DanMLondon

I'm in the UK - but I assume the same thing appla here. I'm going to go into Whole Foods & ask nonetheless. This term raw is ridiculous in that case - I guess you couldn't eat truly raw cashews as firstly they'd be green and you'd likely poison yourself!

Hi guys I am needing to make a vegan 'cream cheese' - I am not a vegan in any way but respect others wishes so want to offer my guests a vegan cream cheese substitute instead of buying them Tofutti. It's super simple to make; bunch of cashews + garlic + lemon juice + salt + pepper + Apple cider vin + chives and blend to a cream cheese texture. However! All the recipes I can find call for 'raw cashews' to be used and to 'soak them overnight or for 2+ hours' - this sucks - using raw cashews I run risk of poisoning people as you should always cook cashews before eating. I am not interested in offering a raw product just one Vegans can eat. So can I use normal roasted (plain) cashews for this sort of recipe? If they are cooked do I have to soak them to make them easier to blend? Anyone have any ideas for me?

Hi This might not be the right place for this but its worth a try. I'm looking for a commercial caterers or a food manufacturer based in London UK that can cook a product via a water bath/SV method in large volume as an ongoing concern. I don't want to hire a kitchen myself and do it, I need a company who already have space and equipment, and as a side venture would cook my product to my spec.They have to use waterbaths/SV and have vacuum packing facilities too. I would also expect HACCP/SALSA in place. Please PM me to discuss further. Thanks D

Does anyone have any killer thousand island or special burger sauce recipes. I used one from food network but wasn't blown away and it contained a grated egg which I didn't like. I don't really like the taste of the soured cream recipes - its too creamy lol - so would rather use a mayo/ketchup mix. They are easy enough to make but has anyone ever added any cool things which people have loved? Like what goes into an In N Out burger special sauce/spread - I'd like to make an organic homemade version of that for some burgers tonight for some family coming over.

I wouldnt be freezing it, its too big but definetly looking to chill/refrigerate and then reheat in the SV when needed. Glad nobody thinks its detrimental.

Whats everyones opinions on Cook/Chill/Regenerate when cooking with SV? Does it alter the taste because its been reheated - I don't think it does personally with things I;ve tried such as steak but I'm worried that sometimes the texture will suffer or is this not the case. I made another thread about SV brisket - I wonder if I cooked brisket via SV then ice bath/refrigerate and then reheat them when needed but I dont sacrifice any flavour/texture. I hear most restaurants do this with chicken etc when they have a slow day then just slap them on the grill for service.

I love lemon too - I squeeze it pre oil and rub the squeezed lemon over the flesh then pour olive oil then the dry ingredients obviously. I find sometimes the lemon inside the chicken can make a bitter taste so I'm experimenting with taking the lemon rind/skin off before inserting into the carcass.

I'm using a Vacstar SCII which has been used maybe 10 times max for long durations. I dont know how to calibrate and would I really need to considering I'm only getting a couple of odd results?

Did brisket at 65c/36hrs - was by far the most inedible brisket I've ever made. The connective tissue/collagen and fats were absolutely nowhere near broken down enough, it was like an old boot. There was no moisture coming out when you pressed the meat and the fat was still in a hard state. You couldn't eat this unless sliced super thin. I use typically pretty lean briskets and when done right it literally cuts like butter and stays moist and tender even when refrigerated. We must be using completely different cuts of meat (including the actual type of meat or the size/shape/width/depth etc) if you got tender results using 65/36 or maybe you don't understand the type of result I'm looking for. I can see 65c working if it were in for 72hours but at 36 it barely touched the edges. The result I get form 76c/45hrs is so far and beyond this that I think I am going to revert back to this and hope the cuts I used were bad in the couple of times its gone wrong. Now that I've done it lower I don't understand what I was thinking lowering both the temp and the time, surely you lower one increase the other or vice versa. No big deal its only an experiment and I appreciate all the input but the results I got were so bad that I can't imagine this would ever work. Back to the drawing board.

