Sous Vide: Recipes, Techniques & Equipment (Part 4)

[Camano Chef]

I am an experienced chef.

I have a cryovac machine.

I have a Polyscience circulating heater.

I have just read Thomas Keller's new book- 'Under Pressure".

Thomas Keller's cooking is elaborate to the extreme but is certainly an inspiration and goal.

I do virtually all of the cooking in our home. My wife, of many years, thinks that my fixation on food borders on a fetish, although she certainly enjoys the food. I have always done the preparation and most of the cooking for all family and other social events for many years.

I need suggestions as to the first sous vide entrees to prepare for our home.

I am thinking of tender meat, steaks or pork chops, pan seared with a sauce such as mushroom cream or bernaise.

Any other suggestions would be appreciated?

Thanks

[Camano Chef]

Has anyone tried this using sous vide and pan or grill searing?

[Chefb28]

Kinda I have a cryo-vac machine but not the thermo imersion circulator, but you can to it in stock pot or a heat well, long as you can control the tempature. I have tried it using a tilt skillet and it worked well it all depends on how much protein you want to sous vide. Far as pan and grill searing goes I've done alot of searing. Are you talking about Searing after you sous vide something?

I hope this helps

[nickrey]

I am an experienced chef.

I have a cryovac machine.

I have a Polyscience circulating heater.

I have just read Thomas Keller's new book- 'Under Pressure".

Thomas Keller's cooking is elaborate to the extreme but is certainly an inspiration and goal.

I do virtually all of the cooking in our home.  My wife, of many years, thinks that my fixation on food borders on a fetish, although she certainly enjoys the food.  I have always done the preparation and most of the cooking for all family and other social events for many years.

I need suggestions as to the first sous vide entrees to prepare for our home.

I am thinking of tender meat, steaks or pork chops, pan seared with a sauce such as mushroom cream or bernaise.

Any other suggestions would be appreciated?

Thanks

←

Given that you are just starting out, salmon is quite exceptional done sous vide and you don't have the issue with the greyish color that requires sauce or searing to hide. The other thing to consider is that (my opinion) tender meats do not shine with sous vide as much as slow cooked cuts that can be left for longer cooking periods. Try beef cheeks or pork belly for example; Keller gives a number of recipes for the latter.

[Ruth]

Actually I love to cook steaks sous vide. I season them well and cook sous vide at 52°C for one to three hours depending on thickness and quality of the meat, then a quick sear in a super hot cast iron pan. An inexpensive cut becomes truly succulent when cooked this way and is uniformly rare throughout.

[jackal10]

Beef rib at 55C (very rare) for 24 hours or more, then seared.

Try with a choice rather than prime cut, and be amazed...

[NY_Amateur]

I am an experienced chef.

I have a cryovac machine.

I have a Polyscience circulating heater.

I have just read Thomas Keller's new book- 'Under Pressure".

Thomas Keller's cooking is elaborate to the extreme but is certainly an inspiration and goal.

I do virtually all of the cooking in our home.  My wife, of many years, thinks that my fixation on food borders on a fetish, although she certainly enjoys the food.  I have always done the preparation and most of the cooking for all family and other social events for many years.

I need suggestions as to the first sous vide entrees to prepare for our home.

I am thinking of tender meat, steaks or pork chops, pan seared with a sauce such as mushroom cream or bernaise.

Any other suggestions would be appreciated?

Thanks

←

I think that pork really shines sous vide not because it makes it more tender but because you can safely cook it to 141 and be sure it is pasteurized (if you follow Douglas Baldwins tables that is) and medium rare pork is really just so much more juicy and delectable then pork that is improperly cooked, a pork tenderloin cooked at 141 and then seared in a pan or with a blowtorch is just amazing.

Edited November 23, 2008 by NY_Amateur (log)

[e_monster]

Given that you are just starting out, salmon is quite exceptional done sous vide and you don't have the issue with the greyish color that requires sauce or searing to hide. The other thing to consider is that (my opinion) tender meats do not shine with sous vide as much as slow cooked cuts that can be left for longer cooking periods. Try beef cheeks or pork belly for example; Keller gives a number of recipes for the latter.

Sous-vide salmon seems to be a love it or hate it thing. Some people love it but some people HATE it.

I think beef short ribs for 48 hours at 135F, cut from the bone after sous-vide and then seared for 20 seconds per side in a super hot pan are a great first dish. Very easy. Very satisfying.

