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

[Anna N]

 

 Didn’t quite know what to do with the duck carnitas but I also had a box of Spanish rice flavour Rice-A-Roni and so I put two and two together and came up with this. This is a rice bowl with the carnitas, sliced scallions, duck skin and tomato petals.  Problem of course is that never having had carnitas before I have nothing to compare it with. This made a tasty dinner.  That is as much as I can say.   Obviously I did not think this experiment through very well.

[Smithy]

4 hours ago, Anna N said:

Problem of course is that never having had carnitas before I have nothing to compare it with. This made a tasty dinner.  That is as much as I can say.   Obviously I did not think this experiment through very well.

 

Well...I've never had carnitas either, but mine (also not well thought-out) happened tonight too. Since sous vide was not involved, I posted about it here. Based on what I've read, your duck carnitas were much closer to the 'real deal' than my pork! 

[rotuts]

@blue_dolphin

 

looking forward to your results

 

a market near me has ( sometimes ) boneless country ribs on sale at $ 0.99

 

Ill try that Rx then

 

Id reduce the Jus w or w/o beer   but brown the meat whole.

 

then use as desired.

 

surprised some have not had carnitas.

[rotuts]

I have 4 strip steaks , choice , but w some marbling 

 

they have been 48 h on a rack loosely covered in the refrig  w some RB40 on each side.

 

I plan to SV them later today at 130.

 

what times have you used at that temp ?

 

I was thinking 6 h , but i came across none that were at 130 for that long.

 

SVEverrything did a time trial for a choice  rib eye roast that they cut into 1.5 inches 

 

and that meat looked similar to mine, but mine might have had a little better marbling.

 

they like 2 hours and one like 4.

 

I can't remember doing a stirp steak

 

so Ill punt w 3 hours as I like tender  

 

this will probably be frozen and used over time for ' RBSandwiches "

 

thank your for your help

 

here they are a few hours before VacBag'n

 

 

they have that 28 d dray aged surface feel.

 

Im going to cut the three larges steaks in half , as they will be better portioned for sandwiches sliced thin.

 

the steak on the L, I plan to pass on to a friend after its SV'd and frozen  , whole

 

I just got today another 4 from Wagman's almost identical to these :  1.5 "  similar marbleig

 

their sale ends Sat.

 

I have high hopes for these 

 

the surface is noticeably dry

 

they started off like this :

 

 

Edited May 10, 2018 by rotuts (log)

[rotuts]

I cut each of these steaks in half.

 

that's more or less 1/2 lbs of meat

 

easier to deal w for summer sandwiches , etc.

 

what I was struck with is this :

 

the surface of each steak was dry to the touch.

 

but not so dry that it's not going to be edible.

 

these were on a rack over a 1/4 sheet pan w some tented parchment paper over then

 

and in the coldest part of my refrig.

 

the aroma of the steaks had no hint of fish.

 

had I aromitized these w/o knowing the RB40 treatment 

 

it would not have come to my mind.

 

the aroma was of a walk-in  cold cooler where sides of beef are hung and dry aged for

 

quite some time.    Ive been in a a few of those.

 

if you are not a meat eater , you might find it not to your taste.

 

if you do appreciate meat , aged etc  its what you are hoping to find

 

Im pleased so far.

 

4 h @ 130  then a rapid chill what was talking to me.

[HungryChris]

@rotuts,

Steaks with nice marbling like that are a great find! I would be hard pressed to resist them.

HC

[rotuts]

As my mother used to say to me

 

when I was Quite Young :

 

""  are your eyes bigger than your stomach ? "

 

in this case

 

w SV  

 

Id love to get some more.

 

I do have another 4 similar to those posted

 

what was quite new to me :

 

after the RB40

 

these might be the best Beef Ive ever done.

[ElsieD]

22 minutes ago, rotuts said:

As my mother used to say to me

 

when I was Quite Young :

 

""  are your eyes bigger than your stomach ? "

 

in this case

 

w SV  

 

Id love to get some more.

 

I do have another 4 similar to those posted

 

what was quite new to me :

 

after the RB40

 

these might be the best Beef Ive ever done.

