What Are You Cooking Sous Vide Today? (Part 1)

[daveb]

ntxt

Edited May 9, 2015 by daveb (log)

[rotuts]

like to hear how this works out for both you and the people doing the eating.

[daveb]

I volunteer at a local charity fund raising event every year, prepping apps for ~1000 peoples.  I've long maintained that SV would be the optimal way to cook proteins for a large group and this year the Chef in charge gave me free reign on the beef tenderloin.  She also asked if I could do pork shoulder steaks "in that thing?"  .

 

Armed with my two Anova's and two house SVS's and a POS sealer, the fun began.

 

Ten tenders trimmed, halved, bagged and tagged.

 

 

Tenders swimming for 3 hrs at 129F

 

 

Ice bath, overnight in fridge, on serving day seared them then into a warm cooler to hold.  To extend the yield I cut them in half lengthwise and served as half rounds.

 

 

Eight pork shoulders steaked, bagged and tagged. 

 

 

 

Half went into 147F and other half into 154F bath for 16 hrs.  The 147 held their sliced shape well, the 154 broke into chunks.  Both were tender, not greasy and definitely fit to eat. 

 

As a side note, the Chef had determined the pork would be served over cous cous.  A tasty but "interesting" combination.  One guy got it and asked if the pork was Kosher...

 

Serving station.  I never, ever, under any circumstance do front of house stuff.  15 min before start I was naively wondering who the poor bastard was that would be carving for all these folks. 

 

 

Cheers,

 

The poor bastard.

Edited May 9, 2015 by daveb (log)

[rotuts]

very nice. 

 

congratulations

 

" asked if the pork was Kosher..."  

[daveb]

" asked if the pork was Kosher..."  

 

I did tell him that I kept my beef knife separate from my pork knife.  He said that was close enough....

[scubadoo97]

Excellent Dave. At least the "poor bastard" had a good knife

[Anna N]

Put a nice thick pork sirloin chop in the SV this morning. According to Doug Baldwin 60° for about eight hours should give me a medium chop at the end of the day. Tucked just a little butter in there with it because I could.

[chris_s]

this week I put a plain pork tenderloin in for 2 hours at 136. left it in bag, put it in fridge over night. threw it in a sink full of hot tap water while I was getting sides together. 

 

removed from bag, patted dry, coated in char crust and put on searing hot grill for about 2 minutes per side. I thought it came out very nice, juicy and pink in the middle. wife thought it was too porky tasting. 

 

(yes I am using this thread as my sous vide log book) 

[ElsieD]

Put a nice thick pork sirloin chop in the SV this morning. According to Doug Baldwin 60° for about eight hours should give me a medium chop at the end of the day. Tucked just a little butter in there with it because I could.

How did this turn out? Out of the items I have cooked sous vide, the one thing that gives me trouble are pork chops, particularly the sirloin ones. My pork chops inevitably turn into mush or I find them dry.

[rotuts]

what are your times and temps, ElsieD ?

 

'mush' to me indicated to long at what ever temp.

[Andrew Tseng]

I barely use my Sansaire for day-to-day cooking.  It's just much more efficient for me to cook things the old fashioned way.  I will do some short ribs from time to time.  I would cook chicken in it, except my gf doesn't love the texture of sous vide chicken.

 

But like a few others have mentioned, I love the circulator for cooking for large gatherings.  One less thing to worry about/monitor makes my prep exponentially easier/less stressful.

[ElsieD]

what are your times and temps, ElsieD ?

 

'mush' to me indicated to long at what ever temp.

I did it for 8 hours at 140F. They were sirloin chops.

[TylerK]

I did some pork sirloin chops not too long ago.  140 for just one hour and they were quite juicy.

[gfweb]

I agree about DB's book.

 

to get things moving in the SV world  these days, there have to be some color pictures.  you know, artsy food p0rn.

 

then a transparent constantly circulating tank at W-S.  right there, when you walk in.

 

and to cap it off, MS, (felon)  has to be seen to use it ( somehow ) on one of her (many) shows.

 

done

 

Or better (worse) yet...Rachel Ray and The-one-who's- married-to-Cuomo should use it for a casserole or something.

[gfweb]

I use it for large groups, for the reasons detailed above.  For turkey, duck, short ribs.

 

A few steaks I can do a good job on with a hot pan and a 350 oven. A lot of steaks...SV for me.

[ElsieD]

I did some pork sirloin chops not too long ago.  140 for just one hour and they were quite juicy.

Well, now, that's interesting. How thick were they? I may give them another shot.

[TylerK]

They weren't overly thick.  Probably just over an inch, but I didn't measure.  There was no fat rendering, but the searing afterwards softened it up enough.  I sprinkled it with a salt/sugar mixture before the sear so it would caramelize faster.  

[EnriqueB]

How did this turn out? Out of the items I have cooked sous vide, the one thing that gives me trouble are pork chops, particularly the sirloin ones. My pork chops inevitably turn into mush or I find them dry.

 

Pork chops are a tender cut, you should cook them just until they get the desired temperature at the core (I use 55ºC core, 56ºC water), maybe longer if you want to pasteurize (and only if cooking to >55ºC). If the total time given their width is longer that around 3-4 hours, you should cut them in smaller portions that can cook in that time, otherwise you will have dry/mush. Use Douglas Baldwin tables or SousVideDash to compute the time required to reach a core temperature as a function of the width.

[Ozcook]

If you work long hours, it's nice to know you're coming home to something that'd ordinarily take a while--e.g. short ribs, pork belly. Duck confit is nice, too, although I think the killer app is octopus. When I'm catering for my family I tend to use both of my circulators--I'll have one dealing with meats and the other handling vegetables. Or one on reheat duty and the other cooking things that can only be prepared last minute. If you can't find value there, well, the problem isn't with the unit itself.

Chris, I would love to know your recipe for octopus. Last time I tried it SV I used frozen baby octopus and guessed the time. It came out soft and mushy.

[ElsieD]

Pork chops are a tender cut, you should cook them just until they get the desired temperature at the core (I use 55ºC core, 56ºC water), maybe longer if you want to pasteurize (and only if cooking to >55ºC). If the total time given their width is longer that around 3-4 hours, you should cut them in smaller portions that can cook in that time, otherwise you will have dry/mush. Use Douglas Baldwin tables or SousVideDash to compute the time required to reach a core temperature as a function of the width.

Well, there you go. Using Dash, I see that to cook it to 60C, which would be my preference, takes 1 hour and a few seconds so obviously I had been cooking the poor thing to death. I will try again. I still wonder if the sirloin chop will come out as tender as a centre cut chop might. I guess I am thinking that a beef strip loin takes a fraction of the time that a tougher cut of beef would take and yet there does not seem to be any differentiation between a more tender centre cut pork chop and a sirloin one. Guess I'll have to try it.

Edited May 15, 2015 by ElsieD (log)

[paulraphael]

I just tempered chocolate for the first time s.v.. Holy moly was that easy. Very little mess / waste. Not going to do it any other way. 

[minas6907]

How do you sv temper chocolate? Isn't it sort of risky with all the water? And doesnt the chocolate need to be agitated as well?

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Last night, sous vide bicolor corn on the cob and Nathan's hotdogs (same 60 deg C bath).  Tonight previously pasteurized sous vide burger, lightly grilled.

[Dave W]

48h/57c trimmed brisket flat followed by some hours in the oak smoke seemed undercooked to me. Next time will push the full 72. I demand a brisket that pours juice! Does it exist?

[Dave W]

JoNorvelle how long at 60c for the corn? I would like to try.