Robert Jueneman
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Posts posted by Robert Jueneman
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I agree, it would probably be best to ditch the original packaging in that case.
I don't see any need to wash meats before sealing them. If you are concerned about food safety, you could consider blanching the meat briefly after sealing it, then throw it in an ice bath before refrigerating it, if you aren't going to cook it right away.
The question of what percentage vacuum to use for what kinds of meat is vigorously disputed. Dave Arnold reports that too high a vacuum (e.g., 99%) causes excessive "boiling " of the meat, and subsequent fluid loss. Peter Black (blackp) and I tried to confirm that with chicken, to no avail, but I haven't tried it with beef. I also tend to use 99% with my MVS-31X, and 95% sometimes causes the bags to float. Whether 97% would be better, I don't yet know.
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I would love to find some white plates that are rectangular, instead of the usual, boring round ones.
But my "Sunday best" dinnerware is from the Chile Shop in Santa Fe, New Mexico. They are hand-thrown pottery made in Santa Fe, glazed and then hand-carved with petroglyph images around them. Cf http://thechileshop.com/petroglyphpottery.aspx for pictures. They also have some unusual southwestern style glassware, and some "Taos Twist" stainless silverware.
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Hello, has anyone had any experience with this: http://www.sousvidetools.com/sous-vide-chef-thermal-circulator ?
I would prefer a portable unit that would require less space, and I can't afford the polyscience controller.
Have you considered the Fresh Meals Magic heater/circulator, with the Sous Vide Magic controller? Or just the SVM with a rice cooker or crock pot you already have?
Do you mean this: http://freshmealssolutions.com/store/products/220V-SVM%7B47%7DFMM-Sous-Vide-Kit-%28Commercial%29.html ? (I noticed that the non commercial version does not have an air pump, I suppose this is for better circulation?)
And I could use the same system with any container/pot? I don't have any rice cooker or crock pot.
The price is much better than the one I was actually considering and the review I read was very good.
Yes, that's the one. It comes with a Cambro polycarbonite tank, but you could use it with anything. It works best with a tank that is taller than it is wide, and has been used with some monsters -- I think 50 liters or more.
For non-commercial use within the US, they recommend the 110 v version with the air pump, but the 220 version will also work -- you might have to find a 220v pump, however, or buy a transformer, or do without the circulation and just rely on convection.
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Hello, has anyone had any experience with this: http://www.sousvidetools.com/sous-vide-chef-thermal-circulator ?
I would prefer a portable unit that would require less space, and I can't afford the polyscience controller.
Have you considered the Fresh Meals Magic heater/circulator, with the Sous Vide Magic controller? Or just the SVM with a rice cooker or crock pot you already have?
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One of the other problems that crops up for people when searing sous-vide foods is geometry. If you don't have a nice flat surface on the food, then it's harder to get a nice crisp sear on it, even if you have plenty of heat capacity. Oil solves the problem at a micro level, filling voids in bumpy surfaces, but at the macro level the shape of the food matters too. We've all rolled food around to try to crisp it evenly on all sides.
That is some serious inovation there my friend! For chicken thighs I CSV in an even layer then press after I shock them in ice to get the flat skin surface before frying skin side down.
Of course, one of the advantages of using a torch is that it isn't sensitive to the flatness of the surface of the item.
I haven't needed to do this with a flat surface like a steak, but for something like a Cornish game hen, where you would like to preserve the shape and yet still get a nice crisp sear, I love the liquid nitrogen and deep fryer technique discussed in MC.
Your times may vary, but for starters, try dipping the whole game hen in the LN2 for about 15-30 seconds, and then gently immersing it in your deep fat fryer (turned up as high as it will go -- typically 375F) for double the LN2 time.
The relatively short times involved, and the balance between the very cold and the very hot will keep the game hen still nicely warm and juicy, but with a perfect sear.
It might be fun to try this with something like a thick slice of salmon.
I haven't tried it, but I suspect you could achieve very similar results by crushing some dry ice into tiny pellets with a rolling pin, then rolling the game hen in them, then using the fryer.
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Did a search here. Didn't find anything.
Has anyone done clams sous vide?
Temperature? timing?
Thanks
dcarch
I have done them, but I don't recall the details -- only that I broke the tip off my Shun paring knife, which cost me $106 to replace, because I couldn't find my clam opener in my too-busy kitchen drawer!
