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

[Shelby]

After the fun and good luck I had with the top round, I thought this next piece of meat would be good, too.  

 

Boy was I wrong!

 

Ronnie brought home a piece of beef about 2" thick and oh, maybe 8-9 " long.  It was labeled London Broil.  I googled (albeit very briefly and I obviously mis-read what I found) and figured it was just like a top round only the butcher called it London Broil.  So, someone set me straight please.  What the heck is London Broil ?(I do know that it's a way of cooking meat, but what cut is it?)

 

I put it in the bath at 131F for 4 hours.  Tough as a boot.  I chose that method because I thought it would need longer to get tender....and I chose the temp because Kenji (Serious Eats) says you can't do lower than that for more than 2 1/2 hours safely.  

 

Most of the meat is now in the fridge...I think I'm going to make a stew in the pressure cooker.

 

Thank goodness we also had baked potatoes stuffed with broccoli and cheese or else we would have been digging in the fridge lol.

[rotuts]

London Broil is a 'cut' that varies store to store, state to state

 

some come from the shoulder area, some from the back of the cow some where

 

its a 'slab' of meat , tends to be  on the thicker side

 

might be good for a 'swiss steak'   i.e. browned, then braised in a liquid for several hours

 

you get all sorts of things when you look it up :

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=london+broil&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8

 

the only thing you should consider is :  is it from the shoulder or the rear of the cow.

 

the shoulder would have better flavor, but thats at least 24 +++  to 48 at 130.1  its tough in the way chuck ( most of the chuck ) is tough

 

in my area this week they have L.B. from the shoulder area for 2.88.

 

 

[Anna N]

Keep trying to use up stuff in my freezer and came across a very small piece of flank steak. Since the SV was chugging along cooking a chuck eye roast I figured I would piggyback on it and just threw the small piece of flank steak in there.  Will give it 30 minutes or so, sear it, slice it against the grain and see if it will serve me for lunch. 

[Franci]

I gave for granted that these jars would be ok for canning, they look to me like the french parfait jars, they are from anchor brought from webstaurant store. But I came to think that are the gaskets that leak color in my bath water...waiting for different jars. The weck jars are sooooo expesive in this country!

 

[haresfur]

I deconstructed a belted galloway shoulder roast (I think shoulder - the poor thing had been through the wringer. My beef dude had told me that it should be roasted slow because of some tough tissue through the middle. Luckily he vac packed it because it went through refrigerator death, resurrection, and redeath then sat in my lab fridge at work (shh) until I got a replacement and then it sat at home for a while until I got around to cooking it). I cut out fat and anything that didn't look like meat, kind of unwinding it into a couple of thin pieces and a thicker one then into the sous vide at 58 C for about 2 hours. The thin pieces went into a stir fry and the thicker into the freezer. Nice cut. meaty but not too meaty and soft but not mushy. Maybe I'll turn the remaining bit into an odd-shaped beef wellington.

[Print]

i was planing to get in to Sous vide cooking but not sure how to go on it. i read that you can do it at home but , scared since i read some where that the water need to be circulated or you can get bacteria on the food . but theres no air so i'm not really sure. i was wondering could i just go on it with a pot ,thermator and hours of cooking?

[Smithy]

1 hour ago, Print said:

i was planing to get in to Sous vide cooking but not sure how to go on it. i read that you can do it at home but , scared since i read some where that the water need to be circulated or you can get bacteria on the food . but theres no air so i'm not really sure. i was wondering could i just go on it with a pot ,thermator and hours of cooking?

 

Print, you may find it useful, for background, to check out the Sous Vide Index (follow the link, or look at the top of the Cooking Forum topic listing).  Specifically, you are likely to find an answer to your questions in this Index post on sous vide equipment.  

 

Another topic that may inspire you to take the plunge is here: Sous vide for a newbie?

[Tere]

I really enjoy the presentation style of Chefsteps and have read plenty of their intro articles. There's a lot of useful stuff on sous vide with lots and lots of pictures. Enjoy! https://www.chefsteps.com/classes.

 

Also http://www.douglasbaldwin.com/sous-vide.html was my bible when I first started, but I am sure those far more experienced and knowledgeable than me will chip in

 

Edited March 1, 2016 by Tere (log)

[KennethT]

If you wanted to get started cooking things that don't take a long time (fish, seafood, chicken breast) before investing in a circulator, you can definitely do it in a pot of water on top of the stove and a ziplock bag with a reasonably accurate instant read thermometer.  For information on cooking times and safety, see the Douglas Baldwin guide or the Sous Vide index posted above.  Some people even did long term cooks (like short ribs, pork belly) in a pot of covered water in the oven, but that's a bit more complicated to keep the temperature moderately stable for a long period of time.

Edited March 1, 2016 by KennethT
Can't forget the thermometer! (log)

[Tere]

I went to a cooking school Tom Kerridge did at a local flower show where he thought you could do Steak without the water bath (he just chucked the steak in for some time in the oven iirc).

[nickrey]

Perhaps you could just have steak tartare. Saves all the fuss.

[weedy]

On March 1, 2016 at 9:03 PM, Tere said:

I went to a cooking school Tom Kerridge did at a local flower show where he thought you could do Steak without the water bath (he just chucked the steak in for some time in the oven iirc).

 

you can certainly do steak with a long low cook in an oven... heston blumenthal showed his version.

