jmasur

So I've now made prawns (10-15ct) twice in the past week, once for 40min at 136F, once for 20min at 125F, both seasoned with salt, pepper, and spices, but without added fat. Both times, the shrimp came out rubbery. Should I give up on avoiding extra fat, or am I doing something else wrong?

Yes, I'm familiar with it. But at $170, vs $199 for the Anova or Sansaire, it makes no sense to continue replacing aquarium pumps as they burn out.

Found it -- the Codlo. Unfortunately, they're in the UK, projected ship date is five months out, and it's nearly as expensive as the Sansaire and Anova. Can't tell whether shipping is included, which would probably absorb any savings. I think I'll pass.

No, I know about the Anova and Sansaire. I'm talking about a standalone controller for a heat source. Thanks.

Apologies in advance for hitting a topic that's been done a lot, but what's the new PID controller that has an LCD touchscreen control? I left my DSV outside, upside down, during a rainstorm. That bricked it. Trying to figure out what to replace it with.

Except that the FoodSaver and Ziploc things are actually different from the Oliso. I own the Ziploc; it was my first foray into vacuum sealing. The Ziploc has a dedicated port with a flap that you put the vacuum device on. The Oliso melts a hole in the bag, vacuums, and then heat seals to close the hole; subsequent uses create additional holes. The Ziploc's vacuum flap seals are not terribly reliable, in my experience, and tend to fail when liquids engage the flap. I do use them occasionally for low-pressure, low-moisture vacuuming. The fact that the Oliso heat seals the holes suggests to me that they will be more reliable. So again, the question I have is whether it's really possible to wash the Oliso bags and then reuse them, and if so, how? (And if it is, why can't I do the same thing with FoodSaver heat-seal bags?)

Marius, I'm not a food safety guy, or I'd weigh in more authoritatively, but I can't imagine how it would. All: Has anyone tried the Oliso sealers? They say they're good for sous vide, and even have a video up showing how to use them with liquids in the bag. The primary attraction for me would be the reusable bags -- my wife is annoyed at the plastic waste from my sous vide cooks. I'm not sure how you'd actually wash them out, though. And assuming that I can figure that out, I'm wondering whether the same technique could be used with FoodSaver bags, because if that works, I could just make longer bags than needed, slice off the ends when done cooking, wash, and reuse.

On another topic.... Thoughts about (a) buying a ribeye roast, cooking the whole thing SV, then dividing into steaks and finishing; (b) buying a ribeye roast, dividing into steaks, cooking the steaks SV, then finishing; or © buying individual ribeye steaks, cooking the steaks SV, then finishing? My thought is that (a) might not have adequate seasoning penetration, but would otherwise be advantageous.

Michael Voltaggio's recipe calls for 150F/65C for all parts, although he does put the thighs in for a half hour longer than the breasts and drumsticks. I think you'd need some rebar to go with the meat glue. Anyway, this is probably academic, as I'm quite happy smoking my brined turkey in my Weber Performer with Smokenator 1000 (and probably will be even happier once I get my PartyQ installed).

I don't think I agree. Dark meat can take a higher temperature than white without drying out, due to its higher fat content, but my understanding is that both are "done" from a food safety perspective at the same temp/time points.

The Seattle Food Geek folks have a new $199 immersion circulator on Kickstarter: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/seattlefoodgeek/sansaire-sous-vide-circulator-for-199 On a related note, has anyone cooked a whole turkey SV? The recipes I've seen call for preparatory dismemberment. I have a large enough rig to fit a whole turkey (in fact, it uses the same cooler in which I typically brine my turkey), but the obvious concerns (other than a big enough bag) are air spaces and thickness. Almost seems like using a low sodium broth as the medium might work. Thoughts?

I've thought of doing the same, so I'll look forward to your report. My usual smoking technique is to use the BRITU rub (Google it for the recipe, although I omit the MSG) and smoke at 225F until the interior temp clears 140 for at least 35min. That's usually about 6 hours. My plan had been to use the BRITU rub, add a little liquid smoke, and to SV for at least 12-24 hours at 140, to give time for the connective tissue to break down, then finish on a moderately hot grill for char (500F or so). I don't expect smoking to help much as a finish due to low temps and the fact that the meat would already be cooked, although it's possible that hitting it with a heavy smoke would work.

