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

[Duvel]

5 minutes ago, TdeV said:

So how long do you cook each, @Duvel?

Shoulder: 24h @ 70oC. Leg: I prefer traditional braise, as I usually flavor beans or potatoes with the resulting braising liquid ... I‘d go for 12-18h @ 70 oC if I have to ...

Edited March 11, 2021 by Duvel (log)

[TdeV]

Hmmm. I still haven't quite figured out that "braise thing" here. I'll be collecting a leg of lamb this afternoon from the butcher, so perhaps I will try this . . . 🙄

 

[Duvel]

15 minutes ago, TdeV said:

Hmmm. I still haven't quite figured out that "braise thing" here. I'll be collecting a leg of lamb this afternoon from the butcher, so perhaps I will try this . . . 🙄

 

Presoak your (good quality) beans, braise the leg with some salted/fermented fish product (e.g. anchovy), white wine, herbs (e.g. rosemary) and garlic for about 1.5h and add some crushed tomatoes. Braise one more hour, adjust seasonings and done !

[haresfur]

1 hour ago, TdeV said:

Hmmm. I still haven't quite figured out that "braise thing" here. I'll be collecting a leg of lamb this afternoon from the butcher, so perhaps I will try this . . . 🙄

 

 

I usually roast leg of lamb to medium rare but I see Keller prefers medium in Ad Hoc at Home because he says it is more tender. It just seemed to me that there isn't much fat in a leg but there is a lot in the shoulder. 

[rotuts]

@haresfur

 

""  Keller prefers medium in Ad Hoc at Home because he says it is more tender. "

 

is he doing it SV or conventionally ? 

 

as we know 

 

w SV time is tenderness , not temp.

 

you will get very tender meat

 

of all kins 

 

@ 130.1 F

 

SV  if you are patient.

 

that done-ness might not suit you , but its going to be very tender.

[haresfur]

That's for roasting.

I like SV to med-rare for many things but my problem is when you have gobs of non-rendered fat left behind in some cuts.

I can see this is where SV lamb leg could be ideal because there isn't much marbling. Then it's just figuring out the time for tender but not mushy.

[Kim Shook]

Sitting here pissed at Kenji.  I sous vide, per his instructions, a couple of beef tenderloin steaks for 2 1/2 hours at 129F.  I take them out and they are 117F.  I seared and they still weren't 129F, so they are roasting in the CSO (faster than the oven to get to temp).  My rice is overcooked and my béarnaise is cold. 😠

[Anna N]

25 minutes ago, Kim Shook said:

Sitting here pissed at Kenji.  I sous vide, per his instructions, a couple of beef tenderloin steaks for 2 1/2 hours at 129F.  I take them out and they are 117F.  I seared and they still weren't 129F, so they are roasting in the CSO (faster than the oven to get to temp).  My rice is overcooked and my béarnaise is cold. 😠

I cannot make sense of this. After 2 1/2 hours at 129°F how is it possible that it only reached 117°F. They must’ve been some huge steaks to not get up to temperature in 2 1/2 hours. I’m sorry your dinner was ruined. I just want to understand how it happened. 

[ElsieD]

41 minutes ago, Kim Shook said:

Sitting here pissed at Kenji.  I sous vide, per his instructions, a couple of beef tenderloin steaks for 2 1/2 hours at 129F.  I take them out and they are 117F.  I seared and they still weren't 129F, so they are roasting in the CSO (faster than the oven to get to temp).  My rice is overcooked and my béarnaise is cold. 😠

 

Did you check the water temperature?

[rotuts]

how thick were the tenderloins ?   

 

2.5" thick takes 5 hours 10 minutes 

 

https://www.amazingfoodmadeeasy.com/pages/sous-vide-timing-ruler-instructions

 

to get to 131 F  ( close to 129 for our purposes )

 

for review purposes :

 

from the above link 

 

1.5 "  is 2 h 20 min.

