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

**FrogPrincesse** · April 2, 2017

Sous vide oxtail ragu. 24 hours @ 82C with diced (canned) tomatoes, onion, carrot, bay leaf, veal demi-glace and water (instead of the beef stock the recipe called for).

Here is the oxtail from my favorite butcher shop, from the freezer section.

Things going into the sous vide bag (I used purple and yellow carrots hence the unusual color of the shredded carrots).

After 24 hours in the bath; hard to tell from the picture but it already looked very promising with a lot of rendered gelatin.

The bag was cooled in a ice bath, most of the fat was removed, the meat was separated from the bones and I simmered the resulting sauce for about 30 minutes.

This was very good, and I had enough leftovers for another ~ 5 plates of pasta or so. The sauce was wonderfully rich, the kind that coats your mouth and fills it with umami. The meat looks stringy in the pictures but it was completely tender in texture. I absolutely recommend this recipe!

**Smithy** · April 2, 2017

I have a question about sous vide cooking that I did 2 days ago and finished yesterday. I bagged a tri-tip steak and cooked it at 120F for around 6 hours two nights ago, then chilled it thoroughly. Yesterday afternoon I removed it from the refrigerator and (I thought) allowed it to come to room temperature while I assembled other elements for our dinner: relish of cooked onions and red peppers as well as smoked peppers; fresh tomatoes; shredded cheese; cilantro; tortillas. The intent was to dry, season and sear the tri-tip in a very hot pan to get good browning, but still have a rare interior. That's one of the benefits of sous vide, yes?

The pan began almost dry, with the barest film of oil. (I had oiled the meat before adding a rub.) The left-hand photo above was taken after the meat was browned and while the interior was warming; the bag juices went into the pot at that point. The meat's interior took much longer to rewarm than I'd anticipated. It doesn't look overdone (by much) in the right-hand photo above, but take a look at the collage below:

We had no complaints about the taste or texture, but I'd have liked it rarer. It cooked too much during the rewarming phase.

Next time, what should I do differently if I have to cook in advance? Rewarm in the sealed bag, using sous vide circulator, before the sear?

Anna N · April 2, 2017

Yes, it should only take about half an hour if you put it back into the Sous Vide. I usually aim for a couple of degrees less than what I cooked it at to rewarm it.

**ElsieD** · April 2, 2017

Smithy, I do what Anna does.

JoNorvelleWalker · April 3, 2017

I just rewarmed a bag of black bean cassoulet that I'm about to serve up for a late (even for me) repast -- with baguette, Boursin, and broccoli rabe. (I was pasteurizing eggs for lasagna anyhow.)

Counts as FCO points as well!! Bonus for alliteration.

daveb · April 3, 2017

If I'm reheating or warming something done SV, I'll leave it in the bag during chill and refridge then back into the SV as described above by Anna and Elsie.

My original foray into SV was not to use as a cooking process but to reheat leftovers from the smoker. My smoker seems to like working when it's full. Product is good off the smoker but conventional reheating would dry out the leftovers and give them an off taste; SV changed that.

paulraphael · April 3, 2017

I do what Anna does, but often just use hot water from the tap. Ours is about 130°F (will be a little cooler by the end). This plus the jolt of heat from browning is just about right for beef.

Anna N · April 3, 2017

3 hours ago, paulraphael said:

I do what Anna does, but often just use hot water from the tap. Ours is about 130°F (will be a little cooler by the end). This plus the jolt of heat from browning is just about right for beef.

Agree and I have done that. Depends a lot on the size of the protein whether I feel the hot tap water is enough or not.

**Smithy** · April 3, 2017

Thanks, everyone, for the good responses. Next time I'll have a better system.

daveb · May 15, 2017

Quackers on crackers....

100+ crostini with duck breast for fancy pants event. Love SV for this type thing.

daveb · May 15, 2017

Meanwhile at the assisted living facility I talked the powers that be into letting me SV 4 beef tenderloins for Mother's Day. 140F for four hours (concession to aforementioned most of which had never heard of SV). Seared in rondo and made basic hunter' s sauce.

Residents and guests loved it.

rotuts · May 15, 2017

@daveb

nice . really nice. SV does ' bulk ' like no other technique i know of.

those two items above could not have been cooked so well by any other method.

