FeChef

I said from experence I cooked some deer steaks SV for 4 hours and they came out mealy. So i was giving a heads up. Geesh

From experience, deer is very very lean and SV texture is "mealy" at 135F for 4 hours.

Would be cool to take some hard boiled eggs, remove them from there shell. Then put a skewer through it and dip it in this edible clay. Then you could decorate the edible shell for easter and tell everyone they can eat the entire egg.

NP, I missed that. Must have skimmed over the sear part and assumed it was sear then serve. Not sure why if your going to braise traditionally, that you would even bother SV at 58C for the first 6-12 hours. Might aswell just braise traditionally the whole time.

This is why I mentioned 58C (136F) not causing meat to be fall-apart tender even after 48 hours.

So let me get this straight...PG is saying that to get fall-apart texture, you cook for 6-12 hours at 58C (136F) then 78C (172F) for 2-4 hours and it should fall apart? Im not disagreeing because frankly i havent tried 172F SV for meats. But I can tell you theres no way 58C (136F) for 6-12 or even 24-48 hours is going to be fall-apart.

Not sure why some of you are having trouble with chuck roast. My chuck's sous vide @ 133F for 24 hours come out like prime rib. My chuck's sous vide @ 160F for 24 hours makes the best open face pot roast or shredded beef for taco's. Probably one of the best cuts for sous vide in my opinion.

You may be right. I buy well marbled, wet aged, prime grade , and most likely, corn fed beef short ribs. I used to buy average run of the mill select/choice grade beef short ribs, and after 36 hours @ 135 they were like sawdust texture and dry. Where the prime grade has a juicy tender texture like that of a prime grade filet mignon. I noticed this with low grade select top round versus higher grade choice top round. The select would come out almost white when cooked @ 132F for 16 hours where the choice would come out a beautiful medium rare dark pink. Its like night and day, and the same cut of meat, just different quality.

I have done short ribs many times, And i can say with certainty @ 135F, they need only 36 hours to become tender. Not fall apart tender, but tender like a filet mignon @ 135F for 4 hours.

Steve those smokes short ribs look great. How long did you smoke them and what temp did you pull them at? Also what temp was your webber at? I havent tried pecan yet, mostly use apple wood or alder. How would you consider pecan wood smoke flavor to apple? I like apple because its mild, hickory is too bold for my taste. Looking forware to your response.

This is completely false. I think you need to educate yourself on pasteurization times and temperatures. Here is one of many sources stating that between 140 F and 40 F is trouble. I am just suggesting that the center of the roast may have been in the danger zone too long, and took on a smell from anaerobic microbe growth. http://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/wcm/connect/8b705ede-f4dc-4b31-a745-836e66eeb0f4/Danger_Zone.pdf?MOD=AJPERES What do you say, FeChef? If the roast is still in one piece then the inside is sterile therfore not contaminated. As long as the surface was brought to pasteurization temps in a timely matter then theres nowhere for bacteria to grow. Again, educate yourself before posting false information. USDA information is far from false. If I accept your view, then the OP must have started with contaminated meat that did not pasteurize. My own thought, undeterred by sous vide, is that the 140 F temperature was not reached in time for pasteurization, and a higher temperature would suffice. As Shalmanese told you aswell, the USDA safety rules are overly simplified and do not apply to sous vide cooking. 140F is not needed to pasteurize. Given time, 132F is more then enough to pasteurize. I suggest again that you educate yourself, and as shalmanese suggested, you shoul look up douglas baldwin's guide to sous vide, and read up on his pasteurization charts.

This is completely false. I think you need to educate yourself on pasteurization times and temperatures. Here is one of many sources stating that between 140 F and 40 F is trouble. I am just suggesting that the center of the roast may have been in the danger zone too long, and took on a smell from anaerobic microbe growth. http://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/wcm/connect/8b705ede-f4dc-4b31-a745-836e66eeb0f4/Danger_Zone.pdf?MOD=AJPERES What do you say, FeChef? If the roast is still in one piece then the inside is sterile therfore not contaminated. As long as the surface was brought to pasteurization temps in a timely matter then theres nowhere for bacteria to grow. Again, educate yourself before posting false information.

