Mega slow Sous Vide beef joint cook

[stonypaul]

I usually cook topside beef joints at about 55 degrees for 6 hours, and that gives me a nice even pink and tasty joint.

I'm quite interested in trying a very slow cook, like 24 hours maybe, but researching this online, the resulting guidelines just seem to recommend these long cooking times for tougher cuts of meat.

Has anyone tried this long a cook on a low heat with joints like topside?

Are there any online recommendations for this kind of thing?

 

Thank you kindly

[gfweb]

What would the long cook accomplish?

Too long a cook of a tender meat turns the texture mushy. 

[stonypaul]

I thought it would get it more tender

 

[gfweb]

I think I'd test a few little pieces for time's effect.  If the US cut of top round is the same (different cuts confuse me) then a day would be OK I think.

[stonypaul]

7 minutes ago, gfweb said:

I think I'd test a few little pieces for time's effect.  If the US cut of top round is the same (different cuts confuse me) then a day would be OK I think.

 

at what sort of temperature?

[rotuts]

here is what I could fined on topside beef joint :

 

http://www.simplybeefandlamb.co.uk/cuts-beef/topside-beef-joint

 

and 

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Topside

 

in the first ref's  pic , it looks more like bottom round , but it could be to[ round tied up to be circular

 

 as a ref Baldwin says :

 

Top Round

 

     medium rare    130 F   1 - 2 days

 

bottom Round

 

   medium rare  130 F  2 - 3 days

 

Round Roast

 

  M rare  130 F  2 - 3 days

 

Edited December 14, 2016 by rotuts (log)

[gfweb]

2 hours ago, stonypaul said:

 

at what sort of temperature?

same temp if you like that done-ness. 

Edited December 14, 2016 by gfweb (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

Personally, given the choice, I would avoid any cut of beef round altogether.

 

[FeChef]

I have yet to meet a red meat that benefits from a sous vide cook longer then 16-24 hours.

[gfweb]

1 hour ago, FeChef said:

I have yet to meet a red meat that benefits from a sous vide cook longer then 16-24 hours.

Pork shoulder does, I think

[btbyrd]

1 hour ago, FeChef said:

I have yet to meet a red meat that benefits from a sous vide cook longer then 16-24 hours.

Have you ever met short ribs, brisket, cheek, or oxtail?

[FeChef]

7 hours ago, btbyrd said:

Have you ever met short ribs, brisket, cheek, or oxtail?

Have you ever met a pressure cooker?

[gfweb]

That'll cook em for sure

[btbyrd]

And produce a radically different outcome. You can't make medium rare short ribs in a pressure cooker.

[rotuts]

Id love to try the difference between PC  though Cow and 24 + hrs Cow.

 

at least w SV  you can get tenderness  and rare-ish.

 

I though the PC  short ribs were not going to be good  but they were outstanding

 

that bing said , PC beef has to have the muscles contract , thus it has to be a ' braise ' or you looses flavor into the  ' soup'

[Anna N]

37 minutes ago, rotuts said:

Id love to try the difference between PC  though Cow and 24 + hrs Cow.

 

at least w SV  you can get tenderness  and rare-ish.

 

I though the PC  short ribs were not going to be good  but they were outstanding

 

that bing said , PC beef has to have the muscles contract , thus it has to be a ' braise ' or you looses flavor into the  ' soup'

 I see no reason not to enjoy both preparations. 

[btbyrd]

Exactly. They're just different. It's like comparing quality canned tuna to still-purple-inside seared yellowtail.

 

"Which is better?" Wrong question.

 

Anyway, here's a guide from ChefSteps on SV short rib time and temps. You will get similar results with cheek and shank.

[btbyrd]

On 12/14/2016 at 11:52 PM, JoNorvelleWalker said:

Personally, given the choice, I would avoid any cut of beef round altogether.

 

 

This is my take as well. Is there anything round is actually good for? I know it's cheap, but that's about the only thing going for it. Unlike other inexpensive cuts, there's nothing you get from round you could get better elsewhere (if you're willing to pay) more. Is it ever delicious? Or is it only ever "just okay" -- the sort of thing to pile high on a sandwich before drowning it in horseradish sauce?

