Derek Tran

Thanks! Would you say theres anything wrong with using a vacuum sealer/bag even if a totally air free environment isn't necessary? Only because I don't have any other appropriate and big enough containers to do the fermentation in. What time of periodic checking do you have to do on the fermentation?

As one of those long term ketogenic dieters, I want to start experimenting with food fermentation and decided to try out this recipe for kimchi https://simplyafoodblog.wordpress.com/2013/07/03/low-carb-fermented-food-korean-kimchi/I have a VacMaster VP215 chamber vacuum sealer that I use for a lot of sous viding. This is my first foray into fermentation but from what I hear, the goal is to keep oxygen out of the mix during the fermentation process. I don't have any jars or appropriate pickling containers, so thought the chamber vacuum sealer might be a good option. Is this a good idea and advantageous over other container/jarring methods? I'm not to keen on the science of fermentation (yet) but am intrigued by the idea of creating delicious foods with beneficial probiotics and all that. Also, for keeping the probiotics alive while heating, what is the best method? I know high heat kills probiotics but if I wanted to add it to a stir fry for example, perhaps just mixing room temperature kimchi with the stir fry ingredients once they are removed from the pan would keep the probiotics alive while warming up the kimchi? Cheers!

I used to salt pre vacuum but not anymore after reading a few different threads on this forum. As for the reasoning behind why I tried long cooking ribeye: I used to only sous vide ribeye to bring it to medium rare temp before finishing it (45 min-1.5 hours). Of course I had the issue with the fat not rendering so was trying to get the best of both worlds so I searched around for any tips. Someone had mentioned that they cooked ribeye long enough (6-8 hours) (can't remember where/find the source) that they literally rendered a hole where the fat used to be. It seemed to contradict what I've read about the low temp not being high enough to render but I figured I'd give it a try anyway. Turned out too good to be true. I've seen blog posts of people doing eye of round roasts. That's where I got the idea that one could take a low cost (because of it's low fat content) meat and turn it into something better. I have tried cutting into the meat before searing as well, it still came out pale. Again this was using Douglas Baldwin's time/temp tables in "Sous Vide for the Home Cook" and sometimes using far less time than he suggested. The blood just leaks out into the bag by the end of a long cook, which is what I attribute to the loss of color in the meat. Even doing the sirloin for 8 hours (he mentions that collagen with temp between 130-140 breaks down in the first 6 or so hours) I was expecting something like this: http://meandmytorch.com/recipes/8-hour-sous-vide-sirloin-steak but ended up getting pretty much greyish pink throughout and a very dry meat. I've done lots of very successful braise and pulled recipes at higher temps. I just can't get lower temp (medium rare) "steaks" to be any good past 2 hours. I think, based on what I'm reading above, unless doing higher temp cooks for the purpose of braised or pulled textures, I shouldn't bother trying to tenderize it and just stick with bringing it up to temperature and then searing and enjoying.

Paulraphael: what cuts do you recommend for the longer cooks (silk purse effect)? I've done ChefStep's short ribs at 129F for 72 hours. That turned out great. But nowadays short ribs are becoming very expensive as people are realizing that it's delicious if cooked right. Are there other's that you recommend playing around with? Weedy: I think it's coming out pale cause it's losing a lot of its juices. I too was under the impression that no matter what, the meat should maintain it's color as long as it never cooked above the temperature where it would lose it. Interesting note on the medium. I'll try upping the temp the next time I do a ribeye. And yeah, I do finish the steak. Usually with cast iron with some oil plus a torch to make it super super quick. The method works well on the short cooked beefs. The crust develops well really quickly without any additional cooking underneath. I haven't tried directly testing the temp of the meat with the thermapen after a long cook yet. I just assumed after a long cook like that, it would most definitely be at the water temp.

I've had luck with sous viding steaks only to bring them up to temperature. But any steaks that require holding for more than a couple hours always dry out and lose a ton of their pinkness. I use Douglas Baldwins tables and have tried sirloin, ribeye, eye of round, etc at 130/131F. I've tried them at 6 hours, 8 hours, and sometimes the much longer 24 hours or more cooks. Ribeyes - of course I only tried at 6 hours once as I was looking for a way to render the fat down a bit more besides applying a lot of high heat. I was trying to get the best of both worlds with this one. The delicious rendered fat of Ribeyes with the perfect medium rare temperature with less chance of human error. The other meats, I was experimenting to see if I can turn leaner, cheaper cuts of meat into something much greater, like many sous vide advocates talk about. I've tried many times, and have never been successful. Like I said, the longer cooks make them lose a ton of their juices, and the meat comes out pale and hardly pink at all, despite being cooked at medium rare. I recently did a side by side comparison of a 8 hour vs 1.5 hour sirloin and the 8 hour was not enjoyable at all. Dried out. The 1.5 was good, but about the tenderness I expect form a traditional cooked sirloin of course. I figured it might be an issue with the microcontroller (Dorkfood DSV) not being calibrated. So I bought a thermapen and pretty much the 3 thermometers including the thermapen I use pretty much agree that the microcontroller is doing a great job (and yes, the bath is circulated). My heating element is one of those Marshalltown immersion bucket heaters. Have any of you had this problem? My only suspicion is that it might be a factor of thickness at this point, but even then, I've tried top sirloin over 1 inch thick and it still comes out dry and pale after 6 hours at 131. I'm not getting this legendary turning cheap cuts into filets with more flavor that I keep hearing about. The only thing I haven't tried is doing a roll/roast. Any advice would be appreciated!