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

[Anna N]

From a safety perspective, if you chill to 5ºC in less than 1:5 hours and store in a fridge under 5ºC, you can store the cooked & chilled potatoes for much longer, at least 7 days and likely longer. With the time&temp you need for potatoes they are almost sterilized. Flavour-wise, they will lose almost no quality during that period.

 

On the other hand, some vegetables have been found to keep the most nutrients (with respect to other methods) like some vitamins when cooked sous-vide and consumed inmediatelly, but not so much when chilled and stored, in that case the vitamins retention is more or less equivalent to having beeing cooked by traditional boiling.

Thank you so much for this information. I absolutely confess to a tendency to be overly cautious where food safety is concerned if I am feeding others.

[Lbakermathews]

All the time, at least once a week.  Some Sundays, after I grocery shop, I come home and cook enough proteins for the week. Then I only need to pull them out of the fridge to sear or reheat, which means most dinners come together in 10 minutes or less.  Works great for me, I have a toddler running around.  I don't have a lot of time to spend cooking during the week.  All the meals taste great--restaurant quality even.  My daughter is especially fond of sous vide chicken thighs--it's her favorite meal. 

[daveb]

Damn leftovers again.

 

 

Skirt steak as originally plated for a BGE demonstration.  (No SV,  yet)

 

 

 

Leftover flank bagged and tagged.  Dropped into 130F bath to reheat while I got  everything else together.

 

 

 

Plated leftovers on top of greens.

 

 

 

Dinner for two.  Total active time may have been 10 min.

Edited June 3, 2015 by daveb (log)

[paulraphael]

 My daughter is especially fond of sous vide chicken thighs--it's her favorite meal. 

 

That's become a standard for us too. The local food coop carries a brand that comes boneless and pre-vacuum packed. Couldn't be easier.

[cdh]

I'm putting mine to a novel use now.  I'm using it in conjunction with a 10 gallon igloo cooler and a carboy full of fermenting beer to experiment with what yeast flavor profiles get expressed at what fermentation temperatures.  I've never had this kind of precise control over a fermentation before.

[EnriqueB]

I have 6 SV machines. Out of which, SVS Demi and Anova PC are the most used, SVS for long cooks and Anova PC for all the rest. The other equipments are only used when I need more baths, to make temperature comparisons for the same food, or to teach SV classes.

 

Used at least 2 or 3 times per week, usually more.

[ElsieD]

Help!!!

I did some beef short ribs this week to bring with me to my niece's in Syracuse. I just got here and realized that I had forgotten to bring my circulator which I meant to do so I could properly re-heat them. Any ideas on how I can best re-heat them? They were cooked to 132F. Thanks!

[Okanagancook]

Cock pot?

[btbyrd]

I've had good luck reheating short ribs like I'm cooking a regular steak. I either sear it hard on all sides and then transfer to a cool pan and then the oven, or I throw it on the grill and turn it frequently. The edge-to-edge doneness isn't as good, but it's still pretty magical.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I second the suggestion of a hot pan.  Or maybe under the broiler.  Be sure to dry the meat before.

 

 

Edit:  I realize (having just rechecked) MC calls for reheating the spare ribs sous vide off the bone at the same temperature at which the meat was originally cooked.  If you need an anova there is always amazon next day delivery.

Edited June 4, 2015 by JoNorvelleWalker (log)

[paulraphael]

You don't need a circulator to reheat something cooked s.v. ... just a thermometer. Heat a big pot of water to approximately the right temperature (err on the low side) and toss in the bagged food. If the food is thick it can take a while, so you may need to turn on the heat briefly a couple of times. But often the thermal mass of a stockpot of water is enough. You just need to warm the food to the center. 

 

Follow by searing if that's would you'd normally do.

 

Edited to add: I sometimes do this at home just because the circulator might be busy or I might not be in the mood to set it up. My hot tap water is pretty consistently 53°C. This is great for reheating a lot of things without any need for a thermometer. The searing step adds some additional heat. 

