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I was recently contacted about the Kickstarter for the Oliso SmartHub induction hob. It looks basically like an induction hob with some sous vide temperature control baked in and an interchangeable cooking area (flat top or water bath). They are currently about halfway funded. I think the big question is, does the world need this thing? One of their staff members joined this morning to answer any questions you may have about the device and/or the Kickstarter.

I have not followed the sous vide threads because this style of preparing food has not interested me. Until now. My DW had gastric bypass surgery 7 years ago and it has been very successful. It has brought about 2 changes in how she eats. The first is with regard to heat from spiciness. She is very sensitive to any kind of chili peppers or even chili powder and such. That is easily dealt with. The second, however, has become the tough one. If meat hints towards dryness, dryness that others may note but not enough to be a problem, has become more and more of a problem for her. How does the sous vide method compare to more traditional methods, such as roasting, to more reliably producing meat that is still moist? Or does this method not affect the moistness?

I had something labelled brisket which was 4+ inches thick. I cooked sous vide for 48 hours at 131F. To my surprise the interior was heavily fatty. From some reading on egullet, this may be a deckle. I was really hungry so I ate some anyway, but I don't know what to do with the rest. Put it back in the cooker at 145F? 157F? And for how long? Ideas welcome.

NOTE: This continues the discussion in What Are You Cooking Sous Vide Today? (Part 1) A New Zealand Strip Steak. The animals are kept on what they call a zero, zero program. No antibiotics, no hormones, grain fed with no gmo. Lightly seasoned, and into a 129F bath for 2 hours. Seared on the little BGE and served. ]

This stuff has popped up on my radar recently, and I don't see any discussion on it here. IT seems that chickpea canning liquid plus a good beating turns into a air filled protein matrix that does the job of egg white meringue in a lot of applications. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kExpx2BzIOQ Anybody here done anything cool with it?

Ive been making Corned Beef SV for some time. I take advantage of the local St.P'sDay sales and stock up. I generally cut off all of the external fat, cut the large whole CB down to smaller size and SV. I soak in ice water 12 - 24 , or overnight to hopefully get rid of a little salt and do 142.5 - 145 for 24 hrs. it has worked well for me in the past. these notes are in the CB thread. this last year I ended up with a new problem : note the 'jus'. ( 'jus' sounds tastier than 'transudate' ) this bag had 500 gms of meat and 210 gms of 'jus' the jus was thick and full of gelatin and very tasty. it would make a very nice gravy doctored up a bit for appearance on any ' Corned Beef Dinner ' on the potatoes , cabbage etc. it was salty. this was probably 24 hours ice water soaked, w several changes of ice water, and always refrigerated. 145 x 24 the meat was almost mealy but not quite. it tasted fine. it fell apart and whole piece was quite soft and 'wet' I salvaged some as slices which i dry fried to get color and these worked well in a sandwich. the cuts that were softer worked well as shreds dry fried until crispy : and crisp: I made a Bibb lettuce roll : it was nice but did not need the Mayo and mustard. tastier just with tomato and lettuce and some fresh ground pepper. My best SV CB was cooked and then smoked out of the bag on the weber @ 130 for two hours. just not this batch. this was in the CB thread. best CB Ive ever had here is the question : the only thing different this time as far as I can tell is this batch of CB , in the store bag, sat im my refrigerator, which is quite cold, until almost the noted 'cook by ' date on the packages. I just didn't get to it until then this might have been as long as 2 months after purchase, but before the cook-by or use-by date. here is the question: is this effect of 'wetness' and 'jus' a result of that extra 'curing' or did I do something different I did not make note of ? the CB is not a total loss, but a real disappointment . next St.P's day Ill get the stuff processed sooner, and only do < 12 hour soak or just a few hours. I'd really like to know why this happened. the only two variables I see are the extended time in the cryovac's package brine and the soaking in ice water. any serious thoughts about this outcome form those you study CB via SV ? many thanks

I got an immersion circulator (anova PC) for my birthday and have been playing around with it. After looking into cooking times for steak and chicken breasts (and other meat that is not being tenderized) I'm quite confused. Most recipes for steak say cook a 1.5" steak at 129f for 1 hour for medium rare. While it is often stated that the time can go beyond 1 hour, 1 hour is the preference using serious eats page for reference). However, based on the sous vide dash app it looks like the steak will have a core temperature below 129. For the 1.5" steak, it takes 3:20 to get up to temp and at 1 hour it looks like it is around 120f, almost a full ten degrees under the target temperature. Therefore the steak will come out rare, rather than medium rare. The case is similar for large chicken breasts (a .75" breast will be at temp in 1 hour) with a 1.5" breast taking 3:15 to get to 150 and typical times for cooking breasts listed at 1 hour. I will mention that in both cases the surface pasteurization is complete within the hour. Am I missing something, or are people cooking these items so the core temp is below the bath temp (which would lead to a temperature and doneness gradient within the meat)? Monti

Sous vide meats tend to come out of the bag with a grey scum. I've tried removing it with a paper towel, but this isn't very effective. Can I wash the meat under the water faucet? What do you folks do? Thanks.

