Vacuum compressions

[Tri2Cook]

I can't find definitive information for doing this technique properly. I'd like to know what's needed equipment-wise. I realize a vacuum sealer is required and I'm pretty sure the chamber type is necessary but beyond that I don't know. Are there minimum requirements for the machine to be effective?

Also, any information, experiences, mishaps, specifics, things learned, etc. anyone can/will share would be appreciated. I assume setting the vacuum is a trial and error thing specific to what you're doing and not a static number but is there a general guideline or range that is most often used? I'm not afraid to experiment, I'm just looking for a good place to jump in.

[Chris Amirault]

What exactly is it that you want to compress, and to what ends? I've fiddled around with compressing a few simple things (fruit in particular) using a Kenmore food sealer, a FoodSaver bag, and a folded paper towel at the top of the bag for excess moisture. You don't get the compression you would with a more powerful adjustable machine, and because it's automatic you can't adjust the vacuum level and the sealer kicks in before you really flatten stuff out. However, it's possible to get started with the process using the cheap-end stuff until you spring for a new Cryovac system.

[Tri2Cook]

I honestly don't know what I want to compress. I'm just curious about the technique in general. I have a foodsaver-type system already, it doesn't really allow a lot of flexibility for playing around with this. I guess I'm just wondering if basic chamber vacuums are sufficient for the task, that a big high power commercial unit isn't necessary. Beyond that I'd just like to hear what others are doing with this and what they've discovered while playing around with it.

[gfweb]

why must one vacuum seal to do sous vide? Couldn't a tightly wrapped and then sealed channel lock bag do the job quicker?

[Tri2Cook]

This isn't actually about sous vide. For the purposes of this thread, I'm more interested in discussing compressions, infusions, etc. done with vacuum. I'm guessing your question and it's answer probably came up at some point in the extensive, and, from what I've read of it so far, informative thread on sous vide. I don't know enough about sous vide to know if a waterproof seal is the only purpose of the vacuum bag or not.

[syoung68]

So I did some experimentation this past weekend. I wanted to see if I could replicate what happens in a chamber vac. I am not sure how sound my thinking was, but I bought the food saver canisters and the ZipLoc Ready Vac bags. The Ready Vac bags have a valve that you press their vacuum device to in order to suck out the air. I thought I could use this IN a canister. This setup was discussed in the sous vide thread.

First, I used the food saver to vacuum and seal watermelon in a bag and then placed it in the canister. I vacuumed out the canister and then upon release the vacuum my hopes were that I would get a better compression than just using a normal food saver bag.

Unfortunately, this was not the case. the watermelon compressed this way was no more dense than that simply done in a bag. I am wondering if a real check value would be better.

Check Valve Install in the sous vide thread.

Now the canister does work well as a marinator. When I put the watermelon directly into the canister with liquid and then vacuumed out the canister, the melon was infused with the liquid.

Incidentally, my kids were VERY amused with marshmallows in the canister.

[Tri2Cook]

Too bad it didn't work out, cool experiment though. Trying to make ideas work is fun.

[tim]

For the purposes of this thread, I'm more interested in discussing compressions, infusions, etc. done with vacuum.

←

Hi,

It has been documented that a vacuum does not speed up the marination process. Time matters when it comes to infusing flavor.

Tim

[syoung68]

For the purposes of this thread, I'm more interested in discussing compressions, infusions, etc. done with vacuum.

←

Hi,

It has been documented that a vacuum does not speed up the marination process. Time matters when it comes to infusing flavor.

Tim

←

Can you share this documentation, because after having a 1 inch thick piece of watermelon in a vacuum with a liquid then releasing the vacuum and repeating twice, the watermelon was infused. The liquid had penetrated the watermelon. I purposely cut away the outside and simply tasted the interior. I did it with fish sauce. While it is not a tasty combination, I wanted to make sure that the liquid I used was a VERY distinct flavor from the melon.

Now, I have read the article on vacuum marinating chicken breasts and realize that it states that the yield between a vacuum marinate breast and and a traditional marination was virtually the same, but by their own measurements the marinade absorption was greater under vacuum. As this article was geared toward commercial marination, it never talks about flavor differences in the cooked product. Not too mention that info would be subjective.

I am sure there are other articles out there that will have similar results on cooked proteins, but I do not think readers here are only interested in marinade left in a cooked piece of meat. Does a vacuum increase the marinade absorption in the same amount of time? This article seems to think so. I would say that is more important since we are primarily concerned here with flavor not yield.

[slkinsey]

If you have a food item in a rigid container and reduce the pressure inside the container, the air will be "sucked out" of the food item. Things like watermelon and cucumber are full of air, so they are especially good for this.

If you have liquid in the rigid container as well as the food item, when you reduce the pressure you can see the air coming out of the food item in the form of bubbles.

When you release the pressure, the food item "reinflates." If you have liquid in the container with the food item, the liquid will be "sucked in" to the areas formerly occupied by air.

Needless to say, the efficacy of this technique will depend greatly on the porosity and other characteristics of the food item. Dense items, such as meats, probably don't benefit all that much from this technique -- although there is some benefit.

This technique only works with a rigid container. "Marinating" a food item in a vacuum bag is only useful in that it greatly reduces the amount of liquid you have to use, but it works otherwise like traditional marination.