[What materials are safe to include IN vacuum bags?]

I'd be slightly concerned about even heat transfer, if one side touches the water and on the other side the heat first has to go through a cutting board. I'd probably get a small piece of acrylic (thin) or HDPE or what it's called cut at TapPlastics. Or a piece of tempered glass. Or cut the floor out of a plastic storage container, they're food safe and should hold up to SV easily.

Heat transfer might be an issue, but I think that on longer cooks using a relatively thin plate it wont make a lot of difference.

HDPE is High Density PE, but how do I recognize that its HD, I only seem to find ones labeled just PE... Think that will do the trick without killing me in the long term? :-P

Food containers seem to soften to easily (when I cook IN them at least)

Thin Stainless steel. Thinner the better and easier to cut. You might want to smooth the edges and round the corners so it doesnt puncture the vacuum bag. i suppose you could also use those cedar planks they use for grilling salmon. Bambo and other woods aswell should be food safe. You want heat to penetrate so thinner the better.

Wont that make it taste metallic?

are you talking about a vacuum system or a chamber vacuum system?

if its just a plain vanilla vacuum system, it can't take an oblong chunk and make it flat.

perhaps if you pound the breast a bit before the bag you might get something flatter.

then again, I think you are barking up the wrong tree:

why do you want it so flat? why not then move the oblong breast a bit in the pan?

after the fact?

I think he/she wants the side of the breast with the skin to lay flat while cooking. I dont know if it will stay flat once cooked but my post above should do what was asked.

Just to improve the process, make the searing part easier. Also I like to keep the period of time in the pan as short as possible to avoid overcooking.

I use the bottom of a springform pan...4", 5", 6", whatever size is needed....I seal it right in the bag....it works great.

Vacuum shaping sous vide sear surfaces.

THIS! Thats what Im looking to do, only using something a bit bigger and square, as to fit an entire duck breast on it

[What materials are safe to include IN vacuum bags?]

Im looking for a flat and hard surface to include in the bag when making duck breast etc so that when I apply vacuum the fatty skin side turns perfectly flat. And of course, in turn, makes the perfect contact surface for pan searing that skin.

The most easily accessible material for me would be a smaller PE-plastics cutting board, as theyre available everywhere.

However I cant find any info on wether this is safe, regarding the temperatures applied in SV.

Any thoughts, suggestions?

[Sous Vide: Recipes, Techniques & Equipment (Part 9)]

Food safety question: Does adding a slice of raw lemon to a bag of chicken breast reduce the amount of time it will last in the fridge after SVing? (doing cook->chill)

[Polyscience Sous Vide Toolbox (formerly known as SousVide Dash)]

I'm a bit late to the party, and just recently discovered this gem of an app. I see from the above that I am not the first to post this, - but will there be support for frozen food (and/or is the app still being supported/updated?)

[Work-friendly sous vide dishes (8, 16 or 24 hour-long preps)]

I do flank steak for 16hrs at 131 and it's perfect. Tender but not mushy.

Thanks, that cut is still untested by me, so I'll put it on my list!

the cook-chill route has the advantage of perfect rewarming. You use that time for making the rest of your meal 'Fresh'

I do SV in quantity for these reasons. i like to thinks its the above, but it might be more of the below

excellent opportunity to "pull a cork" while you are at it.

I'm not completely clears as to what you mean by perfect rewarming (whats imperfect rewarming?). For me, I just find the whole process of chilling in iced baths and then maybe freezing the bags afterwards a bit time consuming for everyday dinners. Although I tend to make chicken breasts in batches like this, since I eat a lot of them.

I try to keep my cork-pulling limited during the week, but I see your point ;-)

This looks quite interesting!! But its 18 hrs-- u could just up the temp to fit 16 hrs ?

http://reluctanthousedad.com/2012/03/29/recipe-shed-heston-blumenthals-18-hour-sous-vide-blackened-pork-belly-with-creamed-leeks-apple-sauce-and-roast-garlic-mashed-potatoes/

Added!

I am in the exact same situation as you - I love cooking nice food but have to plan it around my work schedule. I know you say you don't want to, but the cook-chill method is amazing for this purpose.

