thatothercook

I don't know what temperature you're cooking it at but assuming you're above 130F, after 72 hours there's not much left to kill in that bag and a 1.5h trip won't mean much unless you started with a bad batch of meat in which case nothing you do will really matter. But if it makes you feel better, you can freeze it or transport it in ice water and then reheat it. You're going to be fine either way.

Save yourself the trouble of cooking and then stuffing... which can be unsafe too.. depends on what you wanna stuff it with. So, stuff it, bag it, and cook it. Less work in the end and probably easier because once meat is cooked it is tougher to deal with. And just like most anything in cooking... cook it until it's pasteurized to the core. You can even flash sear it loin before bagging it but that's a personal preference. I'd do it in the end because I like that crispy finish. Cheers.

I wrote about this years ago but still relevant: https://thatothercookingblog.com/2013/07/16/pasteurizing-eggs-or-mayo-at-home-sous-vide-134-6-f-for-2hr/ cheers!

That's a really good question! I'm actually tempted to test and write an article on my blog about this now that you mention it but without testing it I think the result would be about the same for all three situations. First, I would say that cooking a whole chicken in a ziplock bag using water displacement method and not adding additional liquid could be risky. The thorax will remain empty and filled with just air which is a very inefficient heat-transferring medium. I'd advice against doing this just from a food safety standpoint but say you're using theoretical risk-free chickens then... comparing this chicken to another one cooked with water in the baggie, or stock in the baggie... without salt, I'd say they should be about the same. Cooking something suspended in water doesn't really add to its water content. Try cooking chicken breasts in boiling water for a few minutes... dry AF. Most animal protein is mostly water anyway and the only thing we can do to add extra water is to force it in by applying some sort of mechanical force, like diffusion by using salt during say brining.

that's a good question and in my experience, resting food, any food before serving it is always better than not doing it. Of course, you could argue that resting pizza would be counter-intuitive but although I love melting stringy cheese in slow motion, I've burned the roof of my mouth countless times for not waiting for a pizza to cool down a bit. Anything that comes out of an oven should get some rest. It's been exposed to incredible heat over a long period of time so give it a rest. When cooking sous vide, things change a bit. Most food cooked sous vide is already at the perfect serving temperature thus not requiring additional rest time but even this is sometimes debatable. Some SV recipes require cooking things above 60C, and I would definitely allow some resting time. I think my temperature target for serving is around 50C.

These statements sound more like urban myths to me. Adding salt to a steak that is about to be sous vide will definitely not have a significant effect on its texture (we're talking normal amounts of regular salt, just for seasoning purposes and we're also not talking about curing salts which would have a much harsher effect). Salt does affect protein and cures it (denatures it) which in fact tenderizes it. So, if anything, adding salt might help your case but I can tell you the difference will be well... negligible. Salt does draw moisture out of meat (which might be why some people could be concerned with meat becoming tougher...) . First, the amount of water drawn by seasoning a steak with salt is close to nothing really... and over time, that little moisture will be re-absorbed (the proper term would be "diffused back into the meat") by the meat if you let it sit or add it to the SV baggie. The same principles working when brining meat apply to dry rubbing meat with salt. So go ahead and season your meat before bagging it. And regarding garlic, onion... harshness. Use whatever you like. Garlic is harsh cooked sous vide at low temperature because that's what garlic is supposed to do. That harshness will go away once you sear the steak. If you pre-sear, then sure... the steak might turn out garlicky but hey... I'm all for that. If you're interested in the effects of salt on food, check out this simple test on my blog: https://thatothercookingblog.com/2013/06/17/how-does-salt-affect-eggs-in-cooking-had-enough-gotta-test-it-myself/

I have been using anova for years although I started with an immersion circulator I built myself until it fried during an experiment. Then I bought a second-hand polyscience until I dropped it in the water (I'm clumsy, what can I say...) and although I managed to save it became noisy and I ended up giving it to a friend. I currently own a couple of anova cookers. They're a couple of generations apart but I love them both. They don't require the app (not sure if the newest one does), super simple to use and decent wattage. I mean, I abuse these things since I'm always cooking for myself or my blog (again, myself). https://thatothercookingblog.com cheers!