Hello from the US-Texas!

[xDraug]

Hello everyone. I had to learn how to cook about two years ago because I only knew how to cook an embarrassingly short list of dishes and I didn't want my son's to tire of having the same things every week. I had never really cooked too much in my life and I'm 47 now. When I did, I would steer well clear of recipes that had long lists of ingredients and "too many steps" lol.

 

Well something happened... I discovered I have a real interest in cooking. I really enjoy it. I love it especially when my sons clear they're plates. It means more to me than actual compliments.

 

I actually regret not starting to cook earlier. All those wasted years! Lol. I seriously think I might actually have considered a culinary career instead of engineering. Who knows? I say consider because I've seen the way professional Chefs move in the kitchen and I've seen their creativity. I don't know if I really had the talent for that, but I plan to enjoy what I can.

 

Thanks for having me!

 

Richard

 

[Darienne]

Welcome to the forum, xDraug.  And welcome to the cooking life.  And I have to admit that I was 67 years old before it ever hit me, so you have such a headstart on my learning curve.  

[kayb]

Welcome, @xDraug. Tell us some of your favorite things to cook, please?

[Alex]

Way to go, Richard! And welcome from someone who probably should have been an engineer but wound up being a psychologist. Go figure.

 

As you may already have discovered, there's not just a ton, but several tons of information on the website -- much of which are in long-inactive forums, which of course don't show up in the View New Content feed. Be patient with the Search feature. Browse the archived forums in the Fridge, at the bottom of the Forums page. Feel free to ask questions. 

 

And I have one: What did you make that your sons liked so much?

Edited October 28, 2022 by Alex
to fix a dumb typo (log)

[xDraug]

18 minutes ago, Darienne said:

Welcome to the forum, xDraug.  And welcome to the cooking life.  And I have to admit that I was 67 years old before it ever hit me, so you have such a headstart on my learning curve.  

Thank you. I guess it just happens when it happens. I'm still not sure why I didn't have an interest earlier. Something just clicked.

[xDraug]

9 minutes ago, Alex said:

Way to go, Richard! And welcome from someone who probably should have been an engineer but wound up being a psychologist. Go figure.

 

As you may already have discovered, there's not just a ton, but several tons of information on the website -- much of which are in long-inactive forums, which of course don't show up in the View New Content feed. Be patient with the Search feature. Browse the archived forums in the Fridge, at the bottom of the Forums page. Feel free to ask questions. 

 

And I have one: What did you made that your sons liked so much?

Yeah there definitely appears to be a lot of information. I'm still trying to figure out how to really navigate through the website.

 

I have a 3yo and a 17yo. They both can have different tastes. My 3yo can be happy with just basic roasted thighs. My oldest really likes egg drop soup. I think the last dish I made that they both seemed to like was when I oil poached halibut. I liked it too!

[xDraug]

19 minutes ago, kayb said:

Welcome, @xDraug. Tell us some of your favorite things to cook, please?

Well just this past weekend I made Chicken Fricassée which I absolutely loved. I made the chicken stock so that might have made a difference. I'm currently planning to cook lengua this week. I'm adapting a few recipes and want to sous vide the tongue instead of braising. I'm starting to experiment with sous vide. I found when I cooked a pork tenderloin in sous vide with spicy oregano, the meat ended up having "hot spots" of the oregano flavor where I had put the leaves. I'm going to try making a kind of paste by first making a garlic confit infused with various peppers. I'm going to smash and rub the garlic along with salt and pepper uniformly around the meat and see how it turns out. Just an experiment.. I hope it works.

[ElsieD]

Welcome to the forum, @xDraug, it's a great place.

[TdeV]

Hello Richard. My notebook shows beef tongue at 147°F for 48 hours; I have notes that @Kim Shook has used higher temperatures. I tend not to use any aromatics or spices in a very long sous vide cook because I find the herbs don't hold up and some spices develop off flavours.

 

When you have time to do some reading, perhaps check out the links below. I've found that reading the posts in sequence has given me a better understanding of what people are saying.

https://forums.egullet.org/topic/147224-what-are-you-cooking-sous-vide-today-part-1/

https://forums.egullet.org/topic/151649-what-are-you-cooking-sous-vide-today-part-2/

https://forums.egullet.org/topic/154537-what-are-you-cooking-sous-vide-today-part-3/

 

Welcome to eGullet! You're sure to make some great friends.

 

[xDraug]

33 minutes ago, TdeV said:

Hello Richard. My notebook shows beef tongue at 147°F for 48 hours; I have notes that @Kim Shook has used higher temperatures. I tend not to use any aromatics or spices in a very long sous vide cook because I find the herbs don't hold up and some spices develop off flavours.

