PedroG

Do you want to set the liquor on fire?

Nathan Did you use a chamber type vacuum machine for vacuum reduction of balsamic vinegar? Will the vacuum pump resist several 100ml of evaporated water with acetic acid vapor? Does ebullioscopic boiling point elevation play a significant role? How much does reduction of balsamic vinegar reduce acidity below its original 6%?

I've done balsamico reduction repeatedly, just using a flat skillet on the stove, no PID-controller; evaporation cooling by the large surface will limit liquid temperature. Using a digital scale with a SS top will allow you to scale the hot pan repeatedly to check when you have arrived at 33% or 25% of the original weight. A syringe with a blunt cannula will make garnishing easy, see insalata Caprese.

If the price does matter, one might consider: SousVideMagic 1500D (160$) plus a mantled 1000W immersion heater (36$) plus an aquarium air pump (10$), fixate the silicon tubing of the aquarium bubbler and the sensor of the SousVideMagic to the stainless steel guard of the immersion heater, and use it with any pot you have at hand. And here you are for 206$ without macgyvering. You might pimp your rig with a well insulated pot, consider a beer cooler (26$), and at a total of 232$ you are perfectly equipped. Admittedly this is not as streamlined as a SVS, but more versatile.

Heat tolerant aquarium pumps for forced circulation in sous vide cookers JanK mentioned the March 809 pump at over 100$. Patrik Svensson promised to test the Eheim 600 pump (28$ plus 8$ S&H) at 80°C, but I could not find a post with his result. I just found this: DC 6V Mini Submersible Water Pump 35 GPH (P-32A) at 14$ plus 10$ S&H. Specifications are: Noise: <=35dBA/10cm Working temperature: -35C ~ +80C Service life: 26000 hours up Did anyone try this pump?

Forget the vacuum-sealing part of sous vide, but apply the principles of LTLT (low-temperature/long-time) and the techniques for precise temperature stabilization used in SV cooking! A pot or roasting tin in an oven may work well, see Temperature stability with a water-pot in an electric convection oven. A rice-cooker or stock-pot controlled by a PID-controller may be ideal, as these cookers come with an easy-to-clean inner pot. You'd rather not soil an immersion circulator with stock. For many valuable informations on stock making (more "why" than "how"), see On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen by Harold McGee on page 598 ff (search "The Importance of a Cold Start and Uncovered, Slow Heating" for a preview).

You might consider Heston Blumenthal's Steak with blue-cheese-infused butter and mushroom ketchup: after blow-torching the outside of the two-bone fore rib steak (=sterilizing), he keeps the steak in the oven at 50°C for 18 hours after core temperature has reached 50°C (which takes 4-8 hours!). This is well in the danger zone, so you have to be sure that your meat has not been jaccarded or otherwise punctured (which would bring surface contaminants to the inside of the meat), and you have to blow-torch the roasting tin, the tong with which you will grasp the meat, and the complete surface of the meat (there should be no clefts that you don't reach with the blowtorch), and the tip of the temperature probe (just fractions of a second!). Temperature stability ±1°C is excellent for this purpose, see my earlier post in the context of the temperature stall discussion which has been relocated to a new topic.

I used the same account, it works on amazon.com, amazon.ca, amazon.uk, amazon.de as well.

Thank you, nextguy! I just cancelled my 500 USD order at amazon.com and placed it at amazon.ca for 400.67 CDN plus 27.98 CDn shipping & handling to Switzerland.

SVS in USA: 450 USD, in Europe: 599 EUR (that's 1009 USD!) -> ???

Ossobuco sous vide 75-77°C / 12h: falling-off-the-bone tender like traditional braise, difficult to unbag without falling in parts. 58.5°C / 12h: fork-tender, but not falling apart like a braise, rather like a steak, pink inside. 58.5°C / 26h: fork-tender and succulent with a nice pink interior. For my taste best time-temp. so far. Multiple incisions in the circumferential fascia avoided the cuts to become cupped by the shrinking fascia.

Trivial reason for diminishing range and failure of the Maverick ET-73 dual remote thermometer Even with the double antenna hack, range deteriorated and finally connection failed completely. The batteries had gone below 1.4V within a few weeks! Doh! Obviously the Maverick ET-73 is a battery guzzler, so it is better to switch it off when not in use. With new batteries, it now works again like a charm, with 16.5cm antenna extension on both transmitter and receiver, the 66cm full-wave extension is no longer necessary. Range measured outdoors without any obstacles is about 25m. As I was still not quite satisfied with the range, I did the antenna hack also on the transmitter: snip snip snip (I omitted the pictures, see my original post) Range was a bit better, but after extending the antenna on the transmitter from 16.5cm (quarter-wave) to 66cm (full-wave, on recommendation of Robert Jueneman), it was even better, now connection seems to be stable across a ceiling of reinforced concrete. Although the ET-73 has some drawbacks, it is a (the only?) way to baby-sit a SV-rig and sounding an alarm, should the temperature deviate too much.