The Sous Vide Dash app suggests 12:08 in a water bath of 56C for whole, 10mm clams, which sounds reasonable for smaller clams.
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My biggest struggle with Sous Vide has been in finishing meat, and I have also found that skillet searing leaves something to be desired, particularly in the lack of flavor. I use grapeseed oil on a cast iron griddle preheated for 15 minutes.
I also haven't been enamored with the results achieved with my MAPP gas torch (although it does create a beautiful looking crust, there's something off about the taste...).
The broiler has been the best of the indoor methods so far, but it's just not hot enough, and overcooking becomes a problem for all but the largest cuts.
For now, I'm achieving much better results by letting the cast iron grate on my propane grill heat to at least 700 degrees(550 lid temperature) and finishing on there. I get a lot of smoke, and a few flare ups in the few minutes the meat is on there, but the added flavor is remarkable. I suspect confining the smoke under the lid is what's imparting the additional flavor. I ice bath the bags so the meat goes on the grill cold, to allow a little more maillarding time without overcooking.
Outdoor grilling was my primary method of cooking meat prior to Sous Vide, and the "smokey" flavor profile of grilling is what I prefer.
For what its worth, I think MAPP is the wrong torch for finishing meat--it is simply so hot that it is hard to control. There is absolutely no need for the hotter temp of MAPP. Propane and butane are more than hot enough--even with then one needs to take care to form a crust without burning the meat. For beef, I think that the Iwatani blowtorch is great and quite controllable with a bit of practice. If the frying pan isn't working well, with the griddle preheated for 15 minutes, your stove probably doesn't have the BTUs/flame you need for the griddle to maintain the high temperature you need for quick searing. A smaller pan would probably work better. My preference is a very hot pan with no oil when I used on. The more surface area there is, the more of a challenge it is for the stove to pump in heat as fast as it dissipates.
I should also say that I think torches work great for beef but have never had satisfying results with pork or poultry.
It's interesting that there is so much disagreement about something so basic!
I suppose I could go back to finishing on the BBQ, but when it is 20F in January, that isn't a very attractive option!
I have used the rice bran oil in the past, based on pedrog's suggestion, but I get way too much smoke and oil in the kitchen as it is, so I use a dry cast iron pan plus a torch. The pan produces some oil from the steak, which is why I flip it
I used to use an Iwatani torch, but personally I find the MAP Pro torch to be better, and easier to ignite. What the difference is between MAP Pro and MAPP, I don't know, but I've never detected any off flavors, and I don't find that it is too hard to control, or singes things too much. The Iwatani was slower, and tended to cause little burnt "knobs" on the meat.
But whatever works for you -- YMMV.
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Today I made a rib-eye steak sous vide and finished it in my new cast iron skillet. My normal method is to finish on my gas BBQ grill at very high heat and direct flame. I was underwhelmed by the skillet method. Am I expecting too much or did I do something wrong? I put a little peanut oil in the skillet and got it smoking hot, put the patted dry steak in for about 90 seconds per side. Got some browning, mostly on the edges, but not what I'd call a good char and the flavor was bland.
Peanut oil is okay, but rice bran oil can get even hotter without breaking down. As for myself, I usually use a dry cast-iron skillet, with the heat turned up the max, and use a MAP torch to sear the top of the steak until it is nicely browned, then flip the steak and do the other side. I like my steak rare to medium rare, so I cook it sous vide to 51C, so that the searing doesn't overcook it. I think this technique will give you the equivalent results to using the BBQ.
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I know this isn't in MC, but I figured this is probably the best place to ask the question without creating a new thread.
In the program 'Heston's Fishy Feast', Heston Blumenthal creates an edible coral reef by pulling vacuum on what he describes as a 'sugar mixed with seaweed'. I have tried and tried with this, and I can simply not get it to set, even with a caramel made in a dry pan.
I pulled vacuum as far as the machine at work would let me (just below 1300) and even with the dry caramel, it bubbled (nowhere near the extent that his did though), but was too warm to set, even after holding vacuum for several minutes.
Would he be using sugar other than sucrose, or would there be a stabiliser or additive of some sort in there?
Link is
Hmmh. The video doesn't explain too much, of course.
But I have some questions. First of all, what kind of vacuum machine were you using?
Second, when you say you pulled vacuum to 1300, what is that in terms of percent vacuum, which is what I'm used to?
