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

[Porthos]

I have started my SV'ed bacon experiment. I have a pound of bacon in its cryovac package in a 145 F bath. It will go for 15 hours. Then the test of whether it will crisp up in a 450 F oven.

[Anna N]

5 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

What did you use for the oil?

 

Can't recall but knowing @Kerry Bealwe would have had lemon oil to hand. 

[quiet1]

6 hours ago, gfweb said:

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

 

I dunno, lemon curd without any lemon in it seems a LITTLE bit novel and crazy.

[Porthos]

10 hours ago, Porthos said:

I have started my SV'ed bacon experiment.

 

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.

[ElsieD]

15 minutes ago, 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.

 

I put the lid on best I can and wrap plastic wrap around the rest of the open part.  Works well.

[Smithy]

7 minutes ago, 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.

 

Did you use any sort of cover? I've been using (and reusing, and reusing...) plastic wrap for a cover with reasonable success, but perhaps not as long as you were doing.  I'm also keeping an eye out for a large silicone cover that I can custom cut to allow space for the circulator.  This one and the largest in this set are examples. I'm not willing to buy a new one for the purpose, but I think they're likely to start turning up in thrift stores any time now. Inveterate thrift-store shopper that you are, you're likely to find one before I do. 

[Anna N]

18 minutes ago, Smithy said:

 

Did you use any sort of cover? I've been using (and reusing, and reusing...) plastic wrap for a cover with reasonable success, but perhaps not as long as you were doing.  I'm also keeping an eye out for a large silicone cover that I can custom cut to allow space for the circulator.  This one and the largest in this set are examples. I'm not willing to buy a new one for the purpose, but I think they're likely to start turning up in thrift stores any time now. Inveterate thrift-store shopper that you are, you're likely to find one before I do. 

I find I can use this one without any trimming. I just "snuggle" it up to the Joule.  But a word of warning. Kerry and I found out that if you are not careful it is possible to cause temporary trouble with the Anova if you trap steam such that it gets into the innards!  

[Porthos]

1 hour ago, Porthos said:

...  and now I'm figuring out how to cover 20 qt the stock pot I use for SV.

 

I think the time has come for me to put action to thought. I have been thinking of re-purposing a small cooler to become the water bath vessel. I will not create a tight seal, however, especially after the "trapped steam" warning. I have an "addiction" to coolers and have good candidates sitting in my garage.

[FrogPrincesse]

What about beads such as these to limit evaporation? Similar to something you might use in a lab. They seem expensive though.

[blue_dolphin]

My extremely high tech set up - Igloo beer cooler with a piece of styrofoam insulation cut to fit snugly.  The foam is coated so I can push it down to the water level but generally, I leave a little space.

This is a very small cooler.  I have a larger one also.

 

 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

1 hour ago, 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.

 

I use plastic wrap.  But even without the plastic wrap I don't understand how you could be losing so much water overnight.  My anova has never shut off prematurely for any reason.

 

Having just gotten up off my comfortable chair to measure, there are three and a half inches (8.89 cm) between the MAX and MIN water levels.  That's a lot of evaporation unless you were boiling your bacon.

 

With my ten inch diameter stock pot I would have to evaporate over four and a half liters to cause a shutoff.

 

[rotuts]

@blue_dolphin  

 

wonderful set up.   i have 4 beer coolers .  Ill be claiming your ideas on the two smaller ones re the cut foam and the Anova cut out.

 

the two larger ones are 64 qt plus for large cooks.  one with ' regular insulation '  the other w ' arctic insulation '

 

I use those for large pouch cooks :   18 + bags , if not more.   I use the Arctic for > 24 hours.

 

I got them Soooo  cheaply w free shipping I could not resist.

[FrogPrincesse]

Pork loin with citrus

 

I am still playing with the "cheap meats I can buy at Trader Joe's". This time it was a 1.5 lb pork loin roast, with a nice amount of fat. Not a cut I've seen before, typically it's just tenderloin and I am not a huge fan to be honest (too lean/not enough flavor for me).

 

 

So I decided to adapt a braising recipe. First I was looking at a braise in milk & lemon (a popular recipe both in French & Italian cuisines) but realized that the milk wouldn't curdle/brown in the sous vide like it does during a traditional braise, so I ditched that idea. I checked my recipe database in Eat Your Books and realized I had only a handful of recipe with that specific cut of meat. The one that caught my eye was from a book I haven't used in a while, Stephane Reynaud's Cochon & Fils which focuses exclusively on pork. It is a braise with orange & grapefruit (zest & juice), served with ratatouille in the Chapter named "Soirée Cochonne".

 

 

So what I did was brown the pork loin first, then deglaze with orange & grapefruit juice. I then transferred meat and juices into a ziplock, and added the zest, a couple each of thyme sprigs and bay leaves, smashed garlic cloves, salt & pepper. I cooked it for 4 hours at 62.8C.

 

Before the sous vide

 

After the sous vide

 

To serve, I sliced it thin and heated the juices after removing the garlic/bay leaves/thyme. The juice from the pork had mixed with the citrus and created a nice light sauce.