BTW what japanese knife are you using for slicing ?

Anna N · May 15, 2017

1 hour ago, daveb said:

Quackers on crackers.

Doesn't take much to make me smile and this did it.

daveb · May 15, 2017

@Rotus

The pictured knife with duck breast is a Tadasuna INOX 240 suji. A great lil suji and part of regular kit.

**nickrey** · May 17, 2017

Just a tip on searing.

I've taken to using a carbon steel wok on top of my highest gas heat. The very thin steel conducts the heat better than any fry pan I've used and gives a great sear. I simply lightly coat the meat in a high-temperature smoking oil such as grape seed and put it in the pre-heated wok until the desired sear is achieved.

Qwerty · May 20, 2017

On 4/2/2017 at 6:35 PM, Smithy said:

I have a question about sous vide cooking that I did 2 days ago and finished yesterday. I bagged a tri-tip steak and cooked it at 120F for around 6 hours two nights ago, then chilled it thoroughly. Yesterday afternoon I removed it from the refrigerator and (I thought) allowed it to come to room temperature while I assembled other elements for our dinner: relish of cooked onions and red peppers as well as smoked peppers; fresh tomatoes; shredded cheese; cilantro; tortillas. The intent was to dry, season and sear the tri-tip in a very hot pan to get good browning, but still have a rare interior. That's one of the benefits of sous vide, yes?

The pan began almost dry, with the barest film of oil. (I had oiled the meat before adding a rub.) The left-hand photo above was taken after the meat was browned and while the interior was warming; the bag juices went into the pot at that point. The meat's interior took much longer to rewarm than I'd anticipated. It doesn't look overdone (by much) in the right-hand photo above, but take a look at the collage below:

We had no complaints about the taste or texture, but I'd have liked it rarer. It cooked too much during the rewarming phase.

Next time, what should I do differently if I have to cook in advance? Rewarm in the sealed bag, using sous vide circulator, before the sear?

I agree with all the follow up advice. Retherm in the bag slightly below cooking temp, then take out, sear, etc.

I will also add: It looks like to me, from the amount of juice that is left on your cutting board , that you neglected to properly rest your steak. Resting after the sear if you've sous vided something is less important than, say, when you roast or pan roast something (gentler cooking, not as hot, etc), but since you admitted you overcooked your meat when you went to sear it, it probably got too hot and needed to rest.

What color is all that juice on your board...? Red...lol, that is where your color went.

Also, if you are using previously frozen meat, that can lead to a lot of water/juice leeching during cooking and/or reheating.

Also also, if you have a huge piece of meat like a tri tip or something, don't be afraid to warm and sear in smaller pieces. You could easily have cut that sucker in half and cut down on the time it takes to heat it back up, thereby possibly preventing you from overcooking it. Just a thought.

Edited May 20, 2017 by Qwerty
clarification (log)

JoNorvelleWalker · May 20, 2017

On ‎4‎/‎2‎/‎2017 at 6:35 PM, Smithy said:

I have a question about sous vide cooking that I did 2 days ago and finished yesterday. I bagged a tri-tip steak and cooked it at 120F for around 6 hours two nights ago, then chilled it thoroughly. Yesterday afternoon I removed it from the refrigerator and (I thought) allowed it to come to room temperature while I assembled other elements for our dinner: relish of cooked onions and red peppers as well as smoked peppers; fresh tomatoes; shredded cheese; cilantro; tortillas. The intent was to dry, season and sear the tri-tip in a very hot pan to get good browning, but still have a rare interior. That's one of the benefits of sous vide, yes?

The pan began almost dry, with the barest film of oil. (I had oiled the meat before adding a rub.) The left-hand photo above was taken after the meat was browned and while the interior was warming; the bag juices went into the pot at that point. The meat's interior took much longer to rewarm than I'd anticipated. It doesn't look overdone (by much) in the right-hand photo above, but take a look at the collage below:

We had no complaints about the taste or texture, but I'd have liked it rarer. It cooked too much during the rewarming phase.

Next time, what should I do differently if I have to cook in advance? Rewarm in the sealed bag, using sous vide circulator, before the sear?