 

Or as my mother used to say to me, "think of all those starving children in.....(fill in country of choice)".  I always wanted to suggest she ship that sandwich (it was always a sandwich I didn't want to eat/finish)) right over to wherever but I knew it would not end well for me if I said that.  So I'd sit and stare at it, and stare some more.  I always lost.  To this day I can't stand sandwiches on squishy white or day old bread.

[rotuts]

well

 

in my family

 

and it was a billion years ago

 

that about the children was heard

 

when I sat at the table to finish my dinner

 

which included Beans that were to hard to eat

 

that was in the early '50's

 

and the children issues only came up twice

 

those hard as rock beans were no better after an our or so

 

but I did eat them

 

and for no reason i can recall

 

they were never made again

 

OK 

 

twice.

 

 

better but bad.

[ElsieD]

@rotuts  it was in the early - mid '50s for me.  Later in life I came to have an understanding of what they had been through and therefore the no waste attitude.  The depression, living in occupied Holland during WW2 with its widespread hunger and general horribleness,  and then as immigrants to Canada living on very little money, with no family, a new language and the attendant loneliness.  As a seven year old I knew nothing of this.  But, I still don't like sandwiches on squishy white or day old or older bread.  Thanks to their sacrifices, I now have options, for which I'm grateful.

[weedy]

I do steaks like that for 2 hrs. 

 

That’s  all all they need. 

[blue_dolphin]

Sous vide pork carnitas from Serious Eats, as continued from here, using country-style pork ribs.

Some of the meat after ~ 40 hrs @ 145°F:

 

After the sous vide bath, I separated the meat into small chunks, added some beer and a little piloncillo to the bag jus and reduced it down, then tossed the meat in that reduction plus just a little lard (almost no fat had rendered into the jus) before broiling to get crispy edges on the chunks.

Not bad.  I probably should have used more salt but otherwise the flavor and texture are excellent.  I only crisped up a portion of the meat.  With the others, I'll try searing some larger chunks in a cast iron skillet instead of broiling.

Served for dinner over here. 

 

 

 

[Smithy]

11 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

Sous vide pork carnitas from Serious Eats, as continued from here, using country-style pork ribs.

Some of the meat after ~ 40 hrs @ 145°F:

 

Thanks for the report. I note that your original plan had been 145F for 36 hours. Did you unintentionally extend the cook, as I so often do?  If it was intentional, what was your basis for the extension?

 

I'm asking because I bought some country-style ribs at our local meat market a couple of days ago and want to try carnitas with them. Sous vide looks like a better option than simmer-and-fry because of the low fat content of this particular meat.

[rotuts]

some fat in the final carnitas makes a big difference.

[blue_dolphin]

22 minutes ago, Smithy said:

Thanks for the report. I note that your original plan had been 145F for 36 hours. Did you unintentionally extend the cook, as I so often do?  If it was intentional, what was your basis for the extension?

 

It was a choice, based on my poor decision to start the cook at 2PM, meaning 36 hrs was going to be at 2AM. I decided to go a few hrs longer rather than shorter because I'm generally more industrious in the AM than late at night but I think either would have been fine. Kenji's range for this temp was 24-36 hrs.

[rotuts]

as mentioned above

 

I dod some Wegman's Strip Steaks 

 

w RB40  , on a rack to two days

 

then SV at 130 , in this case 4 hours

 

I do appreciated the times other people suggested !

 

the the usual rabid chill and freeze

 

I pulled one out of the freezer for a sandwich just now :

 

 

Ive mentioned before , as tasty as the Jus in the bag is, for meat Id like most in the bag.

 

up to you.

 

I did put RB40 on these ,  but possibly less than the W boneless SR's experiment

 

I didn't measure in each case.

 

here enough drops to fully coat each side , w no pooling.

 

out of the bag

 

 

of note , this is 1/2 of the steaks from above

 

going into the bag after a 2 day rest in the refit on a rack

 

no fishy smell at all , nor none  now.

 

the just was nice , and not salty nor fishy

 

 

I cut the meat in 1/2 so I might turn it on its side to cut across the grain

 

 

I chose to cut off most of the peripheral fat , as I choose to get the Cow to do the work for me :  Butter , perhaps some nice cheese ?