I've seasoned them Chinese dim sum style with black bean sauce etc but I don't know what temperature or how long to cook them for with my immersion circulator any ideas will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

As a result of a failed attempt at coconut gelato I have a batch of (for lack of a more precise term) coconut paste: http://forums.egullet.org/topic/144208-home-made-ice-cream-2013–/?p=2019595 The stuff is wonderfully delicious and at refrigerator temperature about the consistency of ice cream or lard. Like coconut marzipan but perfectly smooth. Any ideas what I can use it for...besides eating out of the pot?

I am planning on doing cured-brined, smoked, and seared pork chops, in that order. I will do a short 2 day brine using Prague Powder #1, salt, and sugar. The chops will be injected with brine as well as the surface jaccarded. After brining, they will be dried off, coated with rub and cold smoked for 7 to 8 hours. Once the cold smoke is finished I will vacuum pack and sous vide. That is where I am having a problem deciding time. And feeling a bit dense. Looking at Douglas Baldwin's figures for a 2 inch piece of pork, I'm seeing 2 1/4 hours at 68.2C. That will pasteurize it, but is that enough? Given I just did brisket for 36 hours at the same temp, 2 1/4 hours seems like it barely has time to get warm. I have friends asking for the chops, finished and frozen, to be reheated later. I want to be sure I provide a moist, tender, and flavorful chop that is safe. Emphasis on the safe aspect. I expect to chill the chops quickly as they come out of the water bath and then move promptly into the freezer. So, for the sous vide time ... I guess I will go 5 hours, since over cooking should not be a factor with sous vide. Unless the bone in chop - normally 1.5 inches to 2 inches thick, demands a longer time?

I'm considering getting either a rotavap or a centrifuge to expand my culinary possibilities. So my question to people with experience with these devices. If you had to choose from one, which would you choose and why?

So I did a quick search for a SV whole prime rib and everything I found just turned into, "why waste your time? Just roast it!" Which I would generally agree with, but the kitchen I work in only has one oven that can't be tied up long enough to do the prime rib, so I found a couple of recipes out there and I think my recipe will be as follows... Cut a 10# prime rib in half and salt and pepper the outside. Vaccum seal each 5# roast and SV at 137 degrees for 10hours. Remove from the bags. Pat dry, rub all over with roasted garlic puree, chopped rosemary, thyme & pepper. Roast in a 500 degree oven until dark brown. Now here is where things get tricky, I want to hold it under a banquette heat lamp during service and cut to order (like you used to see at every home town restaurant in the 90's) So my questions are, 1, is it safe? I realize that the SV and the oven should be safe, but then it sits out , although under a heat lamp, lets face it, they aren't great. Still if it sits from 5 to 9 and is gone by 9 then its okay to be in the danger zone since it will be gone in 4 hours anyways (assuming we sell out or throw out left overs. 2, what would my expected yield be after SV. I read you have a loss of approx. 20% when roasting, less if its bone-in, so SV w/ bones what are your opinions? And lastly, what are peoples opinions about the flavor profile of SV beef on the bone. Other info to consider, i will be using a very fresh, very local beef that is grass fed up to 600# and finished on brewers grains. The meat has a very rich flavor, not overly irony, but still much more "meaty, beefy" flavor than the crap at the super markets. Anyways, I would like to get this thing rolling next week, so any helpful tips, tricks or advice would be much appreciated. Thanks!

Had an excellent, tender, verrrrry slow cooked beef stew recently, so I thought I'd make it better. Bought bottom round. Cut pieces quite large (1 1/2" x 2 1/2"). Seared them in hot grapeseed oil. Sous vide at 132⁰F for 28 hours. Was tough and chewy. What'd I do wrong?

The folks behind Modernist Cuisine have announced a projected publication date of March 2017 for their new five-volume set on bread (previously discussed here). Start saving up now!

Baldwin says to cook my fish for 15-20 mins (for med rare) at 122F. Problem is that I put in the cold fish and now the bath is at 89F. Do I wait for it to return to 122F before I start counting the cooking time? It's grouper, btw. Thanks.