Kenneth, My idea was that because the meat has already been cooked, it absorbs smoke slower so cold smoking could give time for more smoke to be absorbed without the worry of overcooking. Lets say 3 hours of cold smoke, then heated smoke until reaches target temperature. From what i got from your post, it sounds like i could probably get away with even just smoking at room temp for a few hours.

Nobody? Ok well my concern is this. If the meat in question has been pasteurized and chilled below 40F. Whats a safe amount of time to be inbetween 40F and 140F during the smoking process? Im thinking possibly cold smoking, then after a good few hours of smoke, crank the heat up to get a nice bark.

This is completely false. I think you need to educate yourself on pasteurization times and temperatures.

Ok first let me get this out of the way....I have tried pre smoking and post smoking with SV methods. I prefer post smoking because i cant stand the smell that leaches out of the bags into the water that end up doubling as a potpouri house fire scent. Also the smoke gets drawn out of the meat along with the juices and makesliquid smoke in the bag. Ok now thats out of the way. Has anyone ever tried to SV then rapid chill to below 40F then throw it in the smoker at around 200F for whatever time it takes to get back upto your initial SV target temp? I usually pull the meat straight from the bag still hot and pat dry and apply my rub then smoke. But i dont get much time in the smoker or chance to get a nice natural bark in that short of a time.

Having cooked beef short ribs a few times, I can tell you that in my experiences, some grocery stores label a cut called "chuck roast tender/s" as "boneless short ribs" atleast in the US they get away with this, Im not sure about other countrys. When cooked traditionally you cant really notice a difference in texture. But when cooked for over 36 hours @ 133F they turn out like sawdust. Just when i was about to give up on SV short ribs, I came across a "wet aged" prime grade vacuum packaged 2 1/2 inch thick boneless short ribs at a wegmans for 9.98/lb. These were extremely marbled. I figured this was going to be my last attempt and if it turned out like sawdust i was done with trying to SV these. Well i stuck with the 36 hour/133F and they came out amazing. So beefy, they tasted almost "gamey" and reminded me of some really good SV beef tongue. This may not be a smell/taste you like but my point is, thats probably what your smelling/tasting, pure beefyness. Also, always hit a meat your going to cook for over 4 hours with a blowtorch to kill off surface bacteria. People will argure that it does nothing for flavor, and you should post sear, but i personally feel that it adds a more bold roasted flavor, and doubles as a safer pastuerization.

One minute seems to be enough. No pink, just tender and juicy with a nice crispy coating.

Getting the oil really hot did the trick. I waited till the ready light came on and turned the fryer off for a minute, then turned it back on until the ready light came on again. It got around 400F. I only put a few pieces in at a time and they got i nice golden color in only 1 minute and floated to the top. Bingo.

Good idea. Its not a batter though. Its basicly tenderized thin chicken slices in a papain paste that gets tossed in a mixture of flour and batter bits. The batter bits are flour mixed with water and blended into the dry flour and crumbled to make tiny bits. I suppose i could try adding some sugar to the flour batter before crumbling into the dry flour.

I actually have a double fryer but I bought it specifically to build a SVS clone. Well, technically is better since my clone has built in circulation. But on topic, I dont fry alot of foods so i cant justify the cost of a larger fryer, but my fryer does hold a gallon of peanut oil, so its not what i consider small. I think I should just fry smaller batches since it only takes a minute.

Last nights dinner. A 36 hour beef short rib topped with Boursin cheese and a crab meat terrine made with lump crab meat and egg whites. Served ontop a portabella mushroom cap w/Marsala wine reduction cream sauce and roasted yukon baby potatoes.

My deep fryer only reaches 375 but drops to 350 when i add the chicken. Since it only takes a minute, its not enough time to get back to 375. I could add smaller batches i suppose to get it to stay at 375 or close.

Good to know that 1 minute is a safe temp for very thin chicken. I think a torch would either burn or over cook the chicken. I think flash freezing and frying for another minute will solve the browning issue without over cooking the chicken. Thanks for sharing your personal experience with cooking thin chicken.

Ok, but the dish calls for crispy thin chicken with a lightly breaded crust with breading bits. Not going to get those results in a pan. Maybe a super hot wok with oil, but thats pretty much the same thing as deep frying.