[gfweb]

11 minutes ago, btbyrd said:

 

This is my take as well. Is there anything round is actually good for? I know it's cheap, but that's about the only thing going for it. Unlike other inexpensive cuts, there's nothing you get from round you could get better elsewhere (if you're willing to pay) more. Is it ever delicious? Or is it only ever "just okay" -- the sort of thing to pile high on a sandwich before drowning it in horseradish sauce?

I've occasionally made very nice corned beef from round that I cooked SV. Tender, not fatty (both a strength and a weakness). Good for sandwiches and breakfast applications.  I believe that one of Boar's Head's corned beef products is made from round.

[FeChef]

On 12/17/2016 at 8:31 AM, btbyrd said:

And produce a radically different outcome. You can't make medium rare short ribs in a pressure cooker.

Short ribs become dry and mealy in the 48 hour range. I can not even imagine what 72 hour texture would be like. I will take my 90 minute PC short ribs every day of the week. A 20-24 hour SV well marbled chuck roast med rare is way better imo.

 

 

[FeChef]

On 12/17/2016 at 11:02 AM, btbyrd said:

 

This is my take as well. Is there anything round is actually good for? I know it's cheap, but that's about the only thing going for it. Unlike other inexpensive cuts, there's nothing you get from round you could get better elsewhere (if you're willing to pay) more. Is it ever delicious? Or is it only ever "just okay" -- the sort of thing to pile high on a sandwich before drowning it in horseradish sauce?

When its on sale for $2.99/lb its great for jerky. I just made 12 pounds of jerky from eye round last week. I got like 30+ 2oz vacuum sealed portions in my freezer.

 

I Don't buy eye round for anything else.

[Kerry Beal]

8 hours ago, FeChef said:

Short ribs become dry and mealy in the 48 hour range. I can not even imagine what 72 hour texture would be like. I will take my 90 minute PC short ribs every day of the week. A 20-24 hour SV well marbled chuck roast med rare is way better imo.

 

 

I beg to differ. 72 hour short ribs, 55 C or so are about the richest, most unctuous (in a good way), tender piece of meat you will ever find.

[FeChef]

22 hours ago, Kerry Beal said:

I beg to differ. 72 hour short ribs, 55 C or so are about the richest, most unctuous (in a good way), tender piece of meat you will ever find.

I am sure i am beating a dead horse, but 55C or 131F is not safe per Baldwin's guide. I would never attempt 72 hours with a temp lower then 132.5F. Thats just asking for trouble.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

7 minutes ago, FeChef said:

I am sure i am beating a dead horse, but 55C or 131F is not safe per Baldwin's guide. I would never attempt 72 hours with a temp lower then 132.5F. Thats just asking for trouble.

 

?

 

"Since you don’t know how many pathogens are in your food, most experts recommend that you cook your food to reduce: Listeria by at least a million to one; Salmonella by ten million to one; and E. coli by a hundred thousand to one. You can easily do this when you cook sous vide: you just keep your food in a 130°F (54.4°C) or hotter water bath until enough bacteria have been killed."

 

http://www.douglasbaldwin.com/sous-vide.html

 

[rotuts]

in my experience mealiness has a lot to do not so much with the cut of meat , but how the caw war butchered

 

the inly time Ive had mealiness what with Chuck.  48 + hours at 130.1    I like adding the 0.1    i sleep better

 

but that was 1 out of 10 Chucks.

 

if you think back over time    Im sure you've had a conventionally cooked piece of meat  ( rarely ) that tasted a bit like liver.

 

Im guessing that that piece came from a cow that was processed after undergoing lactic acidosis  during the travel to the process

 

Im guessing  that in my case  the mushiness comes from an acidic piece of meat that was then SV'd  > X hours

 

Im sure the acid lever in cows on the way to the meat case varies

 

and very high levels are rare , but possible.

 

this study was done by my mouth which at times is rather unscientific.

Edited December 20, 2016 by rotuts (log)