run the blower on a rigged up timer to circulate it once in a while could I cook the beef? Would the bubbles be bad? Does anyone ever sous-vide in sparkling water?

I would, of course, stay out of the tub while the meat was cooking. I have the technology to do this. I wonder if Jamie and Adam would consider this.

[BadRabbit]

Heston's already done it so it certainly can be done.

http://www.eatmedaily.com/2009/03/the-trojan-hog-on-hestons-roman-feast-video/

[gfweb]

Ha! The biggest problem might be finding a plastic bag big enough that you can still exclude the air from.

Cooking time will be an issue too. The relation between thickness and time is not linear.

Not sure about what's in a primal cut, but there might well be cuts that need ages to SV and others that would not be at their best with a long cook.

[Chris Hennes]

Ha! The biggest problem might be finding a plastic bag big enough that you can still exclude the air from.

Presumably this is why he's looking for something that's already cryovac'ed.

Cooking time will be an issue too. The relation between thickness and time is not linear.

Right, I think trying to figure out the cooking time might be a problem. Also, since it's already cryovac'ed you can't add any seasonings to the bag, which could give you a very expensive bag full of bland, poorly-cooked, very expensive beef.

I would not really expect the bubbles to be a problem: I suspect that if you averaged over time you'd see that most of the time it's just water in contact with the bag, not air.

[lancastermike]

Heston's already done it so it certainly can be done.

http://www.eatmedaily.com/2009/03/the-trojan-hog-on-hestons-roman-feast-video/

As he said that is theater not cooking. I can, and often have, done a pig low and slow over a very low fire and smoke. It cooks and tatses great

[KennethT]

hmmm... 156F is pretty hot - what subprimal are you thinking of using? One with lots of connective tissue I assume? The other thing to keep in mind is the pump and other hot tub stuff - usually, hot tubs only go up to about 110F right? Somewhere over that is considered scalding... I don't know what would happen to the pumps/hoses at the elevated temp for a long period of time. I wouldn't worry about the bubbles as long as there is good circulation - the bubbles will be constantly clinging/blown off by the circulation so that's not an issue in my mind. As others have brought up, the thickness is important. Check out Douglas Baldwin's info for how to calculate internal temp with regards to various shapes (cylinders, slab, etc)... I guess, technically, the interior of the muslce is considered sterile, unless it was jaccarded at the packaging plant, which is becoming more and more common, and almost impossible to detect. If so, the interior is not sterile, and depending on how long it'll take to get up to pasteurization temps, might be dangerous.

[lancastermike]

hmmm... 156F is pretty hot - what subprimal are you thinking of using? One with lots of connective tissue I assume? The other thing to keep in mind is the pump and other hot tub stuff - usually, hot tubs only go up to about 110F right? Somewhere over that is considered scalding... I don't know what would happen to the pumps/hoses at the elevated temp for a long period of time. I wouldn't worry about the bubbles as long as there is good circulation - the bubbles will be constantly clinging/blown off by the circulation so that's not an issue in my mind. As others have brought up, the thickness is important. Check out Douglas Baldwin's info for how to calculate internal temp with regards to various shapes (cylinders, slab, etc)... I guess, technically, the interior of the muslce is considered sterile, unless it was jaccarded at the packaging plant, which is becoming more and more common, and almost impossible to detect. If so, the interior is not sterile, and depending on how long it'll take to get up to pasteurization temps, might be dangerous.

Yeah it would require running it above the normal temps, I can make it do that, and it may not be a real good thing for the unit.

[Kent Wang]

Why don't you run it at 135F? What's the typical range for a hot tub?

[lancastermike]

Why don't you run it at 135F? What's the typical range for a hot tub?

Hot tubs are supposed to be around 102 to 104 and never above 110 for saftey reasons. As I said, I can rig mine to override the thermostat and run hotter. But as stated above, that may not be a good thing for the tub

[Pam R]

. Also, since it's already cryovac'ed you can't add any seasonings to the bag, which could give you a very expensive bag full of bland, poorly-cooked, very expensive beef.

Or, see what kind of vacuum sealer the butcher has. If he has a good one and is willing, lancastermike might be able to bring in some seasoning to throw in the bag before it's cryovac'ed. I have a chamber VS and can do a large turkey in it.