PeteJ

Upthread Robert posted a link to a detailed FDA document on Fish and Fishery Products Hazards and Controls Guidance, but when I clicked it I got a page not found message. Try this: http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Food/GuidanceComplianceRegulatoryInformation/GuidanceDocuments/Seafood/UCM251970.pdf

Here’s a sous vide Duck Confit recipe. Skin on with a quick sear after its bath.

I don’t know anything about steam ovens, but does the use of steam imply that they’re cooking at the boiling temperature of water? Also, wouldn’t a steam oven have far less heat conductivity than a water bath?

The photography is inspiring, Nathan. Great job!

Thanks for the suggestion, PedroG. If you'd like, I'll send you a set of fiberglass rods to use in your cooking. I'll need to know the diameter or width of your bath. To that, I'll add 1/4 inch and make four rods for your cooking. Please send me a private message here with your address. Incidentally, I ordered a bag of marbles yesterday. I like your idea of suspending the bags vertically.

PedroG has nicely documented how to use marbles and a hanger to tame bags that want to float in a sous vide bath. My solution to this problem, an idea that occurred to me while I was walking my dog, is to use thin fiberglass rods, trimmed slightly longer than the width of the water bath. I flex them into position under the surface of the water (best to do this before the water gets hot), then after the bath has heated, slide the food bag(s) into position with tongs. (This test food bag contains two magazine photos of meat glued onto scraps of styrofoam. Boy was it buoyant!) In the course of developing my Sinkin' Sticks, I experimented with a couple of varieties of fiberglass rods (one kind delaminated above 160°F, not a good quality) and materials to cap the ends of the rods to prevent frayed fiberglass and to avoid scuffing the sides of the bath. My extensive, obsessive tinkering is documented on our new sous vide website, SVKitchen, which is otherwise notable for some good new recipes developed by Pam McKinstry and Sally MacColl.

Thanks for the suggestions, Douglas. I hadn't thought to calibrate the sous vide cooker with an oral thermometer, but I did verify it with a Thermapen kitchen thermometer. The chicken thighs were packed in a single layer, but I did include a chilled glob of olive oil and perhaps that turned the package into a confit. Each package also included a lemon slice (in the first instance) and multiple garlic cloves (the second time), which may have insulated the chicken to some extent. Following your suggestions, the next time I'll just salt & pepper the chicken, vacuum bag it, sous vide the package and use the juices to develop a sauce after the cooking. Thanks again for all the work you've done developing, organizing and codifying information about sous vide.

You're right that roasted garlic is too mild to assert itself in this application. The next day I cooked chicken thighs in mustard-dill-worcester sauce and added for or five roasted garlic cloves in each sous vide packet. The result was quite tasty, but the garlic was not noticeable. Again with this batch, some of the thighs were not cooked through, though I checked their placement in the bath quite carefully. I think 146° F is not quite enough heat. Yesterday I set out to read this entire thread to learn lots more and to try to avoid rehashing old topics. I made it through page 15. Today I'm gunning for 16-30.

Skinless, boneless chicken thighs were my first sous vice experiment. I used a package of four small chicken thighs, each less than an inch thick. As preparation, I froze extra virgin olive oil in small containers, each with about a tablepoon of oil. (I found a bag of 250 3/4-ounce Solo cups at a local restaurant supply store and a bag of 100 lids, all for $5.) I roasted a garlic bulb (20 minutes at 400°F). I picked some fresh rosemary and chopped the leaves. I cut thin slices of Meyer lemon. Then I rinsed the chicken thighs, cut off extra fat, seasoned with salt, pepper and rosemary. Then I bagged each with a Meyer lemon slice, a clove of roasted garlic and a glob of frozen olive oil. Since this was my first time cooking sous vide, I tried an experiment. Two of the thighs were bagged individually in 1-quart Ziploc vacuum bags. The other two thighs shared a single 1-quart bag. I pumped air out of the three bags to flatten them, then dropped them in my brand-new Sous Vide Supreme, which was set for 146°F. I knew from reading and re-reading Douglas Baldwin's informative "A Practical Guide to Sous Vide Cooking" that these would cook in less than an hour at that temperature, but they could stay in the bath for hours without harm. I left them in for about an hour and a half while I made mashed sweet potatoes as an accompaniment. The results were pretty wonderful, but instructive. I flash-cooled the two individual bags for future consumption and fished out the bag with two thighs. Without thinking, I poured off the juices that accumulated in the bag. Mine was evenly done and tasty. My wife's was not evenly done -- parts of the thigh were clearly still rare. I think the bag may have floated to the surface, or else an air bubble in the bag shielded one thigh from water contact. The rosemary seasoning was evident and very nice, as was the touch of lemon. Neither of us could taste the garlic. Next time I do this, I plan to use more roasted garlic cloves. I'll fuss more to make sure the food is in full contact with the water bath. I won't pour off the juices, but will use them to make a sauce to mask the beige-colored meat.