Sous Vide Demo

[daveb]

At a local culinary store I have a hobby/job helping local Chef's do cooking demonstrations, prepping for catered events and all kinds of other things that let me play with new toys and other peoples food.  I've been asked to prepare a Sous Vide Demo meal to stimulate interest in SV and modern technique - and hopefully sell some SV units.

 

Menu to be Mi Cuit Salmon (104F from Chef Steps),  Asparagus Salad w poached egg, 72 hr Short Ribs w Cauliflower puree and a Poached Pear desert.

 

 

[scubadoo97]

All good choices Dave. Barely cooked salmon that doesn't taste raw, long cooked short ribs that are pink inside and perfectly cooked poached eggs

[daveb]

Day 1.  What have I got myself into. 

 

Rush order from the Meat guy.  Apparently someone thought we could do 72 hour ribs overnight Wed for a demo on Thurs.  I don't think they teach math in chef school. 

 

Ready for bagging.  Well I thought they were.  About half did not fit in 12x14 bags.  Cut into individual ribs and bagged 2x bag.  Rubbed ribs with mixture of grapeseed oil, black garlic, thyme, s&p.  

 

 

Swimming.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited August 25, 2015 by daveb (log)

[scubadoo97]

Math, what's that? Well you can alter temp to fit your time

Edited August 25, 2015 by scubadoo97 (log)

[FauxPas]

This is interesting! I hope you'll keep us posted all the way along! 

[pbear]

FWIW, if this comes up again, the low temp item I find generates the best first impression is chicken breast.  And there are no weird color or temp issues to explain.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I have become quite fond of sous vide chicken breast.  I used one for a delightful chicken Tetrazzini tonight.  To my experience no other meat preparation is as foolproof.

[gfweb]

Turkey breast is another SV winner. You expect tough meat.....

[daveb]

My working premise (not quite a plan) is to demo capabilities into the Holiday season.  So chicken breast is a good candidate before people realize it's Autumn, turkey breast will be on the agenda, as will prime rib, pork loin and more seafood.  Pumpkin, other squash, root vegetables will be going in the bath..  On the catering side I've done close to 100 beef tenderloins over the holidays in the last two years .  May get a class out of that as well.

 

Thanks for the comments and suggestions.

[nickrey]

I did a comparable course with similar dishes.  One thing that adds to the asparagus and poached eggs dish is the whipping siphon delivered hollandaise, again from Chef Steps.

 

 

 

 

 

[daveb]

This is the first time I've been able to come up for air since the demo.    Went well for the most part.

 

Started the 72 hour ribs Mon afternoon.   Tues morning went into the culinary store and two of the baths each had a SV bag swollen with gas.  Not a good sign.  Cut one open and really wish I hadn't.   The two swollen bags were discarded and everything else looked fine.

 

Wed prepared the salmon and into the brine/bath/ice bath/fridge it went, all without issue.

 

Thurs morning I opened a bag with a single rib.  Smell was a bit "offish", When cut it looked perfect but taste was again a little off.  Chef asked what was Plan B?  We decided to pull all the ribs, clean out the baths, get some beef tenderloin and start over with easy and foolproof.  This was not the fun part.  Had tenderloin in for 3 hours.  An hour before class dropped the cauliflower, carrots, eggs.  As pieces came together just dropped ice into the baths to hold product at serving temps.  Dropped the asparagus 15 min before service. 

 

Had bags in a Sous Vide Demi, Sous Vide Supreme, a Poly Science circulator (and at one point had 5 Anovas going in the background).

 

It all came together.  20 interested guests with some good questions, good food and some crappy pictures.

 

The Salmon with an Arugula Puree

 

 

The Deconstructed Panzanella

 

 

The Entre - Beef Tenderloin, a Carrot and Puree of Cauliflower

 

 

Desert - Poached Pear w Ice Cream

 

 

And your's truly:

 

 

 

It was a lot of fun sharing a hobby with like minded guests.  Cooking for these type of demos is easy, tap dancing in front of 20 guests is a little more difficult.   Two of the guests had been given circulators as gifts but had never turned them on - they said they were now ready to try. 

 

BTW the meat guy refunded the cost of the ribs,  I'm not sure that ended well but probably as well as it could have.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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[Smithy]

Thanks for that report, Dave. I'm impressed with the recovery, as well as the tap dancing. Did the meat guy have any thoughts about what might have been wrong with the ribs?

[KennethT]

What happened with your ribs has happened to others and discussed at length on the original sous vide thread.  Sometimes there is a surface bacteria that can cause this problem.  The way a lot of people get around it now is to sear or torch prior to bagging, or dip into boiling water for 30 seconds or so after bagging, to kill all surface bacteria.  Theoretically, the interior of the meat should be sterile unless otherwise manipulated (like jaccarding, etc)  This problem has come up with a few low temp long time proteins, but I remember short ribs being especially 'popular' - but that could also be due to the fact that they were very popular to make....