"The unit's ETL approved 1200-watts of heating power – one of the most powerful elements used for such endeavors – quickly warms the water." http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/gourmia-launches-sous-vide-pod-for-easy-healthy-homemade-gourmet-meals-300184922.html http://www.amazon.com/Gourmia-Digital-Immersion-Circulator-Precision/dp/B017HX1FTC

My old convection oven had to be replaced, now I have a combi steam oven (Electrolux EBSL70SP). Temperature stability is much better than with the old convection oven which oscillated by 13°C around 55°C; the new oven has a sous vide function (100% steam) which allows setting temperature in 1°C increments from 50°C to 95°C, and at 55°C it oscillates within 2°C with a periodicity of about 9-12 minutes; at 75°C it oscillates within 3.4°C with a periodicity of 2.5 minutes. My first experiment was "perfect poached eggs" 16 min at 75°C, they came out the same as I am accustomed to from the sous vide water bath. My second experiment was racks of lamb (vacuum sealed with marinade and mustard about a month ago and kept at 1°C). Thickness was 45mm, so scheduled time was 3 hours at 56°C. Then I unbagged, dabbed dry, painted with HOLL rapeseed oil and started searing in a dry hot pan, but then I suddenly was called away, I returned the unbagged rack on a plate into the oven at 55°C / 100% steam for another 3 hours. After that, drippings on the plate were minimal, I seared the whole rack, cut in 2-bone-chops and seared the cut surfaces, and they came out fork-tender, perfectly pink and succulent as I am accustomed to from the sous vide water bath. My guess is that temperature swings of 2-3°C in a steam oven will affect only the outer few millimeters of the meat which will be overcooked anyway by searing afterwards. Maybe one of our mathematicians can calculate how many millimeters of meat it will take to attenuate temperature swings of e.g. 5°C to e.g. 0.3°C. An earlier experiment showed that core temperature swings are attenuated to within about 0.1°C with temperature swings of 13°C in a convection oven. Another question is how much shorter cooking times will be assuming a heat transfer coefficient above 200 W/m²•K in condensing steam instead of 95 W/m²•K in a water bath as assumed by Douglas Baldwin in his tables. Maybe new tables would have to be calculated for sous vide in combi steam ovens? I may do short time sous vide cooking in the combi steam oven in the future, but for long time cooking I sure will still use my SVM/FMM water bath.

Any one have experience with this? I'm just learning. Any good recipes?

Hello, I am cooking a whole pork belly sous vide. I want to portion it up after cooking and place each portion back in a separate vacuum pack afterwards for safe storage. My question is, should I do the portioning up as soon as I take the pork belly out of the water bath while still hot? Or should I blast chill the whole belly first, still in the bag, then portion up and re-bag? I'm wondering which process will be safer. On the one hand portioning up the belly while it's still hot and then blast chilling the separate bags seems like a good idea. On the other hand blast chilling the whole thing first so it gets to a safe temp, then portioning up also seems like a good idea. I'm also wondering what the act of taking the belly out of its original bag does to the extended life of the belly. I understand that without taking it out of the bag, chilled rapidly I can keep the belly at 5 degrees for roughly a week. Does anyone know how that figure changes if I try either of the two procedures above? Any help gratefully received

Host's note: this topic was split from the All about "sous vide" eggs topic. nice PedroG Combi is the way to go I could not find any info on the Electrolux EBSL70SP on line in english would you post some info on it, size, pics etc ?: congratulations !

I am experimenting with cous cous, rice and mash potato. I don't sous vide these dishes. I find that pointless. However, I am bagging the finished product and vacuum sealing so I can keep them and reheat quickly in the m**rowave (don't hate me!) My question is this... Should I be placing these bags in a water bath to pasteurise them for a longer life before storing them in the fridge or freezer? I'm wondering how long I can keep bagged rice in the fridge under vacuum unpasteurised as opposed to pasteurised. If I was to pasteurise, do I use the same guidelines as for meat? ie is it still about the thickness of the package and the temperature of the water? Or is this all a totally unnecessary faff? Any thoughts on this gratefully received.

Single household, but I can't hold out any longer.I want one. I've read the threads, but now there are so many variations and brands, and newer ones every day, I'm boggled. What's the best budget price for one that works? No point in buying something substandard. Complete unit, or just the immersion thingy? Help?? whimper ,whimper

Hi all, I bought vacuum packed roast beef and kind of pork, see in the attached photo. The size is about 15 cm x 10 cm and the height is about 6 to 7 cm, with weight 785 grams (from the package). Anyone can suggest the timing and the temperature for sous vide if I want to have "medium" for the beef and "well-done" for the pork? I have never sous vide this size of meat before My plan is to sous vide it first on their own vacuum sealed package, probably 1 day before. Then simply sear it before serving to get browned. Thanks!

$400 or best offer by February 11th. Seattle area delivery only. Assorted bags included. All original equipment in perfect working order. I'm leaving the country and cannot take 90 lbs of love with me. Phone: 206 963 2016