Sous Vide: Recipes, Techniques & Equipment, 2011

[coz]

I will definitely buy that app if you release it! Looks great.

[Anna N]

First attempt using the Demi. This is a small chuck eye cooked at 55C for 24 hours. I can only describe it as unctious in mouth feel and beefy in taste. I seasoned it with a commercial steak rub. Makes for great steak sandwiches.

No searing seemed necessary after 24 hours.

One does need to find the best way to carve this muscle as it seems to have quite a convoluted grain.

[rotuts]

Ive just joined this fabulous site and have two quick questions. Please accept my apologies if these two simple questions have been answered in the much longer SV threads that Ive been enjoying but have not made my way through them yet.

background: Ive been cooking for about 40 years and am fairly good at it. that being said I work on one thing at a time as permitted and move one.

Ive been interesting in SV for a long while. her is my system:

Sous Vide Magic 18 L kit with svm-1500D controler and the "Bubbler-heater". Ive crafted a Coleman Cooler ( 17" x 9.5" inner diameter) to hole the hose and filled the top (non insulated) with non expandable foam. the air pump provides the 'circulation'

Im very happy with this system.

fortunately there was an American Test Kitchen episode that reviews "freezer bags and containers" its Cook's Country 303 Chops. they Food Saver system will work fine for SV, but will not last very long in the freezer: so I splurged and got the Weston system.

now to my question:

chicken breasts: I tried 140 for 2 hours and it was a little tough. I redid some of them at 140 and like that a lot better.

tomorrow Im doing 'boneless sirlon roasts" Ive cut them up into a 3 " end sliced in a bag with various 'curry' pasted (patak) I then cut the rest of the meat in 1/2 length wise and coated with various dry rubs.

tomorrow Ill SV the whole collection:

Baldwin says Loin Roast: Med-rare: 130 4 - 5 hours; sirloin roast: med rare: 130 8 - 12 hours mine im very sure are sirloin so Ill go for the 8-12 any thoughts?

sorry for the ramble but I wanted you to know what Im starting with. I do love my set-up and Im ashamed to say Im on the 'waiting list' at amazon for The Book!

thanks

[inductioncook]

You say, "I tried 140 for 2 hours and it was a little tough. I redid some of them at 140."

Is there something missing or was this an error?

[rotuts]

so sorry:

I re did them at 145 for an hour (pre heated them in a 5 qt paint bucket till they got to 140 the started the 'timer')

many thanks for picking this up!

[rotuts]

so many thanks!

[liliumdavidii]

vengroff,

looking forward to see the iphone version!

you could split the right part of the iPad screen in multiple screen on the iPhone.

[Dave the Cook]

One does need to find the best way to carve this muscle as it seems to have quite a convoluted grain.

That's because it's actually a bundle of four different muscles. Looks great, Anna.

[Anna N]

One does need to find the best way to carve this muscle as it seems to have quite a convoluted grain.

That's because it's actually a bundle of four different muscles. Looks great, Anna.

Thank you. Three of us (one a 10-year-old) had it for dinner tonight and it went over amazingly well. I will certainly be doing this cut SV again.

[rotuts]

many thanks for pointing me to this fine ref. page.

I have it bookmarked!

tables are terrific, but they miss at least one point:

an item say chicken at 141 vs 145 ( ck. breast with no fat attached) how do they differ in the mouth?

"tender?" "dry?" understanding that "dry" has at least two components water (moisture) and more importantly fat.

my ck. at 145 tasted better. it was very hard to say its more tender but it might be because it was "day" = fatless.

a little (or a lot !) of home-made mayo helped and ck. gravy if it was eaten with mashed potatoes!

[Kerry Beal]

Took a frozen NZ boneless lamb shoulder - salt, pepper, sprinkle of herbes de provence, clove of garlic crushed and wrapped in some microwave safe plastic wrap. About 28 hours at 63 C. After chilling I took the 'juice' and some chicken stock, added it to potato slices and onion slices and put those in the oven at low temp for a couple of hours. Added back the sliced lamb shoulder for a nice irish stew.

Totally tender lamby lamb.

The thing I find most interesting about the long low cooked meats such as this is that the tenderness and moistness is such that my rug rat, who tends to choke on most meat, has no difficulty with it at all.

[Anna N]

Took a frozen NZ boneless lamb shoulder - salt, pepper, sprinkle of herbes de provence, clove of garlic crushed and wrapped in some microwave safe plastic wrap. About 28 hours at 63 C. After chilling I took the 'juice' and some chicken stock, added it to potato slices and onion slices and put those in the oven at low temp for a couple of hours. Added back the sliced lamb shoulder for a nice irish stew.

....

Did you find the garlic still came through?

[Kerry Beal]

Took a frozen NZ boneless lamb shoulder - salt, pepper, sprinkle of herbes de provence, clove of garlic crushed and wrapped in some microwave safe plastic wrap. About 28 hours at 63 C. After chilling I took the 'juice' and some chicken stock, added it to potato slices and onion slices and put those in the oven at low temp for a couple of hours. Added back the sliced lamb shoulder for a nice irish stew.

....

Did you find the garlic still came through?

A tiny bit. Nothing overwhelming.