Edited June 4, 2015 by paulraphael (log)

[nickrey]

I'm putting mine to a novel use now.  I'm using it in conjunction with a 10 gallon igloo cooler and a carboy full of fermenting beer to experiment with what yeast flavor profiles get expressed at what fermentation temperatures.  I've never had this kind of precise control over a fermentation before.

How do you keep the brew oxygen free?

[cdh]

How do you keep the brew oxygen free?

Airlock.  Actual system is water bath in cooler,  carboy full of beer in water bath in cooler, circulator in water bath.  No beer is being circulated.

[Anna N]

Potatoes and carrots at 83°C. The carrots a rather large so I have cut them in half lengthwise but I intend to give them 15 minutes head start. So the carrots will be cooked for 60 minutes and the potatoes for 45 minutes.

[ElsieD]

You don't need a circulator to reheat something cooked s.v. ... just a thermometer. Heat a big pot of water to approximately the right temperature (err on the low side) and toss in the bagged food. If the food is thick it can take a while, so you may need to turn on the heat briefly a couple of times. But often the thermal mass of a stockpot of water is enough. You just need to warm the food to the center. 

 

Follow by searing if that's would you'd normally do.

 

Edited to add: I sometimes do this at home just because the circulator might be busy or I might not be in the mood to set it up. My hot tap water is pretty consistently 53°C. This is great for reheating a lot of things without any need for a thermometer. The searing step adds some additional heat.

Thanks, everyone. I followed the hot water in a pot suggestion and it worked fairly well. I started it at a temperature of 138 F figuring it would drop to 132 F fairly quickly and all would be well. As it turned out, the water stayed above 132 longer than I thought it would and the meat was a bit past medium rare. It was given a fast sear on the grill and devoured. Perhaps if Mr. Pinot Grigio, the sipping wine, not been involved, I might have caught the higher temperature earlier. All in all though, for a makeshift fix, I was pretty happy with the result.

[Anna N]

Potatoes and carrots at 83°C. The carrots a rather large so I have cut them in half lengthwise but I intend to give them 15 minutes head start. So the carrots will be cooked for 60 minutes and the potatoes for 45 minutes.

The carrots ended up needing at least an additional 15 minutes and even then they were only just tender enough to suit me.

Edited to change meeting to needing.

Edited June 6, 2015 by Anna N (log)

[Shalmanese]

For reheating, the hottest water coming out of the tap is perfect for anything an inch or less. Reheat, then sear and the centre will be just the right temp at the end.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I am almost too inebriated to report, but must get the word out, God help me. I have never had better meat than marinated, vacuum sealed sous vide pork browned in sage and butter. I am very thankful.

 

Now, pork in hand plus plenty of sage, if I could only remember exactly how I did it.

[Josh71]

I read that most of you freeze your SV cooked things ...

 

When you defrost it, does it change the texture compare to non-freeze-SV-cooked? No? Not even a bit?

 

Especially vegetables ...

 

I bought frozen green beans from the supermarket in the past. After I defrost it, the texture was "different", a bit soft.

Edited June 12, 2015 by Josh71 (log)

[rotuts]

""   does it change the texture compare to non-freeze-SV-cooked?  """

 

i have not noticed any change for meats.  don't Fz veg and have done very little SV veg

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I'm pretty sure I have never frozen meat or vegetables that I have cooked sous vide.

[gfweb]

I've never done a head to head test of frozen vs not. I can say that sliced smoked pork and turkey breast in a salad seem in all ways normal post freeze.

[paulraphael]

I just froze some s.v. chicken thighs. Will report.

[Okanagancook]

I regularly make the vegetable stock from Modernist Cuisine, it's the best I've ever tasted, by far. I've tried it using the same ingredients but cooked conventionally, and the sous vide version is much superior, particularly in aroma. It's also pretty quick to make and can be batched and frozen.

I couldn't agree more with Chris.  The stock is awesome.

[Okanagancook]

I do.

Though I don't use it daily.

Mostly for meats eg pork shoulder, corned beef, smoked turkey

I still like braises for short rib because you get the veg and the jus

I have a corned beef in the brine for five days.  May I ask how long and at what temperature you sv your corned beef?  Right now I was planning on 10 hours at 180 F which was recommended by an Egullet post awhile back.