Those who suggested dunking in boiling water - in bag or out?

Latest experiment reports.... Chicken: I've been doing a lot of playing with ersatz variants on traditional dishes. My wife doesn't eat red meat, so we eat a lot of chicken. I've been replicating traditional Italian dishes that are conventionally prepared with coated/breaded breast fillets, replacing the fillet with a breast that has been seasoned with S&P, cooked sous vide at 140F, and either seared or quickly grilled. This method has worked particularly well with chicken piccata. I've used Giada De Laurentiis' recipe for the sauce twice, and gotten raves both times. I think that the secret is compensating for the fact that you're using a clean pan, rather than one that was used to cook the chicken, by including a little more fat. Fortunately, the sauce recipe already calls for chicken stock, which also helps compensate. I've also done ersatz chicken parmigiana, using Marcella Hazan's eggplant parm recipe (basically, simmer tomatoes, olive oil, and salt until reduced by half, about 45+ min, and top with basil and mozzarella), and I'm playing with marsala. Tri-tip: When my wife isn't joining us, or I'm serving multiple proteins, grilled tri-tip is always a winner, and sous vide has taken my efforts even higher. I've settled on the Bobby Flay rub -- 6 parts granulated garlic, 3 parts salt, 1 part pepper -- letting that rest on the meat for at least a half hour before bagging, and then either dropping it straight in a 130F bath or refrigerating overnight before doing so. You only need a few hours to get it cooked fully, but it benefits from up to 12 hours in the bath. (I haven't gone beyond that, but I expect it wouldn't hurt.) Then I finish on a hot grill -- either my Charbroil Infrared or the Cook-Air, sometimes assisted by a torch. Flay's sides are an excellent accompaniment, although I usually add celery to the tomato relish and use raw tomatoes. Hangar steak: I hadn't ever cooked this cut before last night. I tried a chipotle rub from Serious Eats -- salt the meat, then equal parts chipotle powder, cumin, and paprika -- bagged and refrigerated overnight, then sous vide for 8 hours or so at 130F, then finished on the grill. Sauced it with a roasted poblano & lime vinagrette: roasted two poblanos with the torch, peeled skin off, cored and seeded them; put them in at blender with the zest and juice of four limes, salt, and white pepper; added avocado oil; then added a touch of harisa chili oil for a little more heat. I should've drizzled the oil in to thicken it, and I made twice as much as I needed for 3.5lb of steak and 1.8lb of halibut (more on that below), and it was a bit too lime-y, but a success overall. That said, the kids agreed that my tri-tip is better, due to its smoother texture. But we'll see how this recipe refines in the future. Halibut: Also something I hadn't cooked before. Cut into portions (3-4 oz ea), seasoned with salt and white pepper, bagged with olive oil, cooked 25 minutes at 130F (i.e., dropped it into the bath a half hour before I planned to serve the steak), and seared the top with the torch. Texture was perfect, and the flavor of the lime vinagrette worked very well, but it wouldn't have had much flavor otherwise.

This may have been said already, but cooking to 125, then chilling, then putting it on the rotisserie, will not be a positive difference over rotisserie alone. In both situations, you will be starting from roughly the same temp, so it will take roughly the same time to heat to serving temp. But if you've sous vided first, everything will be concomitantly more done. I would sv, then go straight from water bath to rotisserie at high temp long enough before serving to get your crust. 400 would probably work, but I'm a fan of hitting sv meats with as high a temp as I can go to get the crust -- 700+ on my propane grill, or 1000+ on my CookAir.

I like to cut the head leaving a bit of meat so I can sear it and enjoy the roe. Then peel the tail and cook sous-vide with a bit of butter at 51C for about 15-20 minutes. One of the biggest discoveries of sous-vide, such a sweet, delicate flavor. One degree more and taste and texture start to change, IMO. At about 55C seafood such as prawns release enzymes that change the flavor and texture. Thanks. I wish I'd had your response before cooking the prawns. I found two recipes online, one of which called for 125F/51C and the other for 135F/57C. I split the difference at 130F/54C (also the temperature for my steak) for 35 minutes, and while the flavors were excellent (salt, pepper, chipotle chili powder, and garlic powder), the flesh became a bit tough. Next time, 125F/51C it is.