 

but my oven cannot maintain an  accurate 130F , to do what i can do with the  circulator... can yours?

[Tere]

I honestly didn't' try. He was punting this as easy sous vide to non owners, he was a bit bummed when he said hands up who has a water bath like the pros and my husband and I raised our paws. He joked about it at the signing :). My theory is that with a good cut of steak that is good enough for tartare he was relatively unworried about fluctuations. I've not seen the Heston version. If it works it is a good intro to low cooking imo

[rotuts]

older ovens here  ( USA ) used to do 140.  with of course significant fluctuations.

 

newer ovens   ( not that new now ) the min. is 170  with the usual fluctuations.

 

I can't see the problem w a circulator, as they are < 150 USD  then there is the Anova for what around 199 ?

 

a very wise investment Id say.

 

[nef]

Just made Paula Wolfert's Rabbit Compote with Prunes sous-vide. The first time I made it, I cooked it in the traditional manner. it was delicious but picking all the little bones was a thankless task, and not 100% successful.  Paula's recipe calls for cutting up the rabbit into 7 or 8 pieces, which breaks the spine where all the little bones are. For my second go at the recipe, I decided to cook the whole rabbit sous-vide to avoid having to pick out any little bones. I have a chamber vacuum (VacMaster VP112) but it was too shallow to hold the rabbit and liquid without making a mess, so I put the bagged rabbit and liquid in the freezer for a while, to stiffen it up. It worked well. 

I cooked the rabbit 167º for 8 hours in the water bath. After cooking I iced down and refrigerated overnight. The next day I followed the recipe from step 8 to the end. It was really easy to pull the meat off the bones as the skeleton remained whole. 

 

What a super dish.. I love Paula Wolfert!!! 

[Shelby]

Double cut pork chops seasoned with just salt and pepper and a knob of butter.  SV at 135F for about 4 hours.  Then I threw them in a skillet and browned on all sides spending a bit of extra time to make the fat cap nice and good.  I put the juices from the bags in a little pan, warmed it up and poured over the chops.  OH so good.  

 

[nef]

Adapting a sous-vide application to Paula Wolfert's Foie Gras Terrine (The Cooking of Southwestern France works out well for me. I cook the livers at 125ºF for 45 minutes. By cooking sous-vide I get less significantly less loss as compared to cooking in oven bain-marie. 

[KennethT]

@ShelbyThat looks awesome!

[daveb]

Wahoo!

 

I help a friend with a Food Truck when I can. (I get to cook what I want and people give me money - like)   I've wanted to do a good fish taco, not over cooked, not overwhelmed with "stuff".  This one is pretty close.

 

I SV'd about 5 lb of Wahoo - a nicely flavoured gulf fish.  122F for an hour then chilled.  For service I cut off approx 6oz to sear on a flat-top (grill would have been better).  Yield two tacos with a mango salsa topping.  86'd in an hour.

 

Would be easy dish to do at home for a casual diner.   And good too.

 

https://db.tt/PqBvepO4

[scubadoo97]

Damn!  Where is your food truck Dave?   Those look  mighty fine. Not sure I'd drive to Brandon for one but would not mind helping you cook 

[daveb]

Scuby - We're usually in Tampa but have crossed the bridge.  I'll let you know when I'm up next.

 

Do you fish underwater?  We could talk...

[scubadoo97]

8 hours ago, daveb said:

Scuby - We're usually in Tampa but have crossed the bridge.  I'll let you know when I'm up next.

 

Do you fish underwater?  We could talk...

Use to do all my fishing underwater.  Now just go to the local sources and buy it 

[kayb]

I cooked a top sirloin steak SV at 140F for four hours yesterday, and then seared it in an iron skillet. Damn steak (local, farm-raised beef, bought in a quarter-steer increment from the farmer) was still tough. I was astounded. I really feared I had left it in the SV too long (my schedule interfered; I really should learn how to use the wifi function on my Anova), but still tough? Seriously?

 

Suggestions?

 

 

[Shelby]

13 minutes ago, kayb said:

I cooked a top sirloin steak SV at 140F for four hours yesterday, and then seared it in an iron skillet. Damn steak (local, farm-raised beef, bought in a quarter-steer increment from the farmer) was still tough. I was astounded. I really feared I had left it in the SV too long (my schedule interfered; I really should learn how to use the wifi function on my Anova), but still tough? Seriously?

 

Suggestions?

 

 

You know I'm a total new person at all this.  Is this cut the same as something a butcher would call a top round roast?  I cut one of those into 1 1/2" steaks and did a couple with butter, s/p at 129F for 3 hours and  then seared them.  Maybe your temp was too high?

[rotuts]

personally I do top sirloin  at least 6 hours.  8 even.  but that's a cut called 'Tip' and is flat meat

 

it has excellent flavor, but its more or less a ( partially ) working muscle thus need more time to become tender.

 

I also do this at 130.1, and if I sear it probably adds to its Done-ness

 

Baldwin suggests :

 

'Tip'  MRare  130  6 - 8   ( where I got my starting point )

 

        Medium   140   6 - 8

 

however, there is a listing for 'Top sirloin Steak'   ( its up to you to decide if you have 'flap' or this cut )

 

MRare  130   24 - 48 hours

 

Medium   140  24 - 48 hours

 

clearly these are too very different cuts

 

good luck !