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

[daveb]

Longer.  Lower.

 

Its more subjective than absolute but to me a steak at 140F is well on its way to being tough as shoe leather.  I use a 129 - 131F bath for most beef cuts.

[rotuts]

PS  I get the 'Tips' as a whole flap  when the Sirloin Tips are on sale.  Tips are the flap cut across the grain

 

I perfer to SV the whole flap after i portion it myself.

 

it comes out as 'steak' but cut in the European fashion, the Slap dans le Plate has the muscle fibers running horizontally not

 

vertically as US cuts are.

 

Id look for this if you can on sale

 

well worth it

[kayb]

Thanks, folks. This is a flat cut, so I think it's sirloin tip. Why aren't butchers consistent? Anyway, I'll leave it longer, next time, and cut the temp back just a bit. 

 

[Okanagancook]

I have 8 lamb shanks in the freezer from our two beauties we got in October from the Organic Farm north of here.  I want to sous vide them all together and then freeze what we aren't eating.  There are various recommendations regarding cooking them.  I would like them to be a little on the medium rare side but of course tender.

Douglas Baldwin says 175F or 80C for 12 to 24 hours.  That sounds a little too high a temperature to have them on the pinkish side.  Modernist Cuisine:  144F or 62C for 48 hours.  I am favouring the latter.  Any thoughts on that?

On March 8, 2016 at 5:12 PM, 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?

 

 

If your sirloin is on the tough side maybe try cooking it like a flank steak.  I get grass fed beef which tends to be on the chewy side.  I have had excellent results with 55C 131F for 24 hours.  I've done the flank steak this way twice and it turned out perfectly tender but medium rare both times.

[kayb]

1 hour ago, Okanagancook said:

I

If your sirloin is on the tough side maybe try cooking it like a flank steak.  I get grass fed beef which tends to be on the chewy side.  I have had excellent results with 55C 131F for 24 hours.  I've done the flank steak this way twice and it turned out perfectly tender but medium rare both times.

Thanks. I'll make a note of that.

 

 

 

[rotuts]

Ive done grass fed sirloin     Sv  6 hrs 130.1  it was fantastic.  it might have gone a little longer and still been fine.

 

 

[Tere]

Pics (terrible) will come on the dinner thread but I just wanted to record that on skinless good quality salmon fillets, 50 degrees C for about 45 mins then left in a cooling waterbath for 15 produced the best salmon fillet I've ever cooked sous vide. 

 

P.S. not vacuum packed, just freezer bag packed. This one trick has revolutionised my sous vide cooking. I got my kit out, set it up for temp, left it while I went to get the hubby, came back, bagged it, did everything else, ate it. So so easy

Edited March 18, 2016 by Tere (log)

[daveb]

I needed a quick and dirty for dinner 2nite.  Friend's bd, I was cooking, found out this morning.

 

Latino market had a nice piece of pork loin and some Spanish chorizo.  Butterflied it , stuffed it, rolled it, tied it, bagged it.  Done.

 

Into the bath at 140F for 3 hrs. Seared on grill. Garnished w corn and leek mire poix.  Not bad.  Everyone else brought "store bought"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Shelby]

I have some quail thawing out.  I want to SV them.  Should I do the same temp as I do my chicken breasts?  I think I've been doing 142F for about 2 hours.

[rotuts]

I haven't had quail  in a while.   Ive forgotten :  is there more dark meat that white ?  are they wild working animals ?

 

ai don't think you loose anything if you go for 3 hours in that case.

[Shelby]

I'm sure these are not "wild" quail.  I bought them a while ago.  I actually cooked a couple and they were very tough (this was before I got my SV machine).  

[rotuts]

if they were tough before, try 4 hours at least.  your temp is low enough so you won't get  ' braise '

 

Id not add salt for the SV  bur for 4 it probably won't make a difference.

 

pls let us know your times and why you thought of the results.

 

thanks

[Shelby]

Ok, thanks, rotuts.  I'll go 4 hours.  Still trying to nail down a temp.  They are all over the place online.  I've seen 143,154, 134, 140.....  

[rotuts]

unless you want as rare as possible  and ' safe '  130.1   small difference don't matter that much.  of course, they matter tremendously for Le Yolk and

 

and 'soft' fish like salmon.

