What Are You Cooking Sous Vide Today? (Part 2)

[Shelby]

9 minutes ago, rarerollingobject said:

I'm going to try a giant octopus tentacle today. I've never SV'd octopus before, and most recipes I can find suggest between 75C and 82C for between 5 and 8 hours, but then, most recipes are for whole octopus, baby octopus or smaller tentacles.

 

This, to me, is a pretty big one - about 50 cm end to end and 5 cm thick at its thickest point. I thought I'd try 77C for 5 hours, chill and then brush with Korean gochujang chilli paste and honey, and char grill. Any thoughts/advice on those cooking times/temps?

 

 

No advice but I cannot wait to see how it turns out.  It's so pretty!

[scubadoo97]

I did baby octo SV quite a while back.   SV can work well 

[Anna N]

Somewhat of a surprise to me. On the left the liquid contents the bag of bacon purchased at the supermarket. On the right that from some home cured bacon. Both weighed about the same and both were cooked in the same Sous Vide bath at the same time and for the same amount of time. 

 

 

It is not too obvious here but on the right is the store bought bacon and on the left is the home cured. Both have been cooked stovetop to give them a bit of color. They went in the same pan for the same amount of time. The store bought bacon crisped up rather nicely.   The fat on the home cured bacon remained soft and squidgy.  I also noticed that with both bacons that there was a considerable loss of both flavour and saltiness.   Not sure what to take away from this. 

 

Edited January 3, 2017 by Anna N (log)

[rotuts]

how long and what temp in the SV bath.  Commercial pork has a lot of water injected into it , as a ' brine ' or flavor enhancer.

 

im not sure they bother to mention this on commercial bacon any more , but it is mentioned on larger cuts of pork   i.e. whole loins.

 

looks like you chose a temp to make some BaconSoup.

[Anna N]

The recommended 62.8C and it went for approximately 21 hours.  

[ElsieD]

3 minutes ago, Anna N said:

The recommended 62.8C and it went for approximately 21 hours.  

 

Did you have any trouble peeling the bacon slices off each other?  No one else seems to have mentioned it so I am wondering why I am the only one who seemingly had this problem, although I'm guessing not draining the fat immediately after taking it out of the water bath may have contributed to the problem.

[Anna N]

Just now, ElsieD said:

 

Did you have any trouble peeling the bacon slices off each other?  No one else seems to have mentioned it so I am wondering why I am the only one who seemingly had this problem, although I'm guessing not draining the fat immediately after taking it out of the water bath may have contributed to the problem.

 Not really. I did find it quite fragile. But I did immediately pour out the liquid and separate the slices.  I layered the separated slices between deli paper, over wrapped in plastic and will decide whether to freeze them later today.  

[rarerollingobject]

22 hours ago, Shelby said:

No advice but I cannot wait to see how it turns out.  It's so pretty!

 

Well, turned out pretty nicely. Not quite as tender as I was hoping, but not chewy.

 

[Shelby]

38 minutes ago, rarerollingobject said:

 

Well, turned out pretty nicely. Not quite as tender as I was hoping, but not chewy.

 

So, you'd go for a longer time?

[Kerry Beal]

The sous vide peameal bacon was a success.

[FrogPrincesse]

OMG everyone. I've finally decided to use my Anova (bought more than two years ago during a Kickstarter campaign...) and Wow. Wow wow wow.

I made chicken confit (I bought the sous vide to make duck confit, but I wanted to try it with a cut of meat that was more "basic" and that I could just buy at Trader Joe's).

It was deliciously tender and so easy, absolutely wonderful. I am a convert!

8 hours at 74C with thyme, garlic, whole black peppercorns, salt, bay leaves, duck fat, and butter. Seared for a few minutes until the skin was crispy, and served with Molly Steven's braised green cabbage.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Okanagancook]

FrogPrincess:  welcome to our world  Nice choice on your first sous vide cook.  Now try good quality beef short ribs for 48 hours at 62.2C.  Another Wow, wow meal will be yours!!

[FrogPrincesse]

Just now, Okanagancook said:

FrogPrincess:  welcome to our world  Nice choice on your first sous vide cook.  Now try good quality beef short ribs for 48 hours at 62.2C.  Another Wow, wow meal will be yours!!

Thank you!

For now I am focusing on cuts of meat I can get at TJ's (and they don't have short ribs unfortunately, I just checked). I have a tri-tip in progress as I type (tonight's dinner), and a pork loin roast will be next.

I will most certainly try short ribs in the near futur. I cook short ribs regularly, and I was getting frustrated at how hit-and-miss the meat tends to be - sometimes amazingly tender, sometimes a bit tough, despite the same cooking method (but depending on where I buy the meat). With sous-vide I understand that the results are consistently excellent, so I am very excited!  