A nice thick ribeye cooked sous-vide for an hour or two at 127F and then seared 30 seconds a side in a super hot (i.e. leave it on a high flame for ten minutes beforue using) is very satisfying.

Pork tenderloins cooked for a few hours at 135F are great too. I would cook them with some marinade in the bag. I use a mixture of olive oil, cider vinegar, sugar, soy sauce with a few drops of liquid smoke. It is my neighbors favorite way of eating pork and they request it whenever they come over for dinner.

[Ruth]

e-monster do you have a chamber vacuum or do you freeze the marinade before vacuuming?

[e_monster]

I have a FoodSaver that has the Pulse vac feature and removable drip tray. I sometimes freeze the marinade in ice-cube trays BUT I usually don't. With the pulse feature, you get only a little liquid (which goes into the removable drip tray) when you get the air out. It works well-enough that I rarely free the marinade ahead of time.

[nickrey]

Pork tenderloins cooked for a few hours at 135F are great too. I would cook them with some marinade in the bag. I use a mixture of olive oil, cider vinegar, sugar, soy sauce with a few drops of liquid smoke. It is my neighbors favorite way of eating pork and they request it whenever they come over for dinner.

←

I tried the pork tonight, it was absolutely delicious.

[sasquatch]

Hello! Anyone got any suggestions for chicken? I do chicken quarters or eights at 65C for 2 hours, then I grill them with some bbq sauce or do a fried chicken. The chicken is somewhat bloody in the thigh area near the bone and also near the small drumstick part of the wing. Anyone got suggestions?

[sasquatch]

Reading Thomas Keller's Under Pressure, a lot of the recipes, or probably most, DO NOT utilize the meat/poultry juices retained in the vacuum bag after cooking SV. Does anyone know the reason why?

[Ruth]

I came to the same conclusion and I can think of no reason as those same juices are very flavorful. I cooked some veal breast sous vide yesterday and for tonight's dinner I plan to sear it and braise some mushrooms in the juices for a sauce.

Keller does not seem to like strong flavors - notice how he wraps his aromatics in plastic when cooking sous vide - and he may feel that the flavor of the aromatics in the juices is too strong.

[e_monster]

I am guessing that it is because they lack some of the delicious character (and rendered fat) of juices created by higher temperature cooking. I occasionally do use the juices but they lack both the flavor and characteristics of the juices created by higher-temperature cooking. The texture is different from 'standard' juices and heating them sometimes results in some interesting 'curds' (for lack of the technically appropriate word) forming.

Reading Thomas Keller's Under Pressure, a lot of the recipes, or probably most, DO NOT utilize the meat/poultry juices retained in the vacuum bag after cooking SV.  Does anyone know the reason why?

←

[dougal]

... The texture is different from 'standard'  juices and heating them sometimes results in some interesting 'curds' (for lack of the technically appropriate word) forming.

←

Dissolved protein coagulating?

[slkinsey]

Reading Thomas Keller's Under Pressure, a lot of the recipes, or probably most, DO NOT utilize the meat/poultry juices retained in the vacuum bag after cooking SV.  Does anyone know the reason why?

Many of the things he makes in UP are sealed individually and/or cooked only for a very short period of time, thus resulting in a minimal amount of juices on an individual basis. I'm guessing that it's not worth their while to save/reuse them. In a restaurant environment, there would be no time to incorporate these juices into any kind of sauce on an individual basis, of course, and anyway most of his dishes don't particularly feature any sauce... so it's hard to know how these juices might be employed.

[DouglasBaldwin]

I agree with both Ruth's and Sam's comments above.

Personally, I love making a quick sauce from the liquid in the bag. Even when just pasteurizing a chicken breast, I often strain the liquid, thicken it with a hydrocolloid, and season it to taste. That's not to say the liquid can always be made into a sauce; seasoning or brining the meat before cooking often results in liquid which is too salty to be made into a sauce. Thus, I often do not season the meat before cooking (except lard when cooking confit-style). [Although I stress brining pork and poultry in my guide, I typically do not brine natural or free-range meat.]

To make a sauce from the liquid, I typically:

(1) Heat the liquid in the microwave to aggregate and gel the (sarcoplasmic) proteins,

(2) Strain the liquid through a chinoise,

(3) If there is sufficient volume, I simmer the liquid in a shallow pan to reduce its volume and concentrate its flavors,

(4) If necessary, I thicken the liquid with a hydrocolloid (such as xanthan gum), and

(5) Season the sauce to taste before pouring it over the meat.