Example: I will seal a large batch of pork belly in multiple bags (one bag for each night), cook for 72 hours @ 140 F, chill, and store in the fridge. Instead of using an proper ice bath, I've started using my ice cream maker's freezer bowl, it's much less hassle than using an ice bath. If I leave my water bath on during the day, I get home and all I have to do is place a single bag in the water bath to reheat, and then sear on the stove top. This approach is not only extremely convenient, but every night's leftovers are of very high quality.

If you still don't want to use the cook-chill method, one recipe (brine based off the momofuku cookbook) I've always come back to that has convenient timing is:

Sous vide confit chicken thigh (skin on):

-Trim chicken and debone

-Brine the chicken 1-5 hours in 4 cups water, .5 cup salt, .5 cup sugar, and any other seasonings you want (scale the brine if you have more chicken, I've always tried for a 1:1 ratio of brine to meat by weight)

-Rinse off, seal in bag with fat/oil of your choice (rendered bacon fat or duck fat is great) and let it sit in the fridge overnight (only for convenience). Its also good to throw in fresh herbs, spices, or bacon.

-Before you go to work in the morning, drop the bags in the water bath for 8 hours @ 140-150 F.

-When you get home, simply sear the chicken thighs, skin side down until crispy (3 minutes or so)

-This also is a good temperature range for soft-boiled eggs, alot of the time I'll drop an egg in the bath with the chicken for 45 minutes to have chicken and eggs, with rice or some veggies.

-Cold smoking the chicken prior to bagging (ala Momofuku cookbook) makes it even more delicious, although definitely more labor intensive

Thanks, I can see that you understand my beef (pun intended) with cook-chilling. Ill definetly try this recipe soon.

It's funny that several of you mention pork belly, as I have one swimming around in a baggie right now. It's been in for 35h@63,5C and will be consumed within the hour. This one is marinated in ginger and soy, and will be glazed in a similar style glaze before consumption.

Change jobs. Outrageous that work interferes with cooking.

I'm a student during the rest of the year, so I'm sort of doing just that. ;-)

I do blade steaks (chuck in the US) for 18 hours at 54.5º C.

Pork ribs 8 hours at 80º C would work.

Corned beef - 80º C for 16 to 18 hours.

Boneless lamb shoulder 65º C for 24 hours.

Thanks alot!

Marius, don't be concerned about your English. It's beautiful, with a nice grasp of idiom ('route', 'hassle', 'refresh my ... game').

Don't rule out 36 hour times - put it in at breakfast time on Day 1, eat it for dinner on Day 2. My favourite in that sort of time range is beef cheeks; 70°C for (theoretically) 30 hours, but I'm sure they wouldn't mind 36. There are some good discussions of cheeks on eG.

Thank you for the kind words, and input!

Someone in here said something about Octopus being sublime.. with a 5-6 hr SV. I think you can do a search for a recipe.

Paul

I suspect that's gonna be hard to come by around here, but I had some in Croatia last summer and it was sublime.

BTW there are a lot of 6 hr Rx that work well: chicken breast, turkey breast tender beef ...

Chicken breast for that long? I usually give them around 2 hours. If I put them in the water straight from the freezer, at a temp like 62C do you suppose they will keep from turning into complete mush?

[Work-friendly sous vide dishes (8, 16 or 24 hour-long preps)]

Recently I've come to a point where I'm having trouble coming up with good ideas for SV-cooking that aligns with my work schedule, resulting in very late dinners*.

Of course there is the cook-chill route, but I find that quite a hassle, and adding unecessary steps to my cooking. Although, I absolutely enjoy cooking, and I'm not looking for simple recipes to speed up my days. I'm simply searching for some new, schedule friendly recipes to refresh my dinner game.

So - to the point at hand - has anybody got any recipes they would like to recommend that fits in with 8-hour cooking times (in the water while I'm at work), 16-hour (before i go to bed) or maybe 24-hour ones (just swap the bag for todays dinner with one for tomorrow).

Any input is greatly appreciated!

Marius

* Here in Norway, it's customary to eat dinner straigth after work

(If my English should be sub-par, corrections are welcome as I will be taking a class later this year and want to brush up before that)