cookalong

How long are you cooking the tender cuts? Truly tender cuts shouldn't spend too long in the cooker -- even at 130F there will be changes that happen over time. Tender cuts are best not left too long in the cooker -- for example, a nice thick filet or thick ribeye that is great after 30 minutes or an hour will have a noticeably changed texture after 3 hours. I don't know exactly what the safe time period is, but I do know that the one time that I left a ribeye in the bath for close to 4 hours that it was not nearly as good as when I pull it after 30 or 40 minutes (which is what I normally do). I usually cook beef tenderloin as a loin (not cut into medallions), which is at least 2.5 inches thick. I'm using Baldwin's tables, so the fillet might very well be in the water for 2.5 hours. The reason for not cutting the loin into pieces is that the vacuum sealer deforms the shape of the meat, even if I roll the fillet in clingfilm, cut it up, and keep the clingfilm on the medallions.

I would definitely suggest that you calibrate your circulator. I don't know what you mean by "pappy" but if your circulator is properly calibrated then at those temps (assuming you are using good meat and you are cooking it for the appropriate amount of time) you should be getting a good product that is evenly cooked and delicious. On the other hand, sous vide cooking really shines best on the less tender cuts of meat, IMHO. Short ribs cooked for 48-72 hours can be sublime. Pork shoulder with lots of fat is some of the most tasty meat around. Perhaps, if you are eating high quality tender cuts you will be better off just searing and serving and forgetting the SV method. SV is not for everything. I guess I have to check the calibration. Don't get me wrong, the meat is good, but I find it a bit overcooked sometimes. I know some meats do suffer when it takes too long to bring them up to temperature, due to enzyme activity. A beef fillet might almost be 3 inches thick, so the center will linger at 47-49 for a fairly long time I guess. But I'll check the calibration. I do love less tender cuts, and I'm very happy with the results with those. And while I'm perfectly fine with searing/oven roasting tender cuts, I really want to nail them sous vide too.

For some reason, I'm not happy with the cooking of my tender cuts of beef anymore. Since I got interested in cooking, I've become very sensitive to overcooked meat. When I started doing sous vide, it was such an improvement, since I really sucked at cooking meat before that. Recently I've been on vacation and eaten a lot of steak in good resturants (non sous-vide I think). I usually order it medium rare. And yes there's a temperature gradient, but I still like the meat a bit better. The center looks raw and almost not denatured, but in fact isn't. When I cook a piece of beef tenderloin at, say 130F, it feels almost a bit dry and pappy in comparision. Could it be that my pieces of beef are too thick, thus spending too much time in th waterbath? Or should I go lower with the temperature? Or use a higher water-temperature and use a probe? I've tried around 126-127F too but I still don't absolutely love it. Same thing goes for pork. When I cook a loin to, say, 135F in the oven, it's way more pink/juicy/tender than the sous vide version, which feels overcooked.

I'm planning to serve scrambled eggs from MC (cooking the eggs sous vide and aerate in a siphon). Would it be alright to cook the eggs sous vide (72 C), chill the bag and put it in the fridge, and then reheat them in a 55 C bath and pour into the siphon? I only have one circulator and I need it at about 55C.

I've been assigned the task of cooking venison loin for about 10 people. From what I know, venison is pretty sensitive to enzymatic activity, so people often cook it at a higher-than-target temperature. Unfortunately I don't have a good thermometer for measuring the temperature of food in the water bath. How would you cook it sous vide under such circumstances? I'd like a final core temperature of about 53-54 C. Will the meat turn mushy/pappy if I set the temperature of the waterbath to 54C?

Thanks! So the dipping cooks the outside and makes it firmer? In case I don't want to pre-sear it.

I'm having some problems with the shape of different tenderloins, after vacuum packing. I do wrap them in clingfilm to form a tight log, but they still get deformed when I vacuum pack them (chamber sealer). If I cut the loin into medallions, to speed up the cooking time, it gets even worse. Modernist Cuisine has a little note about this, saying that you could use clingfilm and then dip the bag in scalding water. Does the dipping make any difference? Any advices?

Thank you very much! I prefer Pierre Hermés recipe for the shells, the Italian meringue method. For the filling I used a butter cream and added some beetroot juice. But it was far from optimal, the beetroot juice tended to separate a bit from the other ingredients (looked like minced beef), and the flavour didn't come through that well. I think a custard or a thick fluid gel would work much better. In the end it came together though. Thanks, flödeboller is a typical Scandinavian sweet. I've never seen them with flavoured meringue before I found the Noma recipe though. As for PDF, what can you say.. I really thought I would have to declare bancruptcy and lose my house to Boiron

For flavour. Actually I like that earthy raw beet flavour together with chocolate. But in the picture above the chocolate coating is very thin and doesn't contribute that much to the flavour. Plus the beet flavour is fairly subtle in the meringue anyway, so there's no way they would clash.

I've been dying to eat proper orange chicken since the last time I visited the US. Haven't got around to make it at home before, this is my first attempt. Pretty tasty.

All the chocolate in here looks stupendous. Anyway, 2012 was pretty much the year when I started with pastry. Some attempts: Macarons, here flavoured with beetroot. Pàte de Fruit, here tarte tatin-flavoured (caramelized sugar, butter, apple juice). Made like a billion screwed-up batches with different flavours, before finding the right kind of pectin. Flödeboller (unbaked meringue on shortbread, covered with chocolate), flavoured with beetroot (from Noma)

Made my first real menu this year for Christmas. Before I've only cooked 3-4 dishes, so this was way outside my comfort zone. It turned out fine, obviously lots of stuff inspired by the Fat Duck / el Bulli. Whiskey Sour with passion fruit (el Bulli) Olive made with alginates (el Bulli) Spreadable olive oil with thyme/rosemary, bread (MC) Watermelon infused with tequila/lime, dried olives, feta cheese Crab biscuit, seared foie gras, poached rhubarb (partial Fat Duck recipe) Sous vide pork belly, choucroute, pork sauce (partial Fat Duck recipe) Mushroom purée, mushroom consomme, Madeira/Sherry-reduction (Heston at home) Roasted duck breast, pommes purées, sauce gastrique Mango and Doulas Fir Purée (Fat Duck) Mini-tarte tatin with vanilla ice cream Pâte de fruit of mandarin and mandarin esential oil (inspired by Fat Duck recipe) Plus a Cointreau granita and some cheese.

I've had this "issue" for a while now, regarding the colour of the meat. A couple of years ago when I started with sous vide cooking, a great things was the colour of the cooked meat. Beef looked nice and red at 136F/58C, pork tenderloin was nicely pink at 140F/60C and so on, duck breast too. I used a wateroven and a clamp sealer, sometimes ziploc-bags. Looking back at pictures, the meat looks great. The meat looked a lot more "raw" when cooked sous vide, compared to regular roasting/searing, even if the temperature was the same. Nowadays I'm using a chamber sealer and an immersion circulator. However, I think the meat looks too pale when cooked. I usually cook tender beef cuts at 128F/53C. Pork tenderloin and duck breast at 131F/56C, However, the meat often looks gray/white. It's still juicy and tender, but it looks overcooked, even if I take it out of the bag and leave it for a couple of minutes. I really thought my Christmas duck breast would look gorgeous at 131F, but they were barely pink at all. I know the lack of air affects the colour, but shouldnt the colour return after a minute or so? Does the cooking time affect the colour too?

How come store-bought meat has such long shelf life when it's vacuum packed? Is there no risks of botulism? From what I know, botulism is the reason why you don't store sous vide food for more than a couple of days in the fridge.