Dry Sous vide cooking?

[FeChef]

I recently got a huge case of Tite-Dri meat pads for free (grocery store went out of business). In case you dont know what im talking about, these are high absorbency pads that are used to soak up blood from meat packages. Most grocery stores use these. Anyway, from what ive gathered they are not toxic. So i got this crazy idea to use these for Sous vide cooking when you are in a situation where you dont want the meat floating around the bag in its own juices. In my case, lets use for example a pre smoked brisket with a nicely formed bark/crust. Now i know some wont understand why i want to pre smoke and finish sous vide but its just like finishing something in your home oven. But with Sous vide i have the ability to #1 cook at a much lower temp then a home oven. #2 not tie up my home oven for a long period of time. I have done this before and have made some of the best butts,brisket, and ribs. The only con was losing alot of that crust/bark that had formed during the smoking.

 

Now for my question. I could not seem to find much info if the materials in these meat pads are safe at temps in the 155F range. I know theres some smart people on here that probably know more about these materials. (cellulose and polyethylene) Do these materials break down at temps between (155F-160F)?

 

Also, would these materials produce any off/bad taste in the meat?

 

And lastly, how effective would they be in keeping the food inside the bag dry. And even more importantly, would they draw more moisture out then what expels naturally?

[dcarch]

I don't think they will keep the meat dry because the pads will be wet. When you pull a vacuum, the pads will be completely compressed. 

 

You will lost all the wonderful meat juice to make sauce with.

 

dcarch

[btbyrd]

Cellulose and polyethylene are fine at those temps. Cellulose is what makes up the bulk of cell walls in plants, so you're eating it whenever you eat veg. The inner layer of SV bags is made of polyethylene, so you'll be fine there. But I don't think this method will help preserve your bark. Finishing SV is a bad move if you're trying to preserve a dry, crusty exterior. No matter what, it's going to be a moist cooking environment inside the bag. You'll just have your meat in there with some soggy sponges. I cold smoke before SV and then finish by doing a hotter smoke to refresh the flavor and develop more bark.

Edited September 23, 2014 by btbyrd (log)

[paulraphael]

It's going to be 100% humidity in there no matter what you do.

[FeChef]

What about bad/off taste?

 

Also, I had tried wraping some ribs in a bunch of paper towels and although slight, there was a better bark/crust then previous attempts without towels. This was mainly to prevent the bones from poking through the plastic bag, but it really did help the exterior slightly. I think atleast, these meat pads will prevent the spices from comming off the meat if the liquids cant pool around the meat. Looking for some scientific theorys here. Come on guys/gals.

[btbyrd]

The theory is that if you cook a smoked item in a plastic bag it's going to sweat its crust off because it's sealed inside an environment that's at 100% humidity. Bark development relies on dessication and the removal of surface moisture, which is pretty much the opposite of what you're doing when you cook sous vide. If you're going to do a smoke/SV combo, smoke the meat and apply the rub after you cook sous vide and develop the bark once it's out of the bath.

[FeChef]

The theory is that if you cook a smoked item in a plastic bag it's going to sweat its crust off because it's sealed inside an environment that's at 100% humidity. Bark development relies on dessication and the removal of surface moisture, which is pretty much the opposite of what you're doing when you cook sous vide. If you're going to do a smoke/SV combo, smoke the meat and apply the rub after you cook sous vide and develop the bark once it's out of the bath.

Hold up..You say smoke bare naked, sous vide, then apply rub. Then what? I have tried applying a rub to a roast aftert sous vide and using a blow torch to create a crust and all that did was burn the rub. Long story short it was not a flavor anyone enjoyed. Maybe a wet rub? Like a rub made with a mixture of oil and spices?

[btbyrd]

I like to cold smoke beforehand so the flavors develop in the bag. Then, after the SV step, remove your protein, pat it dry, and apply whatever rub you want. Then smoke it again at higher temps (like standard 225F or higher) to dry out the outside and develop some bark. Put some molasses in your rub to make a glaze if you want to form a more pronounced bark, since that will dry out and get hard faster.

[paulraphael]

If you're doing a smoking step after SV, it's recommended to dry the meat in a warm oven before smoking. Smoke compounds cling best to a meat surface that's just moist enough to be tacky to the touch. Dryer than this and they don't stick. Wetter than this (likely after SV) and the compounds will go into solution in liquids that will just drip off.

 

I think that whatever you do, to preserve the bark at least some of the reheat time would have to be in a dry oven. This kind of thing begs for a combi oven. But one of those requires a lot of begging.