As to what kind of the stabilizer or additive might be used to stabilize the caramel, I suppose you could try xanthan gum, agar-agar, or maybe even gelatin.
The overall effect was certainly a tour de force, but there are many questions left.
Good luck!
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Personally, I think I would increase it to 55C, both for safety and to better convert the collagen to gelatin.
For farm-raised animals, we all hope, at least, that the interior of the meat is sterile, but for an animal in the woods, that might not always be the case. Two animals could get in a fight, a nasty cut could ensure, and pathogens spread through the rest of the body, carried by the blood. In addition, it sounds like you weren't the hunter, so you may not know where the moose was shot, or how it was dressed out.
Pre-searing or blanching should take care of the pathogens on the outside OK, I'll grant. But freezing won't do a thing, at least at temperatures that you were likely to use. Trichinosis is no longer a problem in domestic pork, although feral hogs and particularly bears are often infected. Tapeworms and other parasites are a possible problem, particularly in wild-caught fish that hasn't been frozen to at least -30C. I THINK that long-term cooking would destroy such parasites as well as any bacterial pathogens, but I'm not entirely sure.
I've never had moose, but I would assume it would be rather similar to elk. Unfortunately, the last elk I shot was back in the pre-SV days, so I have no experience to offer. (We were about 200 miles from the closest town or gas station, on the Utah/Colorado border, at 9000 ft., a raging snowstorm was coming in, and we had to get out of there with all of our gear, pronto. After gutting it, we ended up taking a chain saw and cutting the animal in half through the belly, and stuffing the two parts on both sides of the ATV, on the back of a pickup, and high-tailing it down the mountain, with no guard rails and 1000 ft drops offs. When we got to the butcher, he said it had to be the worst job of field dressing that he had ever seen!)
Anyway, I think I would cook a moose shoulder the same way I do beef brisket, at 55C for at least 48 hours. Then try it, and if it isn't sufficiently tender, cook it another 24 hours.
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GlowingGhoul (what a moniker!), thanks for all of your useful posts on this subject.
It's true, I was somewhat concerned about availability and service of the Henkelman units here in the US, vs. the Minipack MVS-31X sold by PolyScience and Doug Care, among others. But when I ordered the gas fill adapter, it took almost 6 weeks to be delivered -- hardly exemplary. Apparently the Italian factory was closed for their extended vacation at the time.
I'm not entirely convinced about the necessity of the H20 sensor, although it seems like a nice feature. I haven't had a problem with 99% for most meat, for example, and I tend to chill any liquids that need to be packaged.
However, I would be most interested if you or anyone else could provide concrete, organoleptic blind taste tests to confirm the quality of meats prepared using the H20 sensor vs. say 99% vacuum?
Bob
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Hmmm. Your nitrogen regulator shouldn't leak and I don't ever recall having to use Teflon tape. Been quite a while since I had a tank and regulator, but I think there should be an o-ring type seal. If it is the regulator, it's defective. I suspect your leak is elsewhere.
30 psi is quite high actually and good regulator should be able to hold that without an issue.
A soap solution test showed that the leak was around the bottle-to-regulator interface. There is no O-ring seal, but there is a sliding coupling, and that may be the problem, in which case the Teflon probably won't help. TBD.
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I tried to edit my post, but it timed out.
There are two more modifications to the unit that I want to try. PolyScience was running a special on the new MVX-35XP, which is slightly larger than mine and adds a soft-fill control. In addition, it allegedly supports an external vacuum hose, so that I could use it with a FoodSaver dry goods container (perhaps instead of the gas fill option), or a hotel-pan marinating tray But when I asked Joe Stryber at PolyScience about it, he said, "yes it does -- just like your "MSV-31X". WTF ???
I went back to reread the manual, but it doesn't say anything at all about such an option. The best I can figure is that it should be possible to screw a threaded barb into the vacuum opening at the inside rear of the unit, then press a hose onto it to connect to something else, of course with the lid open. I just ran over to the hardware store to check, but unfortunately they closed early for New Years Eve. The threaded vacuum port has an interior diameter of 9 mm, but I don't have a metric thread gauge to know what size threads it uses. If anyone else knows, please respond.
Finally, I would love to have a soft-air release feature, to avoid the sudden compression at the end of the cycle. As best I understand, that would simply require putting a constricting valve in the air resupply line. It would be nice if this were accessible from outside the unit, but that might not be essential -- except maybe for compressed watermelon. Maybe in July , but probably not in January (except in the antipodal regions!) But perhaps this wouldn't be too hard to add as an option. TBD.