Thanks! I do not know if it is skirt or hanger, the butcher said it is from the diaphragm and in German it is "Rinds-Leistenfleisch", it looks well marbled, the cubes are 15-25mm thick, I marinated and spiced it, the main portion will be 55°C/24h and a small portion will be just seared for comparison. The price was 2/3 the price of brisket. If it is a skirt steak, you are in for a real treat. So far, everyone who has had my sous-vide skirt steak has said that it is the best beef they have had. Skirt steak I would cook for no longer than 24 hours. It comes out as tender as a high-quality filet and even more flavorful than a rib-eye. With a really nice luxurious mouth-feel. Sadly, in the U.S. skirt steak is no longer cheap like brisket. 15 years ago, it was a very cheap cut. And here are my results: The two mouthfuls seared without sous vide were tasteful, but rather chewy and dark red inside, after a few seconds more in the skillet it was more pink, chewyness and taste unchanged. The main portion was SV 55°C/24h, dabbed dry and seared in smoking hot rice bran oil. It came out with a nice crust and pink inside, definitely less chewy than without SV (but not perfectly fork-tender), and very tasteful. This was my first experience at all with beef diaphragm, it was pleasing, but not the ultimate "treat" as e-monster predicted. One reason may be that we have grass-fed beef in Switzerland and never ever the quality of beef you have in the USA. Another reason may be it was pre-cut in cubes and from a supermarket's self-service shelf, not the real "butcher's steak". I will definitely try to get skirt steak from the butcher who dry-ages his beef, and maybe I should increase SV-time to 36h. I got an answer from customer service of the supermarket chain where I bought these diaphragm cubes: it was hanger and skirt mixed fifty-fifty.

A vacuum-sealer is convienient (a clamp-type machine will do, it should have an instant-seal-button), but ziploc-bags are fine to start with; see the video linked in Douglas Baldwin's Practical Guide (a must-have, print it as a booklet!!) how to get most of the air out of a ziploc-bag. An immersion circulator is nice to have, but not a must-have. If you prefer a streamlined machine, the SousVideSupreme is ok. If you prefer the lowest price and greatest flexibility, a PID-controller (SousVideMagic or Auber) combined with a rice cooker, crockpot, slow-cooker, stockpot or FreshMealsMagic will do. To start and get experience, see My article "give sous vide a try...". My first year of sous vide cooking was with the oven/water-pot-method, but as soon as you want to go into LTLT (long-time/low-temp) cooking to gelatinize collagen, i.e. tenderize tough meat, you will need a PID-controlled water-bath.

Skirt steak or hanger steak? Diaphragm anyway. Thanks! I do not know if it is skirt or hanger, the butcher said it is from the diaphragm and in German it is "Rinds-Leistenfleisch", it looks well marbled, the cubes are 15-25mm thick, I marinated and spiced it, the main portion will be 55°C/24h and a small portion will be just seared for comparison. The price was 2/3 the price of brisket. If it is a skirt steak, you are in for a real treat. So far, everyone who has had my sous-vide skirt steak has said that it is the best beef they have had. Skirt steak I would cook for no longer than 24 hours. It comes out as tender as a high-quality filet and even more flavorful than a rib-eye. With a really nice luxurious mouth-feel. Sadly, in the U.S. skirt steak is no longer cheap like brisket. 15 years ago, it was a very cheap cut. And here are my results: The two mouthfuls seared without sous vide were tasteful, but rather chewy and dark red inside, after a few seconds more in the skillet it was more pink, chewyness and taste unchanged. The main portion was SV 55°C/24h, dabbed dry and seared in smoking hot rice bran oil. It came out with a nice crust and pink inside, definitely less chewy than without SV (but not perfectly fork-tender), and very tasteful. This was my first experience at all with beef diaphragm, it was pleasing, but not the ultimate "treat" as e-monster predicted. One reason may be that we have grass-fed beef in Switzerland and never ever the quality of beef you have in the USA. Another reason may be it was pre-cut in cubes and from a supermarket's self-service shelf, not the real "butcher's steak". I will definitely try to get skirt steak from the butcher who dry-ages his beef, and maybe I should increase SV-time to 36h.