I'd be afraid to cook 6 hours at 120 deg F.

rotuts · May 20, 2017

im no Tri-tip expert.

But Ive SV'd a few

I wish Id seen these vids first :

slicing tri-tip

the grain in tri-tip is not all in one direction.

Ive done TT at 130 for 6 + , then chilled in ice for a fw minutes , patted dry then rabidly seared and it came out perfectly.

the only explanation is you took too long to sear.

Anna N · May 20, 2017

9 hours ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

be afraid to cook 6 hours at 120 deg F.

I am with you.

Anna N · May 20, 2017

Picanha! Was a gift a week or so ago. Need to slow my precipitous slide into vegetarianism. 55°C x 2 hours.

**Smithy** · May 21, 2017

On 2/1/2017 at 3:02 PM, FrogPrincesse said:

Host's note: this delicious topic is continued from What Are You Cooking Sous Vide Today? (Part 2)

Duck breast, 57C for 90 min, pre and post sous-vide sear.

So the texture was not significantly different from what I get with my usual technique, which is grilling over charcoal. But it's more uniformly pink, and there are no slightly overdone spots. I am pleased with the results even though searing in the house means a ton of smoke and duck fat everywhere! (I did it on the stove in a cast iron skillet, next time I will place the skillet in the oven)

Sorry for the long quote, but this post is old enough to justify a refresher. I am debating whether to cook some duck breasts using sous vide or using the stove and oven. (It will probably not be nice enough tomorrow to grill outside.) I have a couple of questions about what you did.

1. What did searing this breast twice (before and after the long-term low-temp cook) accomplish that couldn't have been accomplished at one end or the other of the cook?

2. Did the fat render, or continue to render, during the sous vide cook? It looks as though it may not have, and I'm out to get duck fat for potato-roasting.

**FrogPrincesse** · May 21, 2017

8 minutes ago, Smithy said:

Sorry for the long quote, but this post is old enough to justify a refresher. I am debating whether to cook some duck breasts using sous vide or using the stove and oven. (It will probably not be nice enough tomorrow to grill outside.) I have a couple of questions about what you did.

1. What did searing this breast twice (before and after the long-term low-temp cook) accomplish that couldn't have been accomplished at one end or the other of the cook?

2. Did the fat render, or continue to render, during the sous vide cook? It looks as though it may not have, and I'm out to get duck fat for potato-roasting.

I don't feel that the pre-sear accomplishes anything. Now I just post-sear to get everything nice and crispy before serving.

Duck breasts don't have that much fat to render compared to thighs for example. Sous vide cooking a duck breast renders some juices but doesn't render any fat. You will get a small amount when you sear them, but probably not enough for potatoes.

**Smithy** · May 21, 2017

Just now, FrogPrincesse said:

I don't feel that the pre-sear accomplishes anything. Now I just post-sear to get everything nice and crispy before serving.

Duck breasts don't have that much fat to render compared to thighs for example. Sous vide cooking a duck breast renders some juices but doesn't render any fat. You will get a small amount when you sear them, but probably not enough for potatoes.

Thanks for that quick response. Now that I've taken the duck breasts out of the package I see that they're much thinner than the one you showed in the photo I quoted: ranging in thickness from 1/2" to 1", with the skin more than 1/4" thick. If I do the sous vide treatment with them, I'll need to remove the skin altogether and cook it separately: skin in a pan, duck in the water bath. Given how thin the meat slices are, that may be the safest way not to overcook it.

daveb · May 22, 2017

I would not pre sear the duck breast per se. But depending on mood might render some or most of fat off of the breast before I bag and tag it. It's not going to come off in the bath and the post sear will be too fast/hot to render much of anything.

Quick question. Does anyone know the French term for scoring the breast? Quatrage (or something like that?) Google is not my friend today.y

And I ain't skeered of 120F for 6 hours. But don't know why one would do so. 126 - 130 for 1.5 is in neighborhood I usually do duck.

**ElsieD** · May 22, 2017

1 hour ago, daveb said:

Quick question. Does anyone know the French term for scoring the breast? Quatrage (or something like that?) Google is not my friend today.y

Entaillez

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