Simple yet effective: Put butter between skin/flesh on breast and legs - cover in olive oil, squeeze half lemon over it then salt/pep/garlic salt/stuff carcass with other half of lemon and an onion - 1hr20-40mins @ 180c, baste every 20 mins. Its a sort of mixture of recipes but I make it religiously and never fails.

Cheers guys all duly noted. I have it in the tank at 65c for 36hrs. Lets see how we go and judging by what you are all saying I think it'll be great, if not I'll regroup! Pics to follow..

Ok now I see what you guys are getting at. That stringy corned beef is not what I'm looking for but the pics below with the sliceable corned beef is exactly what I want - its for sandwiches on rye or in bagels afterall. I achieved this at my previous temps/time but it seems somethings gone wrong so I have to try lower. 65c/36hr is the next experiment I guess. I will post results/pics I'd love for dcarch to post in this thread

Ok I might go ahead and try your 65/36hr method. For some reason 70c/40hrs feels right after everything I've read all over the internet. Might be worth cutting my 2.8kg brisket in half and doing 2 batches at those to see what comes out best perhaps?

@gfweb If I do this at 65c for 36hrs - is this hot enough to break down conn tissue/collagen and turn into gelatin? Is this also hot enough/long enough to pasteurise? I too think 75c is too high which is why this keeps happening. Also, what size of brisket are you doing, this is generally a big factor, mine are usually 2.5-2.8kg and are 2-2.5" thick. They have also been brined. Thanks for all input thus far!

The 2 stage SV is a good idea but my problem is not thick tendons as there are none in my briskets. Possibly the moisture is being pulled out at such a high temp throughout which is why I'm left with a dry exterior. The smoker, although I'd love to try it is not feasible for me atm and I really want to keep this as simple as poss.

Right, I decided to try this out again at 75dgc for 43hours (so slightly lower time/temp) - it came out the same. Inside is nice and tender but the outside is somewhat firm/drier and on the edges its rather stringy - obviously you have to cut it correctly against the grain to get nice slices but I've had better results previously doing it at the original 76dgc/45hr. It was however delicious as always but I'm trying to get it perfect texture too! But there is a noticeable difference between the last 2 I've done and the ones I've done before its somewhat more 'crumbly' is the only way I can describe it. It feels overcooked and in parts tough. I'm starting to think its down to specific cuts of the beef as all have different fat/water contents so you get varied results, which is not what I want and I actually think its impossible to get the perfect result as it varies so much and theres always going to be wastage. There was ALOT of water/fat floating about in the bag and the brisket looked half the size after cooked - I had a feeling it wasnt going to be perfect and kept looking it at it like an obsessive complusive, my Wife was not happy! Can anyone suggest a different timescale/temp - that they think would work better such as slightly lower. I dont think going below 70dgc is good as the collagen etc wont breakdown and I've achieved great results before at this temp. And as I've had proven results around this area I dont want to deviate too much. I was thinking of making another at say 71dgc for 40hours - would this make any difference? Here are a couple pictures of the results, they are actually pretty good shots and do it too much justice as they make it look very juicy, and it is but only in parts and the outside (this is obviously shot when I'd taken the outer slice off) was very hard/dry/stringy/tough which is what I want to avoid. Sorry to drive you all mad about bloody corned beef its become an obsession!

I dont see the point in SV soup lol. I mean you could separately SV the ingredients for the soup then combine them at the end, is that what you mean?

Thanks for this have ordered and gone through his website pretty carefully although cant find specific answers that relate directly to me. I was thinking for my parties I could cook them in advance, ice bath chill immediately after and refrigerate for when they are needed ( a day or so later) to be reheated. Do I have to buy a probe to check when they are to be reheated and roughly how long would something like this take and do I have to get it back up to the temp I cooked it at i.e 70c? Also if my method is 76c for 45 hrs, should I maybe reduce temp to 70c and keep same time to avoid this dryness?

