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

[TdeV]

16 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

You really can’t beat an immersion circulator for that cold water bath. I routinely use my Anova to thaw all sorts of stuff.  I set it to 40 - 45°F and add ice to the bath if the water is warm.  You can choose a warmer temp to move things along more quickly if you’re planning to cook right away but I like to keep things cool until I’m ready to start cooking. 

 

Frustratingly, the minimum temperature for Joule Sous Vide (ChefSteps) is 68ºF / 20 ºC. ☹️

[Steve Irby]

It's turkey time again!  I had a 24# butterball turkey in the freezer that was competing for storage space with the sausage that I made at the first of the year.  I solved that issue by roasting the legs and thighs and prepped the breast and tenderloins for the circulator.   One breast half was seasoned with Cavender's Greek Seasoning, kosher salt, lemon slices, rosemary, sage and olive oil.  The second breast half was seasoned with a mystery green spice blend that my sister brought back from Istanbul.  The fragrance and flavor  is similar to a spice blend from Spicewalla that includes curry leaf, fenugreek, dill, tamarind, cumin, coriander, onion, garlic and S&P.  I added orange and lemon slices along with a little olive oil.  The tenderloins were seasoned with Tony Chacere's and Cavenders seasoning blends, dusted with transglutaminase, and bacon wrapped.  I cooked the batch at 141 for 4 hours plus.  The breast halves were a little less than 3 lbs and the tenderloin was 1.75 lbs.  I split the breast lengthwise and resealed after chilling. I also cooked two 8 oz pork steaks for about 2 hours

 

 

 

 

 

[Smithy]

Very nice, @Steve Irby! I love the seasonings you describe. The mystery seasoning (and its analog) sound especially tantalizing.

 

One question: why the transglutamase dusting on the tenderloins? To make the bacon stick better?

[Steve Irby]

2 minutes ago, Smithy said:

Very nice, @Steve Irby! I love the seasonings you describe. The mystery seasoning (and its analog) sound especially tantalizing.

 

One question: why the transglutamase dusting on the tenderloins? To make the bacon stick better?

I try to use lean bacon and the meat glue helps in the finishing process which is browning the roll in oil.   I've certainly had better luck when using it.  Here's a photo of a ready to serve tenderloin roulade from 2022.

 

[Shelby]

A while back I did a brisket that Ronnie had cold smoked ( 4 hours at 150F )--I SV'd it for 24hrs at 155F.  Dry dry dry (the first time I did it this way it was excellent).  We decided this brisket must have been way more lean.  Anyway I did one for dinner last night (3.11 lbs and pretty lean).  155F for 16 hours.  Perfect.

 

 

 

[Smithy]

I can't find my original post about this, but I found a  vacuum-packed bag in the freezer labeled "Boneless Pork Shoulder, 2 lb 1-1/2 oz" with the notation "131F 3.5 hrs". It, er, also is dated April 2022! But it looked good, except that I maybe detected some frost developing in the bag. Out it came, and into the refrigerator. Today I finished thawing it in another sous vide bath at 131F. It probably got about 2 hours' worth but that was just me doing other chores and figuring it would all come up to temperature.

 

I wish I'd taken a picture of the sealed bag after thawing and before opening. There was 1 to 2 cups' worth of juice. I tasted it, saved some, gave the dog a taste. Maybe I'll use it for gravy, maybe not.

 

 

I took a slice and made it into a grilled dinner sandwich shown here. The rest of it you can see peeking out from the bag before I rewrapped it and put it into the refrigerator. 

 

 

Why exactly I did this particular work is difficult to tell now. My husband was still alive then, and we had different ideas about how pork roast should be cooked (his was good, but he considered it the One and Only Way whereas I liked to experiment.) We liked pork sandwiches. Maybe that's what I had in mind. Tonight's dinner sandwich is good, but this would also lend itself to a quick reheat with gravy from the drippings.

 

At any rate: 131F for 3.5 hours gave me the exact texture and doneness that I wanted. If I can find my notebook, I'll enter it!

[Shelby]

31 minutes ago, Smithy said:

I can't find my original post about this, but I found a  vacuum-packed bag in the freezer labeled "Boneless Pork Shoulder, 2 lb 1-1/2 oz" with the notation "131F 3.5 hrs". It, er, also is dated April 2022! But it looked good, except that I maybe detected some frost developing in the bag. Out it came, and into the refrigerator. Today I finished thawing it in another sous vide bath at 131F. It probably got about 2 hours' worth but that was just me doing other chores and figuring it would all come up to temperature.

 

I wish I'd taken a picture of the sealed bag after thawing and before opening. There was 1 to 2 cups' worth of juice. I tasted it, saved some, gave the dog a taste. Maybe I'll use it for gravy, maybe not.

 

 

I took a slice and made it into a grilled dinner sandwich shown here. The rest of it you can see peeking out from the bag before I rewrapped it and put it into the refrigerator. 

 

 

Why exactly I did this particular work is difficult to tell now. My husband was still alive then, and we had different ideas about how pork roast should be cooked (his was good, but he considered it the One and Only Way whereas I liked to experiment.) We liked pork sandwiches. Maybe that's what I had in mind. Tonight's dinner sandwich is good, but this would also lend itself to a quick reheat with gravy from the drippings.

 

At any rate: 131F for 3.5 hours gave me the exact texture and doneness that I wanted. If I can find my notebook, I'll enter it!

I am glad it turned out well and I'm also glad you documented it.  I look at this thread all the time for guidance.