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

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Not my idea of fun at all but at the moment I have seven bags of chicken thighs in the bath.  For whatever reason that seems good to them my local store sells thighs only in packages of ten.  You want a couple breasts or legs, no problem.  But thighs, you are out of luck.

 

On a brighter note, a few weeks from now on some cold, icy evening there will be a thigh or two in the refrigerator.

 

[Porthos]

8 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

 

My experience was the same as yours except I did not drain the fat before I stuck it in the fridge, hence I had even more cold fat stuck to the bacon than you did.   So why did you and I find the effort not to be worth it while others had great success?  

 and @MelissaH

 

Did you use thick cut bacon? SE's recipe calls for it but I am using regular thickness. I'm wondering if the thickness is just that important for non-immediate use.

[kayb]

I took my bacon completely OUT of the grocery package in which I SV'd it; perhaps that makes the difference. I transferred it to a gallon zip-loc, where it could lie relatively flat.

 

As someone upthread mentioned, it's a little fragile and tends to tear. I find it's easier to pull two slices at at a time away from the "mass" of bacon, and then separate those slices.

 

@Porthos -- I think the thickness is important to (a) be able to separate it, and (b) be able to sear it without overcooking it.

 

I'll be curious to hear how finishing it off in the oven may go. Would seem to me it might be difficult to preserve the soft interior of the bacon and get a crisp on the outside. 

 

 

 

Edited January 12, 2017 by kayb (log)

[Smithy]

3 hours ago, Porthos said:

<snip>

I also have to be mindful of how much water weight I deal with if I have to move a filled vessel. Mostly I have to bail out a lot of the water before I can finish emptying it. Darned disintegrating spine ...

 

 

Slight change of direction from a water miser here...are you generally able to reuse that water? In my current situation (no dishwasher) I'm using the SV water to wash dishes.  When I get home again I plan to use it for those items that must be handwashed, except when I'm planning to use the SV setup for several nights running.  This has little to do with how much water you need to shift and a lot to do with how much counter space you have, but I know you and I have both been looking for water-saving tricks.

[Porthos]

Things changed and I was able to start the bacon this afternoon. I have lost 7/16" of water since I started the test about 9 hours ago.  Much better setup.

[ElsieD]

15 hours ago, Porthos said:

 and @MelissaH

 

Did you use thick cut bacon? SE's recipe calls for it but I am using regular thickness. I'm wondering if the thickness is just that important for non-immediate use.

 

I think thick but can't remember for sure.

[Porthos]

Bacon has been drained, separated on to paper towels and put into the fridge. Tomorrow morning will be the crisping in the 450° oven test.

[MelissaH]

I used thick sliced center-cut bacon. It worked fine chopped up in a chowder, but was useless to separate the slices from the fridge.

[blue_dolphin]

12 minutes ago, MelissaH said:

I used thick sliced center-cut bacon. It worked fine chopped up in a chowder, but was useless to separate the slices from the fridge.

 

My experience is pretty much the same.  The first time, I put a few slices into a ziplock and cooked them right after the sv step.  

My second run was an unopened 24 oz package of supermarket thick cut bacon (Wrights).  I snipped a corner and drained off the liquid after sv and easily peeled off 2 slices to cook but once it chilled down in the fridge, it was impossible to pull off an intact slice.

I resorted to standing the slab up on end in the skillet in order to warm up the end slice enough to peel off.

I put the bag with the rest of the slab in some warm water and cooked off the rest today. 

I won't bother doing it again.

[daveb]

On 1/12/2017 at 11:52 AM, Porthos said:

 

I have to start over. Lost too much water overnight and the Anova did what it is supposed to do - it shut off. 78 F water temp when I went into the kitchen. Bacon wnet into the trash and now I'm figuring out how to cover 20 qt the stock pot I use for SV.

 

That 20qt stock pot probably has replacement lids available for it.   I did this one for a friend.  Easy, squeezy.