If I could confirm that the MVS-35XP has all of these features, along with the label printer; or maybe the larger 45XP, I might be tempted to buy one and sell my existing unit on eBay or elsewhere, but first they will have to make the user manual available.
Finally, I'd like to suggest that the single most useful accessory item for the MSV-31X or similar machines is the slanted tray with variable stop positions. I find the stack of spacers supplied with the machine to be quite awkward to use, and particularly to remove, and as a consequence I use them once in every blue moon. But the slanted tray I use every single day. Even if you don't have the MVS-31X, I would suggest that you consider this accessory, assuming it will fit in your machine.
Happy New Year, everyone! Or as they say around here. Feliz Ano Nuevo!
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I just came across this thread, or I would have contributed earlier.
After reading MC, and some extensive discussions with blackp and Douglas Baldwin, I opted for the Minipack MVS-31X. Although the Henkleman has some nice feature, including a soft-air feature, the Minipack seemed to have a better distribution and support system here in the US.
I bought mine from Doug Care Equipment. Doug seems to be very knowledgable, and has lots of other stuff as well, including bags. But PolyScience and others also sell them.
I ordered mine with dual 4mm seal bars, and no cut-off. But the seal bars are replaceable (although not cheap), so if you need a cut-off, you could easily switch back and forth.
The Minipack allows you to program the amount of time used for the sealing. I recently bought some 7mm retort pouches in order to try "canning" in the bag using a pressure cooker, but the added thickness requires you to crank the seal time up to the maximum of 4 seconds. Those bags were 8" by 18", which is too long for my chamber (they are intended for fish fillets.) And no, they cannot be used outside the chamber vacuum -- I would have to use a FoodSaver bag with the crinkle finish for something that big.
Yesterday I ordered the gas fill adapter from Doug Care. According to him, it shouldn't be too hard to upgrade the machine -- the holes are pre-drilled and the wiring just plugs in.
Although blackp uses a mix of nitrogen and CO2 (which is apparently used by restaurants and bars for pressurizing beer kegs), I think I will probably opt for nitrogen only, and get a 40 cubic foot tank that can sit on the counter behind the chamber vacuum and the anti-griddle. I'm told that I need a regulator that will go down to 2 bar (30 psi) reliably. Because most tanks are pretty scuffed up, I may make some kind of a nice looking cover for them, and it might be a good idea to somehow anchor it to the counter top. The thought of dropping the unit and breaking off the regulator, and having a bottle with 2000 psi jetting around the room doesn't seem very smart!
The intended use for this (other than experimentation) would be to preserve things like bread, cookies, bagels, chips, etc., without crushing them. By evacuating all of the air from the chamber, and then filling it with nitrogen before sealing, you can create a "pillow-pack" like that used for potato chips, and the lack of oxygen will retard the onset of staleness (I hope).
Doug indicated that the more expensive 45X model has a soft-air feature, and he suggested that it might not be that hard to modify the air inlet port and put a constricting valve on it, so it wouldn't compress food quite so violently. When I take the covers off to add the gas fill adapter, I'll try to scope out what that would take. If anyone else has any thoughts or has done this, please post them, as the soft-air feature would certainly be nice to have.
I thought it might be useful to update this post, particularly with respect to the gas fill adapter. I bought the parts from Doug Care Equipment (www.dougcare.com), and where I have also bought most of my bags -- everything from the small 6"x8" size up to the big 12"x18" size. (if I ever needed to vacuum pack anything larger than that, I would use a FoodSaver roll on the outside of the MVS-31X, and use it like an edge sealer.)
Blackp is the only person that I know of with a gas fill adapter on his chamber machine. He says that he seldom uses it, and wouldn't spend the money again. I guess I have a different opinion, as I use mine a couple of times a week, and love it.
I like the bread sold by Whole Foods in Santa Fe, about 60 miles away, but we only get down there every couple of weeks or so. I buy an unsliced loaf or two, cut them in half to fit into a large bag conveniently (with lots of seal space left over), freeze one half and refrigerate the other half, and then cut that one open for fresh bread for sandwiches, and then reseal it again. I do the same thing with things like apple fritters, and even large heirloom tomatoes -- anything that I want to preserve without crushing them.