Anyone have any good prawn recipes? Thinking about a surf 'n' turf tomorrow night (about to season the rib eyes).

Excellent. Order placed. Looks like hardware stores and Asian groceries are the places to get the canisters? Sorry for the topic drift.

Sweet; thanks. Any idea how it's different from this one, which has the benefit of being Prime-eligible?

Mine failed as well. Very strange. But kudos for the quick turnaround on the refurbed or replaced unit. Latest adapted recipe: Ersatz Chicken Piccata. I followed Giada DeLaurentiis' recipe, except for the chicken preparation. Instead of butterflying the breasts, I seasoned with salt and pepper, cooked at 140 F for about two hours, snipped the corner off the bag and harvested the juices to make the piccata sauce, resealed and returned to the bath to keep warm. When I was five minutes shy of serving, I put my serving platter in the water bath, then patted dry and seared both sides of each breast on a nonstick electric griddle at 400 F -- I didn't add fat or dredge in flour -- then sliced each across the grain in approx 1/4"-1/3" thick strips. I dried the serving platter, placed the chicken in it, sauced, and served. The verdict: Awesome. Our guest emailed me the day after to reiterate her praise -- particularly noteworthy since she had enjoyed veal piccata at an excellent restaurant the night before, and pronounced this far superior. The juiciness of SV chicken continues to impress. I'm planning to try harvesting the juices the next time I make Ersatz Chicken Marsala. Seems like an excellent technique. And now a question: I'm sure this has been dealt with before, but does anyone have a recommendation for blow torches? I have a small one right now that really doesn't do the trick.

Todd: Both login methods appear to be broken; I get a 500 Internal Server Error.

The good news is that, by definition, cooking sous vide in a water bath pretty much limits you to the 0-100C range. Unless you're using a different liquid for the bath -- nitrogen, perhaps?* -- you have no reason to fear. (* No, you're not. This is tongue-in-cheek.)

If you look at the mounted picture (the first one), you'll see that there are extruded ribs to either side of the bracket. There's a third between them, obscured by the bracket itself. Basically, the bracket grabs onto that. I have not experienced a pump failure, but I only set this up a couple of months ago. My most extreme temperature uses have been with potatoes, which I've cooked at up to 185F for up to a couple of hours. My most extreme time use has been short ribs at 132F for 68 hours (I would've done 72, but started the cook at 10pm and had guests at 6pm three days later).

I have the SideKIC and a homebrew setup controlled by the DSV. Can't speak to the others. The SideKIC does indeed have a very strong pump. I find that its primary limitation is that it can't get to the temps required to sous vide most vegetables (180+ F) without assistance. But I regularly use it for proteins. The other limitation is that its hook-over design means you have to get the water level near the top of the vessel, which seems less ideal than heating from below. The DSV's primary drawbacks, in my experience, are the fact that its mechanical relay clicks frequently and its single line display. It also lacks the programming mode, but in my experience, it never shows a temp more than a degree above my set point. I'd probably go with the SVM if I were doing it again, but if the cost savings justifies the DSV for you, I wouldn't worry too much. FYI, I finally posted pics and full description of my homebrew setup in the main 2013 thread.

Pictures attached as promised -- one mounted in the cooler, the other removed and sitting on top. In the mounted one, you can see the grooves I melted in with a soldering iron for the cords, most easily, to the left of the cord for the circulator. (The discoloration on the cooler above the bracket is duck tape residue.) I drained the cooler partially before taking the picture. It doesn't show well in the pictures, but my aluminum mounting bracket is getting what appears to be calcium or other mineral buildup as well. (I keep this setup in a house in the mountains, where the water supply is probably similar to bottled spring water.) I don't think it's dangerous, and it's not like the setup is a work of art, Eventually, I'll probably replace with stainless.