 

you will enjoy the quail at 142.5 to 145    Rx ?

 

 

Id try something like that

 

why do you think they were tough when you did them conventionally ?   did you do  ' a la Pork Chop '

 

Rx ?   where do the birds come from is not ' The Field dans le ShotGun ? '

 

my last labrador  Ridge  ( black ) was constantly invited to retrieve in R.I. as a hunting bo-teek  that hunters came from all over

 

ie NYC to 'hunt' various birds.   lots of Purdy shotguns and Barbour  Hunting stuff.  lots of expensive  Scotch.

 

personally   I put on my Very Seasoned   ( in the drier on ' air fluff, no heat )  Filson Tin Cloth

 

this one :

 

http://www.filson.com/men/coats-jackets/tin-cloth-packer-coat-extra-long-10002.html

 

Ridge insisted on this.

 

I actually had extra shotgun shells in the place provided by Filson

 

the Swells were not such good shots.   i offered Re-Fills/

 

" Fun is where you Find It "

 

 

[Shelby]

Normally they would come from the field, but they were scarce this year so I ordered some online.  I think they were tough because I tried to do them in the oven at too high of a temp.  

 

I figure that they are close enough to chicken that I'll do 'em like that this time and see.  So, I'll go with the 142.  But I am going to do the 4 hours.  It can't hurt and I want them tender tender.  I'll sear 'em right before serving.

[rotuts]

procedural pics are always welcome.

[KennethT]

I love quail - typically I will partially debone them (removing the rib cage) which renders them flat.  Then I'll cook SV to 140 for enough time to pasturize.  Then I'll chill it down to about room temp before torching or searing because they're so thin, they overcook quickly.

[daveb]

1 hour ago, KennethT said:

I love quail - typically I will partially debone them (removing the rib cage) which renders them flat.  Then I'll cook SV to 140 for enough time to pasturize.  Then I'll chill it down to about room temp before torching or searing because they're so thin, they overcook quickly.

 

This.  A friend has some birds in the freezer from this past season.  I'll be cooking them this week - going to do some SV and some right on the grill.  All will be spatchcocked before cooking.  Will be using 140F and 2 hrs or less for SV.

 

Game birds and even commercially available quail have not been bred like the fat, flavorless chickens and they are not forgiving of being overcooked.  In younger days I would use a wine glass as a timer.  Sip, put em on, sip, flip em, sip, take em off.  

[rotuts]

Gauntlet Down

 

Excellent !

[Shelby]

I ran into some challenges which I will describe later.  I just put the quail in the bath so they will be going for about 2 hours at 140....they are a lot smaller than I thought so I think 2 will be just fine.  

 

I got sidetracked with horse racing......AND I forgot, these quail were stuffed with pork (uncooked).  

 

More later.

[Shelby]

Ok, so like I said, these were stuffed with ground pork.  I didn't want that so I unstuffed them and saved the pork for another use.  Good thing is that they were de-ribbed so they were easy to sear    I decided to make a mushroom mixture (mushrooms, onions, butter, deglazed with red wine) to stuff two of them with and I left the other two plain.

 

 

 

All packed up with some butter

 

 

 

They turned out VERY good.  Thank you everyone for your help!

 

140F for a couple hours and then seared.  Could have done better on the searing but we liked them

 

[rotuts]

SV can do ( almost ) anything better.

 

as long as you understand  the times and temps and the post SV ' touch up '

 

and with the proper bags, live a long life p SV in the freezer.

[Anna N]

@Shelby

I have never had much luck with  quail but I have never tried them sous vide.  Might be tempted to pick up a half dozen next time I'm at the Asian store.   Thanks for sharing this experience.

[Steve Irby]

I hate to preach to the choir  but SV and a chamber vacuum sealer are pretty darn indispensable-with the vacuum bagger at the top of the list.  Tonight I prepared center cut pork chop's two ways - 5-spice with tangerine and the second with a Cajun rub.  Into the old VP-112 then into Anova hot water bath.

 

Chops prepped

 

 

What you attend to while the SV magic transpires.

 

Magic transpiring

 

 

The final product(s).

 

Four 5 spice & 2 Cajun.  And not for dinner - I'll chill then vacuum bag for later in the week.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

@Steve Irby how do you get the cats into the vacuum bags?