I'm using a 99% vacuum plus 50% gas fill, and using straight nitrogen, as opposed to the nitrogen/CO2 mixture that blackp uses.
I continue to have a problem with the regulator not sealing well on the nitrogen tank. The first bottle only lasted me a couple of days, and had to be replaced by another one (unfortunately somewhat larger). I['m going to have to get some Teflon tape for the regulator screw thread, and see if that will stop the leak (using a soap solution to test it.) But my bottle is only 50 cm x 20cm, and it lays on its side behind the MVS-31X, so it isn't inconvenient. I just have to remember to turn off the tank at the main valve, rather than relying on the regulator or the MVS-31X.
Fortunately, I have a large island counter in the center of the kitchen, so the MVS-31X and my Anti-Griddle sit side-by-side at the end of the island, very conveniently.
If anyone else is using Modified Atmosphere Packaging, I would be very curious to know more -- what gases are you using, and for what? In particular, is anyone using CO2 to preserve meat that is to be frozen?
There are two more modifications to the unit that I want to try. PolyScience was running a special on the new MVX-35XP, which is slightly larger than mine and adds a soft-fill control. In addition, it allegedly supports an external vacuum hose, so that I could use it with a FoodSaver dry goods container (perhaps instead of the gas fill option), or a hotel-pan marinating tray But when I asked Joe Stryber at PolyScience about it, he said, "yes it does -- just like your "MSV-31X". ???
I went back to reread the manual, but it doesn't say anything at all about such an option. The best I can figure is that it should be possible to screw a threaded barb into the vacuum opening at the inside rear of the unit, then thread a hose onto to connect to something else.
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On Christmas Eve, I fixed a rib roast, along with half of the country, I suppose.
I more or less followed the well-known recipe from Cooks Illustrated, including the oxtails and veggies for the sauce, but I modified the cooking times and temperatures. I used a rib roast that I had dry aged in the fridge for about 5 days, then trimmed off the dry spots.
I let the three-bone rib roast (2.1 kg) sit out for about an hour after removing it from the fridge, cut off the bones, seared it with a torch, and then reattached the bones with cheesecloth ties.
I then put it in the oven on "Drying" at 120F for two hours. In that time, the core temperature rose from 47F to 75F.
By then it was getting a little late in the day, so I jacked up the oven temperature to 200F, and set the alarm to go off at a core temperature of 120F.
I then let the roast rest for about 20 minutes before carving and serving it.
The results were delicious, the leftovers make great sandwiche. And I roasted a couple of potatoes and added then to the leftover gravy/veggies, and served that on top of fetuchine noodles, Delicious!
For New Years Eve, I'm going to try this again, but this time I'm going to cook a dry-aqed, torch-seared, two-bone rib roast sous vide for four hours at 120F/49C to tenderize the beef, followed by oven heating at 200F/93C. Depending on what the crust looks like, I may sear it again before oven-roasting, and maybe even afterwards.
c
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Whatever you do DON'T pop it in the microwave (this is coming from someone that loves microwaves). Even a short time will undo a lot of the yumminess. You are better off tracking the temperature over time and making a prediction based on the data you are getting and a few hours ahead of time, adjust the cooking temperature as needed -- keep in mind that the internal temperature will rise for something like 45 minutes after you remove it from the oven.
Good point. Thanks.
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None of the four Blumenthal books I have had this recipe. I then searched the Internet, and found http://h2g2.com/dna/h2g2/A36869494, which was quite informative.
Basically, he is cooking the roast at 55C/130F for around 20 hours, after first torching it. But to my taste, 55C is just a little bit too medium rare, although it is at the pasteurization temperature, so presumably it is safe.
I'm inclined to split the difference, which is more or less what e_monster has done. Instead of cooking it at 270F a la Keller, I think I'll try 120F for three hours to rapid age and tenderize it, and then 200F for another three hours or so, monitoring the temperature all of the while. If it hasn't come up to say 53C/127F after six hours, I guess I could pop it in the microwave briefly to finish heating it, or just slice it and add piping hot gravy.
I had never heard of the "wing" rib of beef before. Apparently it is the front-most sirloin cut. The piece I have is rounded at one end and cut square at the other -- I don't know what it is called. I may cut it in half, and do this again for New Years.
I assume that I should trim the "aged" outer shell before torching it -- true?