But what about cured (brined) cuts of beef like my brisket?

Try 57C for up to 72 hours. I just read this in the article you posted:- "At lower temperatures (50 °C/120 °F to 65 °C/150 °F), Bouton and Harris (1981) found that tough cuts of beef (from animals 0–4 years old) were the most tender when cooked to between 55 °C/131 °F and 60 °C/140 °F. Cooking the beef for 24 h at these temperatures significantly increased its tenderness (with shear forces decreasing 26–72% compared to 1 h of cooking). This tenderizing is caused by weakening of connective tissue and proteolytic enzymes decreasing myofibrillar tensile strength. Indeed, collagen begins to dissolve into gelatin above about 55 °F/131 °F (This, 2006). Moreover, the sarcoplasmic protein enzyme collagenase remains active below 60 °C/140 °F and can significantly tenderize the meat if held for more than 6 h (Tornberg, 2005). For example, tough cuts of meat, like beef chuck and pork shoulder, take 10–12 h at 80 °C/175 °F or 1–2 days at 55–60 °C/130–140 °F to become fork-tender. Intermediate cuts of meat, like beef sirloin, only need 6–8 h at 55–60 °C/130–140 °F to become fork-tender because the tenderization from the enzyme collagenase is sufficient." I do want to get the best result regardless of how long it takes but it would be good, especially commercially for my parties to shorten it somewhat - so maybe meeting in the middle would be ideal say 63c for 48 hours would maybe be a good benchmark or am I completely missing the point lol? Its annoying because my 76c @ 45hrs has worked a treat up until the last try. I guess what I'm trying to say is I dont understand why I cant just decrease the temp to whatever 70c and keep the same cooking time to reduce the risk of drying it out.

Also I read a post on here which got me thinking - it was a beef bourginon SV post, I tried to paste link but failed Most people believe the collagen breaks down at around the temp my chef friend suggested (~76dgc), if thats not the case I could go lower but increase the length of time? Bleh, sort of wish SV was abit easier to work out but maybe this is sposed to be part of the fun!

They could indeed - chicken skin would be great but I doubt it would match a big chunk of pork scratching!

Hey I will check out those links thanks. I always thought 76dgc is a little high, I'm not sure why I chose this except for a chef friend of mine suggested I go higher to break down the connective tissue and collagen. Do you think cooking the same size piece at lower say somewhere around 65-70dgc for the same amount of time would do a similar but better job then? I always thought 76 was over the top compared to what Ive read others cooking brisket too... I know alot of this is trial and error but I can only get hold of so many briskets at a time so I want opinions that can help me completely eliminate some tests If I get an informed opinion on the above cooking temp/time with a suggestion I should go with - I will go ahead and try it out on my 2.6kg brisket I have in the refrigerator & cook it this weekend and take some nice pics/trip report etc

Thx, tbh I've never had it come out mushy just a little dried out especially on the outside - deeper inside was more tender, but I got the whole crumbly texture, which I'm trying to avoid. The texture was different, normally when perfect it comes out with a nice kinda bounce in the meat this time it was more solid. Thats the only way to describe it. Do you think 76dgc is too high - considering I'm cooking for 45 hours? I just know anything much lower will be too low to breakdown the connective tissue etc? I'm happy to know the nitrates kill off that C.b - as that had me in a panic and I assume further pasteurisation would eliminate the rest. I'll look through that thread to see if I can get some more answers. If anyone else has any tips I'd sure appreciate it. Thanks

May I suggest little ribs? Although sometimes sticky, people love them and you can make them in all different sizes for the perfect finger food, whilst I think of it chicken wings fall into the same category. On a much easier note and far less preparation - mini smoked salmon blinis with lumpfish caviar or Ikura always seem popular. For the love of g0d get Scottish smoked salmon, Norweigan is dire imo.