What Are You Cooking Sous Vide Today? (Part 3)

[scubadoo97]

Well top chef judges seem to think it does ???

 

i think there is a difference between SV proteins and high heat seared same proteins.  As much as I like SV I still prefer pan seared but the margin of error is quite small non SV. You have to really nail it

[gfweb]

It is as you say @scubadoo97

 

SV really shines with fowl, where the margin of error is less than zero with white meat...and with tough cuts that need a long cook.

 

NY strips, tenderloins of all sorts...steakhouse cuts...can be better done by a skilled cook traditionally than by SV. But SV lets the inexperienced do a capable job.

 

And SV is great if there are many steaks to prepare to all be done at once...at least in my inexpert kitchen.

[btbyrd]

Please, let's all make a capital case against SV from a few off-hand remarks by judges on a television show. They're clearly sufficient to establish that low-temp cooking dries out whatever you're cooking, so we should all throw our circulators in the trash. Or become vegetarians. We all know that Sean Brock would never cook meat in a water bath. Ever. </sarcasm>

 

We don't really know anything about the time or temperature on the tenderloin, and we don't know if it was treated in any way before hand. It's hard to tell in the clip, but it looks like the circulator was set for 60C (which is too high, in my opinion). And she could have left it in for longer than she needed to (since it's not very thick). Doing a pre-cook brine (or salt treatment) increases moisture retention, as does Jaccarding the meat. If she brined the pork and cooked it to 130F for one hour before searing it hard at the end, I suspect it would have been much better.

[Dave W]

Thanks for the safety feedback everyone. I do calibrate my bath with a thermapen, and did for this cook. Everything was crash cooled in ice baths too prior to storage. Maybe the home fridge opening and closing is a valid point for storage temperature stability and I will use my best efforts to eat this meat within a week or two!

[paulraphael]

13 minutes ago, Dave W said:

I do calibrate my bath with a thermapen, and did for this cook.

 

You calibrate your fridge or your circulator?

[Dave W]

I calibrate my home brew thermocouple PID controller that drives a winco food warmer. 

[JoNorvelleWalker]

7 minutes ago, paulraphael said:

 

You calibrate your fridge or your circulator?

 

My anova allows for calibration but I have never found the need to do so.

 

[paulraphael]

53 minutes ago, Dave W said:

I calibrate my home brew thermocouple PID controller that drives a winco food warmer. 

 

Ah, ok. Some of the store-bought circulators can be calibrated (as Jo said) but Anova, at least, discourages trying. The circulator's temperature sensors are about an order of magnitude more precise than a thermapen. I imagine if you're programming your own PID it's a whole nuther story.

 

I was concerned about my Anova once and so bought one of those ovulation thermometers ... mercury, accurate to about 1/10°F. But over a range of just a few degrees. Happily the circulator passed the test, so I didn't have to mess with it.

Edited February 22, 2017 by paulraphael (log)

[Shelby]

I think pork tenderloin was one of the first things I ever SV'd.  That and chicken breasts are a revelation.  Pork tenderloin at135F for 2 1/2 hours.  Tried to sear in a cast iron skillet but it didn't get very seared.  No matter to me....pork was so tender.  Like butter.  No knives needed.

 

[Okanagancook]

Nice demo @Shelby

[JoNorvelleWalker]

With regard to complaints of "dry" meat after being cooked sous vide:  last night I reanovaed the remainder of the prime strip steak I posted a while back.  The leftovers were too well marbled to enjoy cold.  But the end result was mealy and unpleasant.  The mouth sensation was totally dry, however there was essentially no juice in the bag so I conclude there was not all that much moisture loss between the first time the meat was served and last night.

 

Nonetheless anyone tasting the disaster would say "dry".  Not the first time I have ruined a decent piece of tender meat by leaving it in the bath too long.

[kayb]

On 2/23/2017 at 5:58 AM, Shelby said:

I think pork tenderloin was one of the first things I ever SV'd.  That and chicken breasts are a revelation.  Pork tenderloin at135F for 2 1/2 hours.  Tried to sear in a cast iron skillet but it didn't get very seared.  No matter to me....pork was so tender.  Like butter.  No knives needed.

 

I did cook mine "too long" for most folks; as much as I love a rare steak, I can't do pork with pink in it. And I used steam bake in the hopes of avoiding exactly what happened -- drying out the meat.

 

[Shelby]

41 minutes ago, kayb said:

I did cook mine "too long" for most folks; as much as I love a rare steak, I can't do pork with pink in it. And I used steam bake in the hopes of avoiding exactly what happened -- drying out the meat.