The meat turned out super juicy. The flavor was on the subtle size but that was expected for that cut of meat. I was very pleased with the result, and the leftovers are going to be lunch today (most probably cold on a tartine). On the side - white rice and roasted parsnips & carrots (no dill, I used cumin instead).

 

 

On a side note, the timer function seems a bit funky. Sometimes the timer doesn't even show up or start (both on the device & the app). After 15 min the app anounced that the meat was ready even though the timer had never started. I restarted it from the app, and this time everything behaved correctly. I am using the new version of the app that was released a few days ago. I've contacted Anova and they said to keep an eye on it and keep them in the loop in case I have "a bad unit".

[rotuts]

@FrogPrincesse  

 

what a fine looking slab of meat !  From TJ's ?

 

all the pork loins Ive ever encounters are much rounder

 

then I found this :

 

http://www.mnfarmliving.com/2012/12/whole-pork-loin.html

 

looks like this to me :

 

 

the sirloin roast on the lower R

 

congratulations !  now Im in the Hunt myself.

 

and then this :

 

 

one thing Ive noticed for a Zillion Years :  it you look at the pic above :

 

there is ' dark meat ' on the upper L and along the top of the Hunk

 

thats the most delicious and tender and tasty pork you can by , from the generically mass produced around

Edited January 12, 2017 by rotuts (log)

[Porthos]

It's not a thing of beauty but I'm gonig to give it ago.

 

I can't resume my bacon experiment until tomorrow but I am running a test to see how much water I lose to evaporation with the setup on the right. I have about 4 1/2 hours before I have to shut it off.

 

[rotuts]

looks good  as the idea is that it Works !

 

soon you will get bigger and bigger coolers !

 

just saying 

[Porthos]

11 minutes ago, rotuts said:

looks good  as the idea is that it Works !

 

soon you will get bigger and bigger coolers !

 

just saying 

 

I don't SV in bulk - just one meal at a time for 4 adults and a pre-schooler. Goes back to my initial interest in SV, moist chicken breasts and pork chops for my DW who has issues with any protein that hints at being dry as a result of her bariatric surgery. I have been pleased with chicken breasts done at 147 for twice the time that Baldwin's charts list for a given thickness. When I tried lower temperatures she didn't care for the texture and couldn't convince herself that it was safe to eat.

 

I will be using a 28 qt cooler when I try 12ish pounds of corned beef in about 3 months, but for that cooler I have some thick styrofoam that I will fashion a lid out of.

 

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 ...

Edited January 12, 2017 by Porthos (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

13 minutes ago, Porthos said:

It's not a thing of beauty but I'm gonig to give it ago.

 

I can't resume my bacon experiment until tomorrow but I am running a test to see how much water I lose to evaporation with the setup on the right. I have about 4 1/2 hours before I have to shut it off.

 

 

I notice your anova is different from mine.  How much distance of water level do you have between MIN and MAX on yours?

[FrogPrincesse]

@rotuts I've taken a pig butchery class not long ago and that cut of meat immediately caught my eye. It looks a bit like sirloin roast indeed. I was very happy to find this! At Trader Joe's indeed; here is their little pamphlet on it with a pictures so you'll know what to look for.

 

 

[rotuts]

nice.  very nice .

 

not that I Know EveryThing    

 

[ed.: can't comment }

 

id you do SV   this would be a very nice candidate for that, cut up and bagged in different ways.

 

would you consider an e-mail to your Porky Cut-Up class and their instructors 

 

Id live to know what that dark meat is  by muscle group.

 

I did enjoy your Piggy Cut-Up class !

[Porthos]

4 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

I notice your anova is different from mine.  How much distance of water level do you have between MIN and MAX on yours?

 

Mine is the Bluetooth version. I bought l last May.   Min to Max is approximately 3 1/2 inches.

[MelissaH]

My SV bacon experiment was also a failure. I cooked it about 18 hours, and then immediately clipped a corner to pour out the melted juices and fat. The drained bag went into a gallon-sized ziplock in the fridge for a day.

 

The next morning, the slices were impossible to separate from one another. I think for this to work, you must either need to use the bacon right away, or separate the slices right away with paper between them before putting them in the fridge.

 

My verdict: more trouble than it's worth, especially compared to the ease of cooking anywhere from 2 to 6 slices in the microwave, or more than that in the oven.

[Kerry Beal]

17 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

What did you use for the oil?

 

Lemon oil - xenex labs - use it a lot in place of zest.

Edited January 12, 2017 by Kerry Beal (log)

[Kerry Beal]

10 hours ago, quiet1 said:

 

I dunno, lemon curd without any lemon in it seems a LITTLE bit novel and crazy.

I had the same thought - tried it once with lemon juice in place of the water - not as good.

[ElsieD]

41 minutes ago, MelissaH said:

My SV bacon experiment was also a failure. I cooked it about 18 hours, and then immediately clipped a corner to pour out the melted juices and fat. The drained bag went into a gallon-sized ziplock in the fridge for a day.

 

The next morning, the slices were impossible to separate from one another. I think for this to work, you must either need to use the bacon right away, or separate the slices right away with paper between them before putting them in the fridge.

 

My verdict: more trouble than it's worth, especially compared to the ease of cooking anywhere from 2 to 6 slices in the microwave, or more than that in the oven.

 

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?