Bland in, bland out. Pork chops are a pretty bland cut. Sous-vide can influence texture but it won't make something bland taste better. I have yet to find a cut of pork that is transformed dramatically but maybe I haven't tried enough. Many are tasty and convenient to cook sous-vide but I don't think they are transformed the way tasty, rich but tough cuts of beef are. I mean if you love pork chops, sous-vide will make it possible to reproducibly cook them to whatever degree you like them done (the way that it makes cooking perfect ribeye a no-brainer) but it won't turn a pork=chop or a chicken breast into something rich like a spare rib. Sous vide is not always better, especially in pork I fully agree with e-monster (and Merridith): for tender cuts sous vide is convenient and fool-proof, but the outcome is not automatically better. We had two identical pork neck chops a few days ago, both were bagged with spices, marinade, mustard and hickory smoked salt, and kept at 1°C for 2 weeks. One was seared the traditional way without SV, starting on low heat and increasing until the rice bran oil started smoking, the second one was done SV 75min at 51°C (for my taste pork needs lower temperature than lamb and beef) and seared in smoking hot rice bran oil. Oddly the SV chop was even more chewy and less juicy than the traditional one, and the latter also tasted better, my wife did not complain about the "sous vide taste". Both were pink inside as desired. There is one cut of pork I should do SV (LTLT) again: pork shoulder. Some time ago I did three equal cuts of pork shoulder, bagged with marinade and spices for 9d/1°C, and cooked SV 55°C for 24h / 48h / 72h respectively. All came out tender and succulent, the fat perfectly soft; the 72h cut was softest, but with a tendency to fall apart, and the lean parts were rather dry. I guess 36h to 48h will be best.

Thanks! I do not know if it is skirt or hanger, the butcher said it is from the diaphragm and in German it is "Rinds-Leistenfleisch", it looks well marbled, the cubes are 15-25mm thick, I marinated and spiced it, the main portion will be 55°C/24h and a small portion will be just seared for comparison. The price was 2/3 the price of brisket.

I got hanger steak precut in cubes in a self-service. It was very cheap, so I suspect it must be from the tougher outer part. Any suggestions for time/temp? Acid marinade? Thanks Pedro

I have avoided eating tuna for decades as it was always served gray throughout with a texture like well-done veal, until I was served rare tuna in a gourmet restaurant, which was a revelation. The discussion on swordfish made me consult St. Harold's bible and it gave me the scientific explanation why tuna (like swordfish) should not be cooked to 55°C or above. So tuna should only be bought in sushi grade quality as pasteurization conditions would overcook it. The 2½ - 3 hrs. I mentioned above for a 5cm cut are of course a bit uncommon, as most fish fillets are much thinner and done in 30-45 minutes. And fish cooked for considerably longer time than necessary may get mushy; furthermore excessive vacuum as provided by chamber-type machines should be avoided*, ziploc bags are fine for fish. * See Dave Arnold: "Boring but useful technical post: vacuum machines affect the texture of your meat"

What literature? Would you mind posting a link or citation?

Harold McGee, On Food & Cooking makes three interesting statements on swordfish (and tuna as well): page 185: swordfish (and tuna) as a long-lived predator at the top of the food chain may accumulate significant amounts of toxins, especially mercury. page 202: Atlantic stock of swordfish is thought to be down to less than a tenth its original size and in need of protection. page 209: in swordfish, enzymes and some proteins in muscle cells are not locked in the contracting fibrils and furthermore coagulate at higher temperatures than myosin, so when myosin coagulates and squeezes out cell fluids including these proteins and enzymes, at 55°C and above these proteins coagulate in the spaces between the cells and glue the cells together, thus making the meat more chewy. So for swordfish and tuna it might be wise to restrict target temperature to 50°C or below, and a 5cm steak may take 2½ - 3 hrs. BTW here's a trick how to transfer fish into the skillet for searing without falling apart: lay the bag flat on a cutting board, with a sharp knife cut the bag open all around the fish, remove the top layer and the sideward strips of the bag and slide the fish into the skillet.

I just saw something in our local shop of the rural cooperative which would be an alternative to a rice cooker or stockpot or slow cooker for those in Europe using a PID-controller (SousVideMagic or Auber): United Kingdom: Electric Pot for Boiling Down & Preserving Switzerland: Weck Einkochautomat WAT 14 Germany: WECK ® Einkochautomat Modell WAT 34 - Vollkunststoff 2000W provides fast ramping up (my estimate is 25min. for 30L) and is no problem for the SVM in the 220V-world, and 58 GBP / 68 EUR is a good price! 30 Liters gives ample room for multiple bags, all placed vertically. I did not try the Weck myself as I already have a 9L/400W stockpot and a 18L/2000W FreshMealsMagic. Looking forward to someone reporting on her/his experience with a Weck®.

Some time ago I cut a pork shoulder in three parts, bagged them with marinade (9 days at 1°C) and cooked them SV at 55°C for 24h / 48h / 72h, post-searing in almost smoking-hot rice-bran-oil. 72h was fork-tender, succulent and almost falling apart, but in its lean parts a bit dry. 24h and 48h were tender, succulent and juicy, but not perfectly fork-tender. In all three cases the fat was perfectly soft, there was a nice crust, and the interior was pink after some contact with air.

Think positive! The delay leaves us more time for lively discussions before the book arrives and everything has been said and the answer to any question will be RNMB (to avoid the vulgar RTFM).

If your setup does not print the scale exactly as 70mm, you may use PDF-XChange-Viewer instead of Adobe Reader, it allows print scaling in 0.1% steps.