 

Ive seen more complete curves in the past

 

but I can't point to them just now.

 

one big benefit of SV , esp at those low temps . a little more time

 

in the bath 

 

isn't going to ruin the meat.   

 

 

Edited May 3, 2021 by rotuts (log)

[gfweb]

1 hour ago, Kim Shook said:

Sitting here pissed at Kenji.  I sous vide, per his instructions, a couple of beef tenderloin steaks for 2 1/2 hours at 129F.  I take them out and they are 117F.  I seared and they still weren't 129F, so they are roasting in the CSO (faster than the oven to get to temp).  My rice is overcooked and my béarnaise is cold. 😠

How thick were the steaks?

[JoNorvelleWalker]

3 hours ago, Kim Shook said:

Sitting here pissed at Kenji.  I sous vide, per his instructions, a couple of beef tenderloin steaks for 2 1/2 hours at 129F.  I take them out and they are 117F.  I seared and they still weren't 129F, so they are roasting in the CSO (faster than the oven to get to temp).  My rice is overcooked and my béarnaise is cold. 😠

 

I am so sorry about your misfortune.  For sous vide I always refer to @DouglasBaldwin's tables that take into account meat shape and thickness as well as starting temperatures:

 

https://www.douglasbaldwin.com/sous-vide.html#Beef

 

Capitalism being what it is Baldwin sold his soul to Joule and Kenji sold his to anova.  I fault neither, and read and recommend both authors.

 

So we have to ask, what went wrong?  Were your steaks abnormally large or frozen?  Was the cooking temperature wrong?  To my taste 129F is a reasonable final temperature for beef tenderloin.  Some things to consider:  was there air in your bags?  Were you using a chamber vacuum sealer or some other sealing method?  As @gfweb wondered, were your steaks abnormally large?

 

I will note that if you were using a high end Zojirushi your rice would still be excellent the next day.  I can't help you with cold bearnaise.  In my kitchen the bearnaise is not started until the steaks are resting.

 

[blue_dolphin]

6 hours ago, Kim Shook said:

Sitting here pissed at Kenji.  I sous vide, per his instructions, a couple of beef tenderloin steaks for 2 1/2 hours at 129F.  I take them out and they are 117F.  I seared and they still weren't 129F, so they are roasting in the CSO (faster than the oven to get to temp).  My rice is overcooked and my béarnaise is cold. 😠

Any chance they were bagged separately but placed close enough to each other in the bath that there wasn’t good circulation between them?

[JoNorvelleWalker]

7 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

Any chance they were bagged separately but placed close enough to each other in the bath that there wasn’t good circulation between them?

 

In experiments with my anova, by positioning temperature probes between bags, I convinced myself that circulation between bags is not an issue.

 

[Anna N]

Even Kenji suggests that 45 minutes/130°F for a 2 inch tenderloin steak is sufficient! 

 

Here.

 

 

[rotuts]

I don't think you will get to equilibrium @ 45 minutes for a 2 " steak

 

from the refrigerator , lets say.  room temp for starting ?

 

un clear 

 

""    Cook for at least 45 minutes, and up to 4 hours. ""

 

remember F.M. is tender .  @ 45 min  the center will be very rare 

 

not so bad if you have a nice sauce to add some flavor 

 

a key w SV is  :  "" and up to 4 hours ""

 

id not rush SV , especially at the lower end of the time suggestions

 

because you dont have too.

 

Edited May 3, 2021 by rotuts (log)

[Anna N]

53 minutes ago, rotuts said:

id not rush SV , especially at the lower end of the time suggestions

 

because you dont have too.

I think we basically disagree on certain things having to do with sous vide. It’s not a matter of rushing it, rather it is a matter of making sure that SV works for me rather than the other way around. Only at the very beginning did I buy into the extremely long times advocated by Baldwin and  Nathan. For basically tender beef steaks where the end result will produce a rare steak I know I can get dinner on the table in under two hours because that would be the maximum time I would allow a tender steak to hang about in the SV. We are not talking now about cooking for future meals. We are talking about taking it out of the sous vide bag and searing for immediate service. Issues of safety and pasteurization don’t enter into this equation. Your mileage may vary of course. We each need to do which is best for ourselves. 