For poultry, I crisp and brown the skin in a pan over medium heat with (nut or vegetable) oil between 300F/150C and 350F/180C for 30 seconds to a minute to prevent the skin from burning. For pork and beef, I typically sear the meat with my Iwatani butane blowtorch.

If you make a sauce from the liquid in the bag, how do you make it?

[Ruth]

Today my sauce could not have been simpler. I had cooked the veal breast sous vide and chilled it. I had almost a cup of gel. After sautéeing the mixed mushrooms with some chopped shallots and chives. I added the gel from the veal and brought it to a simmer. This served as a perfect sauce for the veal which I cut in strips and seared "a la plancha". But , I am a mere home cook.

[nickrey]

I agree with both Ruth's and Sam's comments above. 

Personally, I love making a quick sauce from the liquid in the bag.  Even when just pasteurizing a chicken breast, I often strain the liquid, thicken it with a hydrocolloid, and season it to taste.  That's not to say the liquid can always be made into a sauce; seasoning or brining the meat before cooking often results in liquid which is too salty to be made into a sauce.  Thus, I often do not season the meat before cooking (except lard when cooking confit-style).  [Although I stress brining pork and poultry in my guide, I typically do not brine natural or free-range meat.]

To make a sauce from the liquid, I typically:

    (1) Heat the liquid in the microwave to aggregate and gel the (sarcoplasmic) proteins,

    (2) Strain the liquid through a chinoise,

    (3) If there is sufficient volume, I simmer the liquid in a shallow pan to reduce its volume and concentrate its flavors,

    (4) If necessary, I thicken the liquid with a hydrocolloid (such as xanthan gum), and

    (5) Season the sauce to taste before pouring it over the meat. 

For poultry, I crisp and brown the skin in a pan over medium heat with (nut or vegetable) oil between 300F/150C and 350F/180C for 30 seconds to a minute to prevent the skin from burning.  For pork and beef, I typically sear the meat with my Iwatani butane blowtorch. 

If you make a sauce from the liquid in the bag, how do you make it?

←

Same but rather than using xanthan, I suppose i'm a bit of a traditionalist and use butter to thicken in the French "monter au beurre" style by stirring in chunks of cold, unsalted butter one at a time. Make sure that the sauce is heated below 190 degrees Fahrenheit (88 degrees Celsius) or else it will break. Like you, I always adjust the seasonings because of a relative lack of salt in the juices.

[food1]

Hello

Has anybody out there got a great recipe for sous vide pork belly and also shoulder of lamb, cooked sous vide. ( Times & temps) Thanks

[savvysearch]

Anyone planning on cooking a turkey sous vide?

[origamicrane]

I am. Making 2 turkey ballotines out of 1 whole bronze turkey.

I'm going roast off one of the ballotines as normal in an oven

and the other i'm going to SV.

I plan to Jaccard and butterfly the breasts.

Make a stuffing out of diced brown meat with sage and onion and then form

the roll.

Vacseal it and SV at 65C for 4 hours.

The turkey skin I'm going to made into skin crackers.

how are you planning to make your?

[KennethT]

Me too... I boned out the turkey and did a ballottine with the breast and my family's traditional bread stuffing - bagged with a bit of duck fat and then SV at 60C for 4 hours... Right before serving, I'll sear the skin on the ballottine either with torch or hot pan with butter - probably go the butter route for some added buttery goodness... Did the legs confit style - salted for about 12 hours, bagged with duck fat then SV at 82.2C for 10 hours... I have some duck confit experience SV, but no turkey leg confit experience, so we'll see how this comes out!!! I plan on picking the confit (like pulled pork), and making salty crispy turkey skin crackers with the skin...

[slkinsey]

I've been doing turkey SV for years. Usually I butterfly the breasts and pound them out, then roll them into cylinders around a mousse made with additional breast meat plus herbs, etc. I typically braise the leg meat.

This year, I'm doing much the same thing. The only difference is that I'm shredding the braised leg meat and folding that into the mousse. I may also wrap the cylinder in chard leaves (makes a nice presentation). I don't care for the texture of turkey skin in general, especially after cooking SV. I do mine at 60.5C.

Edited November 26, 2008 by slkinsey (log)