[Okanagancook]

As you can appreciate it also depends on the quality of the meat.  I did some short ribs from our grass fed beef farmer and they weren't nearly as good as the ones I normally make with short ribs I get from my favourite local butcher/sausage maker.  The grass fed ribs were tough...maybe not enough fat throughout the meat.  Not sure.  Get the best ribs you can.  Also to sear them a blow torch works well for the hard to flatten spots!

The other grass fed beef is fantastic.  I have two rib eyes in my pool currently.  In for 45 minutes at 50C.  Then a screaming hot pan with oil to get a nice crust on them.

Sous vide is so convenient for guests also.  I did a whole flank steak at 55C for 24 hours for some guests from Great Britain.  It was perfectly cooked and nice and tender.  As long as everyone likes the same doneness of meat you are good to go.  It stayed in the pool until my Yorkshire puds were ready :-))

[FrogPrincesse]

1 lb trip-tip with rosemary, chile de arbol, lemon zest, cracked pepper, salt, olive oil (based on the recipe from Suzanne Goin in Lucques under Bistecca California). Cooked for 6 hours at 54.4C. Finished on the grill for a few minutes on each side.

 

The verdict: it's juicy and flavorful, but still tougher than I would like. Does that mean I should have cooked it longer?

 

 

 

 

 

[weedy]

you could certainly try longer, but I'm surprised that a relatively tender cut was "tough" after 6 hours SV

 

 

[FrogPrincesse]

Just now, weedy said:

you could certainly try longer, but I'm surprised that a relatively tender cut was "tough" after 6 hours SV

 

Me too. It was only a bit more tender than one I had cooked on the grill a few weeks ago. And I've seen recipes where the tri-tip is cooked only for one or two hours!

I am not really sure what to change other than slicing it thinner next time.

 

[scubadoo97]

Some fibers look long.  Slicing in anther direction?

[btbyrd]

49 minutes ago, scubadoo97 said:

Some fibers look long.  Slicing in anther direction?

 

This.
 

 

[FrogPrincesse]

@scubadoo97and @btbyrdThank you! I think you both hit the nail on the head. That video is very helpful too. I will make sure to pay better attention to the grain next time, because it was one very tasty piece of meat!

 

Yesterday I made Meyer lemon curd (actually half Meyer lemon, half lemon). I used the recipe from @David Lebovitz's Ready for Dessert except I added the lemon zests, which was pretty much useless since I ended up straining the mixture because of the eggs. Anyway... I melted the butter, added the lemon juice (and zests that I would skip next time) and the sugar, made sure all the sugar was dissolved, and added the eggs. Then I blended everything in a blender (the zest went to the top with a thick "foam" that was removed when I strained) . I strained and poured into glass jars. Cooked for 45 minutes @ 82.2 C.

 

Don't make my mistake and attempt to cool the glass jars in an ice water bath at the end. In my defense, I was in a hurry and wasn't thinking straight. I lost the first one that way; it shattered almost immediately.

The curd seemed a bit thick in the jar at the end, very set, so I was a bit concerned. However the texture is heavenly and the taste is great too (it looks grainy on the picture because of the bread, but it's completely smooth). What a great way to make curd, and all sorts of dessert creams I imagine!

 

 

 

 

[Anna N]

If you feel really adventurous you could make lemon curd without hurting a single lemon. You will be amazed at how good it is. 

Click

[FrogPrincesse]

Just now, Anna N said:

If you feel really adventurous you could make lemon curd without hurting a single lemon. You will be amazed at how good it is. 

Click

That sounds so... wrong. Haha (Keep in mind that the reason I made the curd was because I had these beautiful Meyer lemons from my CSA that I wanted to shine.)

But I have a bag of citric acid so I might give it a try. Also it might be the occasion to immerse myself into Modernist Cuisine. Up to now my copy, like my sous vide equipment, has been completely neglected!

 

[Anna N]

1 minute ago, FrogPrincesse said:

That sounds so... wrong. Haha (Keep in mind that the reason I made the curd was because I had these beautiful Meyer lemons from my CSA that I wanted to shine.)

But I have a bag of citric acid so I might give it a try. Also it might be the occasion to immerse myself into Modernist Cuisine. Up to now my copy, like my sous vide equipment, has been completely neglected!

 

I thought exactly the same… It is so wrong. But Kerry Beal and I did it up north in Manitoulin and it was surprisingly good.   Do it once just for the fun of it.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

2 hours ago, Anna N said:

I thought exactly the same… It is so wrong. But Kerry Beal and I did it up north in Manitoulin and it was surprisingly good.   Do it once just for the fun of it.

 

What did you use for the oil?

 

[gfweb]

@FrogPrincesseThis whole Modernist thing is just careful cooking. Not that novel or crazy.