[rotuts]

I have yet to work with Steak/Roasts (beef) in my SV system.

Anna's chuck eye post may change that

but my question involves taking advantage of beef sales:

which strategy delivers the best plate:

1) cut/season/bag/freeze re-thaw and SV later

or

2) cut/season/bag/SV/cool/freeze re-warm later

would the difference be noticeable later between the two?

many thanks!

[PedroG]

From a practical point of view I would follow stragegy 1) for tender meat and strategy 2) for tough meat so you have all the 48h-cooking in one batch.

[rotuts]

excellent tip PG!

thanks

[PedroG]

BTW if you cook to pasteurizing conditions and chill rapidly in ice-water, you may even not need to freeze. If you can set your fridge below 2.5°C you may keep your pasteurized meat for 90 days, see Douglas Baldwin's Guide.

[rotuts]

Second Best Tip from PG!

(are you on HomeBarrista?)

My goal is to use as little energy as possible

get the products i enjoy "on sale"

(ive been cooking for over 40 years and I never go to the store to fill a 'recipe' now)

I have a thicker SV plastic system: thanks to the USA show Cooks Country

Its the weston

I use the Bubbler from Frank at Fresh Meals Solutions in a Coleman Cooler

its capacity seems to be about 14 lbs of meat

which I cool and then freeze.

but your suggestions are well appreciated!

[3rdCookFOWT]

I understood that the maximum safe thickness for sv meat was 70mm. Could this be increased by studding the meat with stainless steel pins of optimal length, diameter, and distribution?

[cbread]

Wouldn't aluminum pins be better? More than ten times better than SS for thermal conductivity.

[Mikels]

I have had some off tastes when SV garlic. Either I use granulated garlic if I am rushed or, preferably, cook the garlic a bit, either with the other vegetables sometimes I roast it for a different flavor. I also cook any vegetables prior to SVing them, since the SV temperature is too low to cookthem.

While talking about garlic, I remembered wine. I always boil the wine before using it for SV, since I have detected a metallic taste if I haven't done so before. Usually, I boil the wine until is has reduced in volume by at least half. Then I freeze the wine as small ice cubes which are about 1T in volume. When I SV whatever I am cooking, I know that liquid is released from the meat. By having a concentrated wine (the freezing helps keep it solid wben sealing the pouch) it imparts additional flavor when diluted.

Needless to say herbs and spices behave differently when SVing for a long time.

Since I usually SV for long times (24-36 hours), I don't know how they behave for shorter times.

[paulpegg]

I have had some off tastes when SV garlic. Either I use granulated garlic if I am rushed or, preferably, cook the garlic a bit, either with the other vegetables sometimes I roast it for a different flavor. I also cook any vegetables prior to SVing them, since the SV temperature is too low to cookthem.

While talking about garlic, I remembered wine. I always boil the wine before using it for SV, since I have detected a metallic taste if I haven't done so before. Usually, I boil the wine until is has reduced in volume by at least half. Then I freeze the wine as small ice cubes which are about 1T in volume. When I SV whatever I am cooking, I know that liquid is released from the meat. By having a concentrated wine (the freezing helps keep it solid wben sealing the pouch) it imparts additional flavor when diluted.

Needless to say herbs and spices behave differently when SVing for a long time.

Since I usually SV for long times (24-36 hours), I don't know how they behave for shorter times.

The most delicious asparagus you will ever have is SV with a bit of salt, pepper, garlic powder and a Tbsp of butter in the bag and cooked at 83.9C for 40 minutes. I think all vegetables need to cook at this temperature to tenderize them. They are basically being cooked in their own juices and they come out much better than if you blanched them in boiling water.

Thomas Keller, in his book "Under Pressure", advises that you reduce the quantity and wrap any aromatics in paper towel before you put them in the bag to prevent direct contact with the meat. It works great on long cooked meats.

[3rdCookFOWT]

Might as well use silver or silver plated copper.

Wouldn't aluminum pins be better? More than ten times better than SS for thermal conductivity.

[PedroG]

I understood that the maximum safe thickness for sv meat was 70mm. Could this be increased by studding the meat with stainless steel pins of optimal length, diameter, and distribution?

70mm is for a slab. Most often meat of more than 70mm thickness will rather be something like a cylinder or between cylinder and sphere. Douglas Baldwin has published a table "APPROXIMATE HEATING TIMES FOR DIFFERENT SHAPES" taking into account the geometrical factor. So with a cylindrical cut of meat, thickness may be up to at least 100mm, and for an almost spherical cut it might even be 120mm.

Whole animals like turkeys would in fact lend themselves to be skewered on a heat pipe skewer. But how would this be vacuum-sealed?

[Rob Babcock]

Time & temp?

Sorry, Chris- I sort of lost track of this thread! I like to start with a sirloin around 2" thick. The temp is usually 130-131 for around 3 hours. It depends on the thickness; my procedure so far has been to use Doug Baldwin's pasteurization charts. After SV'ing I either finish with my Iwatani or two screaming hot pans, panini-style. The latter only takes about 45 seconds but can generate copious amounted of smoke & mess. Luckily summer is just around the corner, then I can do it outdoors.