 

I think maybe if you SV'd at a higher temp --like 140F for the 2 1/2 hours and then just did a super quick sear in a hot skillet?  At that temp I don't think it would be pink....worth a shot, anyway....

[weedy]

Dave Arnold is doing some experimenting  on ways to control that pink colour in SV cooking. 

Personally if I see grey pork I assume it's OVERcooked, even if it tastes okay. 

 

But clearly some people want everything grey. 

His book promises to address these things. 

 

Anyway... if someone had said she Sous Vide-ed it WRONG that would have been fine. 

It was the broadside indictment of the IDEA of SV pork tenderloin that was just silly. 

I once asked Tom Collichio if the circulators I saw in the Craft kitchen on some tv shoot there were always there or just for the show. He was QUICK to say 'just for the shoot'. He's not a fan. 

And that presents another hurdle for contestants to jump in that if they do SV something (or make a foam, for another example) it has to be beyond the level of "good" that a less modernist dish would have to reach. It has to overcome the prejudice. 

But having said that, Blais and the Voltaggios and some others on that show have done. 

 

On in the matter of steaks: some seriously high end restaurants serve SV steak (and even burgers). Just because a chef CAN grill or broil a tender steak doesn't mean that's the only good way.

It again depends on your taste in gradient. 

 

[Topham]

140f, 4.5 hrs pork loin 

 

i dont understand the the criticism of sous vide. I think it makes it easy to achieve great results. Maybe that's the problem, anybody can do it.

[weedy]

to me it's the ability to do things you can NOT do other ways...

 

Ferran Adria and Grant Achatz and Wylie Dufresne and Thomas Keller and Heston Blumenthal (and on and on and on) are not doing food that's "easy" and that "anyone can do"

 

 

 

 

[rotuts]

although the above Chefs no doubt have embraced SV , for very good reasons,

 

Im betting they assign the SV work to some one very low on the TotemPole.

 

because they can then do other more complicated things , and the results would be the same for the SV portion of the work.

[rotuts]

" Anyone can do it "

 

             Chef Auguste Gusteau

 

            Ratatouille

[paulraphael]

10 hours ago, weedy said:

to me it's the ability to do things you can NOT do other ways...

 

Ferran Adria and Grant Achatz and Wylie Dufresne and Thomas Keller and Heston Blumenthal (and on and on and on) are not doing food that's "easy" and that "anyone can do"

 

 

They are typically doing dishes with many components. Some of those components might be best cooked sous-vide. Maybe they can only be done sous-vide—or maybe sous-vide is just the smartest choice. If there are several ways to get a result (and there usually are) you would pick the one that's easiest, or fastest, or most reliable, depending on the priorities of the moment. SV will often make sense.

[Porthos]

"Anyone Can Cook"

[rotuts]

indeed

 

this is my edit , as Anton Ego rephrased the statement after reviewing t Chef Gusteau's book :

 

" Anyone can Cook "

 

" and No , I do not believe Anyone can Do It "

 

     Anton Ego

 

my bad  

 

since for the Very Few , SV seems not to be Cooking, I changed the quote slightly

 

 

 

Edited February 25, 2017 by rotuts (log)

[weedy]

TALK

3 hours ago, paulraphael said:

 

They are typically doing dishes with many components. Some of those components might be best cooked sous-vide. Maybe they can only be done sous-vide—or maybe sous-vide is just the smartest choice. If there are several ways to get a result (and there usually are) you would pick the one that's easiest, or fastest, or most reliable, depending on the priorities of the moment. SV will often make sense.

 

 

TALK to one of those guys.

it's not about easier.

 

it's about a very specific result.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[rotuts]

indeed

 

we are really saying the same thing :

 

the end result  , sur la plate  is indeed a very specific result.

 

the SV step   is also a very specific result , but that part of the complex whole is easy.

[kayb]

I find it interesting that Brennan's Restaurant, a New Orleans standard for 70 years, uses sous vide on some dishes. Notably, they sous vide the egg yolks for their egg yolk carpaccio, which is beyond wonderful.

 

 

[Dave W]

16 hours ago, kayb said:

I find it interesting that Brennan's Restaurant, a New Orleans standard for 70 years, uses sous vide on some dishes. Notably, they sous vide the egg yolks for their egg yolk carpaccio, which is beyond wonderful.

 

 

 

 

I used to serve here and this dish was not on the menu in 2004. Seemingly any dish developed after 1975 wasn't, either. Good to see they're moving on. 

 

The 30 hour 54.8c chuck steaks came out poorly, not quite super tender but neither were they juicy. 

 

Drying a sous vide steak uncovered on a rack in the fridge for a day can help get you an out of this world crust though.