 

 

 

[scubadoo97]

With a Cambro with the lid cut to house the Anova and a little bit of insulation around any gaps around hole in lid I loose very little water even when doing a 3 day cook like when doing oxtails.  Maybe half an inch in 3 days but the temp is not too high on those cooks.   Still minimal evaporation.  What condenses on the lid falls back in

[Porthos]

My cooler lost about 1 1/2 inches in 20 hours at 145F.  Since I have yet to, except for the bacon experiment, run anything for more than 5 1/4 hours and don't see anything even that long (in this cooler) in my future I will stick with it for the time being.  If the bacon experiment pans out I will be using the 28 qt cooler I mentioned upthread since I will be doing 4-6 pounds of bacon.  SInce I typically only SV proteins in the 1 to 2 pound range I shouldn't have any issues with size.

 

ETA: Remember that ,my SV bacon experiment is not for bacon in our home but rather for a quicker way to get cooked bacon into a serving Cambro for ren Faire reenactors to have some breakfast.

Edited January 14, 2017 by Porthos (log)

[weedy]

6 hours ago, scubadoo97 said:

With a Cambro with the lid cut to house the Anova and a little bit of insulation around any gaps around hole in lid I loose very little water even when doing a 3 day cook like when doing oxtails.  Maybe half an inch in 3 days but the temp is not too high on those cooks.   Still minimal evaporation.  What condenses on the lid falls back in

 

I"ve been just covering the top with cling film, and even after 72hrs, the water level is down perhaps 1/2" in a 20l cambro.

 

I have Iberia Secreto pork in now at 135F - it's halfway through its 48hrs.

[Porthos]

16 hours ago, Porthos said:

ETA: Remember that ,my SV bacon experiment is not for bacon in our home but rather for a quicker way to get cooked bacon into a serving Cambro for ren Faire reenactors to have some breakfast.

 

For my goal this wil not work at all. It took 14 minutes in the 450 F oven to get crisp. From raw to crisp only takes about 20 minutes and cutting off 6 minutes of cooking time isn't enough of a gain.

Edited January 14, 2017 by Porthos (log)

[weedy]

Down about 1/4" in 44 hours at 135f

 

 

[dscheidt]

54 minutes ago, weedy said:

Down about 1/4" in 44 hours at 135f

 

 

 

 

That looks like a cambro (or similar) food pan.  If you get a lid, you can drill a 2 3/8 inch hole in it.  That's the diameter of the metal part of the annova, and so it will rest on the lip that the clamp does.   Works great, lids fit tight, can be taken on and off in the cook, and is much easier to deal with than plastic wrap.

[weedy]

I have a custom cut lid for my smaller 12l Cambro. 

But in truth I find the cling just as easy and almost as effective. 

 

[scubadoo97]

In reality I agree the cling wrap is equally effective if you don't have a lid 

[paulraphael]

You can also get a roll of reflectex, and cut it with scissors to fit. It floats on the water, makes a pretty good seal, and insulates. You can just lift it out of the way to get to the contents. And you can use in conjunction with a lid if you want to save a few joules.

[Martin Fisher]

For relatively short cooks I use gallon or quart Zip-Loc freezer bags inflated to about 2 inches thick ― covered with plastic wrap.

For longer cooks I often use 3/4" (20mm) polypropylene floating spheres — also covered with plastic wrap.

[weedy]

For short "cooks", I don't find any need for a lid of any kind. 

 

 

[Martin Fisher]

On 1/15/2017 at 1:35 PM, weedy said:

For short "cooks", I don't find any need for a lid of any kind. 

 

 

 

We all live in different circumstances and I did say 'relatively short', meaning 12 to 24 hours.

I don't need condensation build-up in this small house.

[weedy]

ah, that's a different reason.

 

from the stand point of losing enough water in the bath to matter to the cooking itself, I don;t find that even 72 hrs matter much.

but for anything longer than 12, I cover.

 

 

to me a 'short cook' is 1-4 hrs.

[daveb]

To me a short cook is less than 5' 6".  (sorry)

 

I have  lids, I use them.

[tafkap4d]

Neighbor gave us this for Christmas.  Steak is cooking in ours.