[ElsieD]

KennethT, that is an interesting comment about short ribs. I say that because it happened to me. I had started some beautiful beef short ribs and the next day there was a bloated bag floating around in the water. Needless to say, the whole thing got turfed, and it hasn't happened with short ribs since. However, from now on i will give them a short dip in boiling water first just to be on the safe side. Thanks for the post.

[EnriqueB]

Nice demo.

 

What was the temperature you used for cooking the short ribs?

[daveb]

Thanks.  My "practice" batch i did at 129F.  For the demo I went to 131F..

[paulraphael]

What happened with your ribs has happened to others and discussed at length on the original sous vide thread.  Sometimes there is a surface bacteria that can cause this problem.  The way a lot of people get around it now is to sear or torch prior to bagging, or dip into boiling water for 30 seconds or so after bagging, to kill all surface bacteria.  Theoretically, the interior of the meat should be sterile unless otherwise manipulated (like jaccarding, etc)  This problem has come up with a few low temp long time proteins, but I remember short ribs being especially 'popular' - but that could also be due to the fact that they were very popular to make....

 

The bacteria in question are spoilage bacteria, as opposed to the pathogenic bacteria we're usually talking about. They can gross you out but are generally harmless (not that you'll ever be tempted to find out). There are myriad varieties of spoilage bacteria, and they're not nearly as well understood as pathogens. If someone brought a sample of baby-diaper short ribs to a biologist it might end up being original research.

 

But anyway. I'm emphatic about dipping in boiling water before long cooking at low temperature. Even if I pre-sear. Searing can't be counted on to get all the surfaces. A dip in boiling water probably isn't foolproof either, but has a better chance. I would suggest 30 seconds full immersion if using vacuum bags, and 60 seconds if using ziplocs (the added fluid required in a ziploc bag puts a bit more insulation and thermal mass between the meat and the hot water).

 

I haven't ever had problems with this method, either with spoilage or with the quick boil overcooking anything.

[Anna N]

The bacteria in question are spoilage bacteria, as opposed to the pathogenic bacteria we're usually talking about. They can gross you out but are generally harmless (not that you'll ever be tempted to find out). There are myriad varieties of spoilage bacteria, and they're not nearly as well understood as pathogens. If someone brought a sample of baby-diaper short ribs to a biologist it might end up being original research.

But anyway. I'm emphatic about dipping in boiling water before long cooking at low temperature. Even if I pre-sear. Searing can't be counted on to get all the surfaces. A dip in boiling water probably isn't foolproof either, but has a better chance. I would suggest 30 seconds full immersion if using vacuum bags, and 60 seconds if using ziplocs (the added fluid required in a ziploc bag puts a bit more insulation and thermal mass between the meat and the hot water).

I haven't ever had problems with this method, either with spoilage or with the quick boil overcooking anything.

Paul,

Just so I completely understand what you're saying. You are dunking the meat after it has been sealed in plastic?

Edited. Damned AutoCorrect thought I had it turned off

Edited September 1, 2015 by Anna N (log)

[paulraphael]

Paul,

Just so I completely understand what you're saying. You are dunking the meat after it has been sealed in plastic?

Edited. Damned AutoCorrect thought I had it turned off

 

Yup. I boil a fairly wide pot, like what you'd use for pasta. So far I've found it easiest to just hold the bag by the top while wearing a silicone mit. I use ziplocs, and boiling temperatures weaken the plastic a fair amount, until they cool again. So I don't like tossing them in or using tongs. It also helps to keep stray parts of the bag from touching the rim of the pan ... this can be hot enough to damage the bag.

 

I'd like to come up with something more efficient for big jobs. This may just be a time when chamber vacuum bags are superior. You could probably just toss them into a pot and pluck out with tongs.

Edited September 1, 2015 by paulraphael (log)

[Anna N]

Yup. I boil a fairly wide pot, like what you'd use for pasta. So far I've found it easiest to just hold the bag by the top while wearing a silicone mit. I use ziplocs, and boiling temperatures weaken the plastic a fair amount, until they cool again. So I don't like tossing them in or using tongs. It also helps to keep stray parts of the bag from touching the rim of the pan ... this can be hot enough to damage the bag.

 

I'd like to come up with something more efficient for big jobs. This may just be a time when chamber vacuum bags are superior. You could probably just toss them into a pot and pluck out with tongs.

Thank you. I don't do a lot of long SV cooking but that process certainly sounds worth incorporating.