[rotuts]

very true.

 

my point was that recommended times , via a web site

 

for SV are not exact.   when timing a meal 

 

SV is the most forgiving .  adding a little time for the SV

 

rather than using the WebTime , does not affect your meal.

 

if the web site suggests 2 hours 20 minutes ,  adding 20 - 30 minutes

 

more for SV  give you flexablitlity to fix your other items

 

to your exact standard .   the SV for that meal then follows everything else.

 

 

[Kim Shook]

Thanks to everyone!  I’ll try to address all the questions.  Bottom line is I ended up ruining them anyway.  I got distracted while they were in the CSO and they were exceedingly well done. 

 

I did not check the water temperature.  I should have, of course, but in the heat of the moment (or lack thereof), I just didn’t think of it.  I’ve never had this problem before with anything else.

 

The steaks were only about 1 1/2-inches thick.  They were both in the same bag – side by side.  And completely thawed:

 

They were vacuum sealed right before putting in the water and the seal seems to have held just fine.  

 

The package from the store had 4 steaks in it, so I've got 2 more sealed in the freezer and I'll try this again next week some time.  I'll be monitoring the temperature of the water.  

[Shelby]

4 hours ago, Kim Shook said:

Thanks to everyone!  I’ll try to address all the questions.  Bottom line is I ended up ruining them anyway.  I got distracted while they were in the CSO and they were exceedingly well done. 

 

I did not check the water temperature.  I should have, of course, but in the heat of the moment (or lack thereof), I just didn’t think of it.  I’ve never had this problem before with anything else.

 

The steaks were only about 1 1/2-inches thick.  They were both in the same bag – side by side.  And completely thawed:

 

They were vacuum sealed right before putting in the water and the seal seems to have held just fine.  

 

The package from the store had 4 steaks in it, so I've got 2 more sealed in the freezer and I'll try this again next week some time.  I'll be monitoring the temperature of the water.  

I think maybe you should test with just a pot of water just in case the SV machine is malfunctioning somehow.....

[btbyrd]

Found two tomahawk pork chops from Niman Ranch on markdown. Pre-seared on the grill. One had a barbecue rub and the other garam masala. The BBQ one went in the bag alone, while the masala was cooked with spiced yogurt and jarred tikka masala sauce. Haven’t had the second one yet, but the bbq one was great with a honey glaze.

 

 

[FeChef]

Ive been seeing a lot of these deconstructed steaks (beef/pork) a lot lately, guess its trending? I personally like to see the center. If a restaurant sent that to me like that i would tell the waiter to send it back. To each their own i guess.....

 

Reminds me of needing pre cut all the food for my son when he was a baby.

Edited May 4, 2021 by FeChef (log)

[btbyrd]

It's an old school steakhouse thing (e.g, Peter Luger's) typically done on cuts that are big/thick enough to be shared (which this was, even though I was the only person eating it). It also helps distribute the sauce evenly. And it lets you eat the meat from the rib bone whenever you please instead of waiting until the end.

[Anna N]

4 hours ago, btbyrd said:

And it lets you eat the meat from the rib bone whenever you please instead of waiting until the end.

Brilliant, I say, brilliant.  

[rotuts]

different groups , cultures etc

 

do things differently.

 

nothing new about that.

 

In France  some time ago

 

if not now

 

giving a Patron a slab of perfectly aged , perfectly cooked

 

hunk of meat  was unheard of.

 

that same hunk , was sliced , nicely laid out

 

on your warm plate 

 

and appreciated that way.

 

nothing wrong w want g the Hunk Whole 

 

etc

 

based on your pref.s

 

but Hunk Meat  I think is an American thing

 

and a tasty one if that's what you are looking for.