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Hi, Douglas,
I finally found Keller's blow-torch method -- it was in Ad Hoc at Home. But he is using a 270F oven, until the core reaches 128F, so his cooking time is about 2 hours for a two-bone, center-cut roast (about 4 1/2 lb.). (Sorry for the non-metric units, which I hate these days!)
Anyway, that's well inside the four hour rule, and the pictures, at least, don't show a bulls-eye effect.
It seems to me that cooking for say three hours at 110F, then jacking it up to 270 in order to cook it to 128 would be both safe, and very tender, due to the enzymatic tendering (rapid aging).
Next I'll check Blumenthal's various books.
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I'm leaning in the direction of cooking the roast in the oven LTLT -- I still need to reread Keller and Blumenthal first, though. My Jenn-Air oven has a warming function, and also a drying function, that will allow me to get down to as low as 100F, so I could easily cook it to rare at say 125F/51.7C.
My brother suggested throwing some oxtails in the roasting pan after the roast was done. That would probably provide some additional drippings for gravy and Yorkshire pudding, assuming I remove the roast and then jack up the temperature to around 400F.
But here'a question for Vengroff -- would it be possible to modify the "physics" parameters of SousVide Dash to calculate cooking time in dry air in an oven?
Finally, a food safety question, and hopefully Douglas Baldwin is monitoring this. I've seen roasting times in the area of 10, 12, and even 24 hours for a full steamship round of beef, at temperatures that considerably less than the magical 131F/55C pasteurization point.
Now granted, this is an aerobic environment, so the anaerobic problems with sous vide won't apply. But how safe is this, really? Are we just assuming that torching or searing the outside briefly will kill all of the nasties on the outside, and then we hope and pray that the inside is sterile?
Bob
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I have and liked the FoodSaver V2490, but it may no longer be available. Look for one that has five vacuum levels, not just two, and will take an accessory hose, for things like marinating containers and dry good storage.
It's true that most chamber vacuums, e.g, the popular MVS-31X, won't hold a whole chicken, must less a whole turkey. But you don't want to vacuum pack a whole bird (because of the interior cavity), or even a whole ham -- you should cut it up into pieces that are (generally) smaller than 70mm thick -- otherwise it will take too long to cook them, assuming you are cooking from frozen. Secondly, a chamber vacuum CAN also be used as an edge sealer, so if you want to protect your shotgun from rust, you can seal it in a long FoodSaver roll just fine. You just have to allow a little more space at the top , so that the bag extends to the seal bar.
I think you will find that the small torches of the type used for creme brûlée won't be adequate for searing a steak or large roast. And I meant to say butane, rather than propane, as some people claim that propane leaves an odor. I switched to a MAPP torch from the plumbing section of the local hardware store -- it wasn't very expensive, the tank lasts forever, and it has an ignition switch built-in.
I'm not going to try to persuade a died-in-the-wool Fahrenheit man to switch, but because all of the sous vide devices support both, and so many contributors to this thread and others live outside of the US, where Celsius is the norm, I don't want to have to keep converting their recipes or temperatures, or force them to convert mine. And there are a thousand points between 0.0 and 100.0!
(Now, I confess that my oven still reads in Fahrenheit, although I don't often use it; and when I'm talking about the weather, 70F is more intuitive than 21C. Nobody's perfect!)
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Tikidoc, I've used nearly all of these extensively, and introduced sous vide to a number of others who are going through the same growing pains you are.
The first thing you absolutely must have is a good working thermometer, and a secondary reference thermometer. for calibration I would recommend the All-Clad or Sur la Table thermometers, both of which can also be used as an oven thermometer; plus the Geratherm liquid (non-mercury) basal or ovulation thermometer for calibration purposes. But save your receipts until after you have calibrated your working thermometer -- I've had some that were off by 1 to 3 degrees C -- totally unacceptable. And get used to working in Celsius, as that is what most of the international recipes use, and we in the US ought to use, if it weren't for our medieval insistence on obsolete measurements systems!
Your choice of the Sous Vide Magic controller is excellent. I was a beta tester for them, and have owned, calibrated, and sold a couple of dozen, at least. They are relatively inexpensive, and quite reliable and accurate. See the PID tuning manual on the Fresh Meals Solution web site for helpful calibration and tuning hints
Start with whatever you have -- a dumb CrockPot will work just fine with the SVM, and if water circulation is an issue, buy a $10 submersible garden fountain pump -- just don't use it above 65C. An inexpensive rice cooker is also an option, and particularly if you are cooking SV eggs, as it won't gum up the works if one breaks. Later, you might add the Fresh Meals Magic circulator and heater with your SVM. A second SVM would allow you to cook both meat and veggies simultaneously, without breaking the bank.