 

was tender and delicious w very full beef flavor

 

I can't tell you how this compares  w the Weg's boneless short ribs as Id have to taste them at the same time

 

both were outstanding and Ill keep an eye on each but at Wegman's

 

remember , Ive only tried these at room temp for sandwiches.

 

in the fall and winter for a ' Steak- plate '\

 

Yum Im sure.

 

for me the 4 hours did not effect this cut in any way

 

I do have 4 more of similar W's Strips in the refig

 

Ill do the same

 

maybe try 3 H.

 

Im guessing for BeefSandwich   it might not matter

 

for a sizzinling Steak dinner , in the fall or winter , torched or not  maybe.

Edited May 11, 2018 by rotuts (log)

[rotuts]

N.B.:

 

Ive thought about the Jus in the bag

 

I thought that a bit less , but just enough of RB40 might be involved 

 

perhaps yes or not

 

the W's boneless Short ribs were in the SV'der for much longer

 

that might contribute to the Jus

[Anna N]

@rotuts,

 That is beautiful looking steak for a sandwich or anything else.  

[blue_dolphin]

A little more carnitas fun.  I must say that having this pre-cooked meat at hand certainly facilitates a porky sandwich .

I sliced up one of the post-sous vide ribs hunks from above, broiled it a bit for crispness and tucked it into a toasted roll.

Sliced pork:

 

Tossed with reduced bag jus and a little lard and broiled to crisp.  

Too bad you can't hear the sizzle in that photo above!

 

Porky sandwich:

[robirdstx]

29 minutes ago, blue_dolphin said:

A little more carnitas fun.  I must say that having this pre-cooked meat at hand certainly facilitates a porky sandwich .

I sliced up one of the post-sous vide ribs hunks from above, broiled it a bit for crispness and tucked it into a toasted roll.

Sliced pork:

 

Tossed with reduced bag jus and a little lard and broiled to crisp.  

Too bad you can't hear the sizzle in that photo above!

 

Porky sandwich:

 

Oh Yum!

[scubadoo97]

@rotuts  what is RB40?

[rotuts]

red boat 40 :

 

even Walmart has it these days , as does Tj's

 

 https://www.walmart.com/ip/Red-Boat-Fish-Sauce-40-North-8-45-Fl-Oz/31002177

[ElsieD]

I am hoping someone or anyone who has knowledge/experience with this can give me an answer.  I received my Anova yesterday and have plugged it in and set it up.  I have the water set to 75 celcius.  However the read-only keeps bouncing between  71C to almost 78C, which makes it kind of useless for sous vide.  Meanwhile, my Thermopan registers a different temperature altgether.

 

Edited to add:  it does not seem to have a very robust circulating feature either.  I am used to the Polyscience and can clearly see the water circulating but the water in this pan barely moves.  

Edited May 12, 2018 by ElsieD (log)

[Anna N]

8 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

I am hoping someone or anyone who has knowledge/experience with this can give me an answer.  I received my Anova yesterday and have plugged it in and set it up.  I have the water set to 75 celcius.  However the read-only keeps bouncing between  71C to almost 78C, which makes it kind of useless for sous vide.  Meanwhile, my Thermopan registers a different temperature altgether.

 

Edited to add:  it does not seem to have a very robust circulating feature either.  I am used to the Polyscience and can clearly see the water circulating but the water in this pan barely moves.  

 

I would contact Anova. This doesn’t seem right to me and I am/was a great fan of the ANOVA.  I switched allegiances to the Joule  but not because of any issues with the functionality of the ANOVA. 

 

[rotuts]

Ive never had problems w my two.

 

I recall some V1 models did

 

I use Coleman or Igloo coolers , as I think the insulation helps keep the water temp stable

 

and I can stuff a lot more SV bags in there and not worry about circulation to the corners.

 

My Anovs's move water I can see , and w the insulation enough for even cooking even if fairly full

 

Id fill something up to the max line , let it run for a while and check again.

 

Ive also found it helpful to use a Sharpie to mark the min and max lines as they are easier to see when under water.

 

try all or some of the above and see.

 

make sure the metal sleeve is on correctly

 

let us know how that turns out.

 

if you are not happy after trying it for a few trials

 

email them

 

they ( used ) to have very good customer service

 

good luck