Sous Vide scum - how to get rid of it?

[TdeV]

Sous vide meats tend to come out of the bag with a grey scum. I've tried removing it with a paper towel, but this isn't very effective. Can I wash the meat under the water faucet?

 

What do you folks do?

 

Thanks.

[rotuts]

I do not have this problem, but I understand what you are talking about.

 

i use lower temps for meats. so I don't get this.

 

if you are using higher temps and get this

 

consider trying the same thing thats done for 'pre-skim-ing' meats :

 

a brief 'boil'  ie a few seconds, then cool and wipe down then bag and SV.

 

i have not done this, but it might give you some ideas to work with.

 

what are your meats and what are your SV temps ?

[TdeV]

Rotuts,

 

I have this frequently. Lately I've made beef brisket (53 hours @131F), beef hangar steak (didn't write down the time), slice of lamb leg (32+ hours @145F), lamb shoulder (2 days @145), pork spare ribs (11 hours @ 175F), pork leg (miscalculation so cooked for 4 days @130).

 

For many meats I don't put anything in the bag. When the cooking is done I have lots of water left which I usually strain and use as soup stock.

[Martin Fisher]

Have you tried oil?

 

More here: http://www.chefsteps.com/activities/level-up-sous-vide-presentation

[rotuts]

I have not tried this, yet.

 

I thank AnnaN for earlier alerting me to this.

 

its in a bookmark.  somewhere.

[TdeV]

Who knew?

 

Thank you, Martin.

[TdeV]

How do I keep the oil from gumming up my vacuum sealer?

[gfweb]

Use a zip loc

[Anna N]

How do I keep the oil from gumming up my vacuum sealer?

Use a fat that's solid when cold such as butter, bacon fat, duck fat or put some olive oil into an ice cube tray and freeze it.

[radtek]

aargh. I need new gaskets for my sealer. My SV rig just sits there.

 

Thanks for the link Martin. This will help me quite a bit.

[gfweb]

There's always zip locs

[radtek]

Do you just squeeze as much air out and toss them in? 

[Anna N]

use the Archimedes principle. Here's the link

http://blog.sousvidesupreme.com/2011/06/sealing-liquids-archimedes-principle/

[dcarch]

Why do you have to call them "scum"?

 

They taste very good and they are more like Pâté. :-)

 

I scrape them out with a spoon, and use a blender to blend them with the sauce.

 

 

dcarch

[TdeV]

Why do you have to call them "scum"?

 

They taste very good and they are more like Pâté. :-)

 

I scrape them out with a spoon, and use a blender to blend them with the sauce.

 

 

dcarch

 

I've found several postings on the internet (not egullet) discussing how adding oil to the bag degrades the flavour of steak. Not having any experience I don't know.

 

I don't like how the scum-looking bits look, but I admit they taste ok. I'll give it more attention, dcarch!

Edited June 14, 2015 by TdeV (log)

[gfweb]

Do you just squeeze as much air out and toss them in? 

Exactly as Anna says. Its quick and effective.

[gfweb]

Doesn't have to be a ton of oil. A thin film is enough.

[TdeV]

One teaspoon? One tablespoon?

[paulraphael]

I don't think oil could degrade the flavor unless the oil itself tastes bad. Oil molecules are too big to pass into the meat itself.

 

But that said, I have no idea what the oil could actually be doing to the scum. That's just proteins in the juices that get expelled from the meat as it cooks. Above a certain temperature they coagulate. I'm curious to know how the oil plays into this.

[gfweb]

A large amount of oil might dissolve some flavors, esp post searing.  I could see that.

 

My entirely self-constructed explanation is that the oil coats the meat...the aqueous (hydrophilic) albumen comes out during cooking...can't stick to the oily meat and then separates from the oil.

[gfweb]

One teaspoon? One tablespoon?

I use about that much. 1-2 tbsp.

 

And I post-SV sear.

[TdeV]

We tried out a blow torch for the first time this evening: skirt steak done 29 hours at 131F. Usually I use the broiler in the oven to finish, but it takes a long time and I was worried about the thickness of the skirt steak.

 

I had put about one tablespoon of olive oil and there was very little "scum".

 

Tasty, of course!

[paulraphael]

Does using oil make it harder or easier to use bag juices in a sauce?

[gfweb]

Does using oil make it harder or easier to use bag juices in a sauce?

 

You might want to separate the oil out, but this is easily done by cutting off  the tip of the bag and draining it. Which is in general a great way to separate water and oil mixes. Pretty precise.