I happen to think that the Sous Vide Supreme is overpriced for what it does, compared to the SVM and a rice cooker or CrockPot. YMMV. If you win the lottery, you will probably want one or two immersion circulators, but even then the SVM setup will be a useful addition.
For starting out, use ZipLok bags and the Archimedes principle to remove most of the air from the bag. I have a couple of FoodSavers, and prefer the more advanced ones you can get on-line, rather than those sold in department stores, particularly the upright type. I don't know anything about the Best Vac. But I agree -- save your money for a real honest-to-God chamber vacuum, like the MiniPack MVS-31X sold by PolyScience and Doug Care. The ease and versatility of handling liquids, and the significantly cheaper bags, makes it a worthwhile investment, I think. Yes, it's expensive -- but so was my Canon camera, much less a bunch of lenses!
Get a good propane or MAPP torch -- they're cheap, and they won't smoke up the house as much as using a skillet and hot oil when searing your meat.
That's it in a nutshell. That will get you started, probably for less than $200, depending on what you already have. After that, it's most convenience, rather than whether it works or not.
Good luck, and happy holidays!
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I've got a rib roast in the fridge, dry aging it before Christmas Eve dinner (I hate turkey!).
Nearly all of the recipes I've seen oven-roast the meat at a relatively high temperature, then lower the temp.
But surely someone out there has done this sous vide, and then seared the outside under the broiler.
If so, what times/temperatures did you use?
I will almost certainly cut the roast in half, to about 2-1/2" or 62mm, for just the two of us. But the Sous Vide Dash says that anything thicker than 57m will exceed the four hour food safety rule.
But how much of a concern is that, really, since most of the oven-roasting times are at least that long?
Would pre-searing or blanching help?
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Have you tried putting them in a big Ziploc, and then into a sous vide bath? I gather that what you are trying to do is cook the meatballs, then serve them as needed.
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I have been idly looking around the archives (and through my books) to see if there's any benefit to cooking sea scallops sous vide. I can't find any reference to anyone who's even tried it, and although Modernist Cuisine has them in their shellfish table at a recommended temperature of 50 degrees, the text briefly suggests that scallops are best cooked quickly pan-seared.
I really love pan-seared sea scallops, and they're not exactly difficult to cook, but if there's any way to improve their flavour (by brining, for example) or texture (cooking sous vide) then I'd love to try it.
Any suggestions?
I routinely cook sea scallops sous vide, directly from frozen, at 50C, but at the moment I don't remember for how long -- I use the times in Douglas Baldwin's book. Then I pan sear them briefly.
But I haven't done a blind taste-test to compare that way of cooking them vs. straight pan searing.
Chamber Vacuum Sealers, 2011–2014
in Kitchen Consumer
Posted · Edited by Robert Jueneman (log)
After considerable thought, I've ordered the new Minipack MVS-35XP from PolyScience, complete with soft air release, a 100-recipe programming feature, and a printer to record all of the important stuff. It looks like I will have to install the gas fill adapter myself, as I did with the MVS-31X. I plan to record various settings for various thicknesses of beef, chicken, lamb, and fish, so all I'll have to do is hit the button and the right setting and label will be printed out, along with the date.
I forgot to ask at the time, but I'm going to send off a note to specify the 6mm seal with cut-off bar.
The unit should arrive by next Friday, and then I'll start looking around for someone in the area who would like to buy my old one, so I don't have to bother with shipping.
I found out that the 35XP external vacuum adapter uses a 1/4" NPT threaded barb, which coincidentally is what I cobbled together for the 31X. On the 31X, only about one or two threads engage in the odd-ball (metric?) fitting they use, but it works. I wrapped some Teflon tape around the fitting on my FoodSaver vacuum hose, and now I can pull a 99% vacuum on a round FoodSaver canister. So far, at least, I haven't had any problems with the container collapsing.
I also solved the gas leak problem with my regulator. I folded a strip of Teflon tape in half and twisted it, then wrapped it between the sliding threaded doohickey and the conical end of the adapter, and in addition wrapped the threads with Teflon tape.
Neither the regulator nor the gas bottle had an O-ring. Instead there is conical fitting that mates with a conical depression inside the gas valve.