 

When you have time to do some reading, perhaps check out the links below. I've found that reading the posts in sequence has given me a better understanding of what people are saying.

https://forums.egullet.org/topic/147224-what-are-you-cooking-sous-vide-today-part-1/

https://forums.egullet.org/topic/151649-what-are-you-cooking-sous-vide-today-part-2/

https://forums.egullet.org/topic/154537-what-are-you-cooking-sous-vide-today-part-3/

 

Welcome to eGullet! You're sure to make some great friends.

 

That's interesting. I was going to use 170 degF for 24 to 48 hours as given by serious eats. I wonder if 170 degF might be too high.

 

Ive heard about aromatics not holding ip well on long cooks. Ive even looked for a book or website where they might give details on that. Id be using mostly garlic and peppers. Has anyone seen if disrupting the cooking to rub aromatics on it then repackaging it would affect it poorly? It would take a bit more time, but maybe its an option? Lots of questions!

 

ill take a look at those links. Thank you!

[TdeV]

Richard, I first came to eGullet because I was interested in sous vide, but that's a long time ago now, so I'm not sure about where those reference posts might be. Here on eG, folks tend to cook much longer at lower temperature than other references. My personal opinion is that the lower the s.v. cooking temperature, then the less water is forced from the meat.

 

Raw garlic is one of those items specifically advised against in long s.v. cooks.

 

[Katie Meadow]

My mother loved tongue. So I grew up eating it without having any idea what it was. I can't really remember when the revelation came about, but I'm pretty sure it gave me pause. How long did I hear the word Tongue and just let it fly over my brain?

[Kim Shook]

Welcome to eG, Richard!  I think you'll find lots of interesting people and content here.  The best thing about eG is the support that you will find from others - people who are so generous with their help and expertise.  And I'm not sure who @TdeV got the tongue info from, but it was definitely not me.  I have never in my life cooked one.  I still haven't built up the courage to even order a tongue taco from our local truck! 😂

[TdeV]

Ha ha, Kim. So sorry. So, someone (heretofore misidentified as Kim) did tongue 48 hours at 158°F. I have marked the note "Nope!" so I don't quote you again. 🙃

 

[xDraug]

5 hours ago, ElsieD said:

Welcome to the forum, @xDraug, it's a great place.

Thank you!

[xDraug]

3 hours ago, Kim Shook said:

Welcome to eG, Richard!  I think you'll find lots of interesting people and content here.  The best thing about eG is the support that you will find from others - people who are so generous with their help and expertise.  And I'm not sure who @TdeV got the tongue info from, but it was definitely not me.  I have never in my life cooked one.  I still haven't built up the courage to even order a tongue taco from our local truck! 😂

Yes people really do seem very generous!

[xDraug]

3 hours ago, TdeV said:

Ha ha, Kim. So sorry. So, someone (heretofore misidentified as Kim) did tongue 48 hours at 158°F. I have marked the note "Nope!" so I don't quote you again. 🙃

 

Well I searched around again for cooking times...

Serious Eats suggests cooking at 170°F for 24 to 48 hours.

Anova suggests 158°F for 36 hours.

Amazing Food Made Easy actually has a discrepancy in their article on sous vide cooking beef tongue. The author states the ideal cooking time is 48 hours at 140° F for a braise-like quality, but then later states they usually do 150°F for 24 to 48 hours for braise-like quality. They did list a whole table of cooking times with expected results for each though. I think I will go with 150°F for 24 to 48 hours and see what happens. Fine Dining Lovers state in their smoked beef tongue recipe that the internal temperature is expected to be 150°F after all.

 

It seems unorthodox, but I am seriously thinking of breaking the seal during cooking to rub garlic infused with peppers. I am going to prepare it as a garlic confit. Since the garlic will be cooked, I am hoping it will have a nice garlic flavor along with the various peppers I am thinking about. I cannot see a safety reason against breaking the seal then repackaging. Lol. I might do it. I am just concerned the garlic and pepper flavors won't hold up well for the full cooking time. I'm still thinking about it. I have a temp probe I can insert directly into the meat to monitor the temperature to ensure it doesn't drop too much. I have sous vid tape as well. Much to learn still!

 

[Okanagancook]

Welcome. 
it is frustrating to see such a range of cooking times and temperatures.  Remember also that cooking depends on the size of your product.

 

I just did a quick look in two of my cookbooks whose authors I trust and 158F was the consensus temp but the times varied from one day to two days.  The size of the tongue was 1.3 kg.  Since tongue is a tougher cut I would probably go with the longer cook.  I don’t think the meat will get texture changes during that time.  
 

You just have to make your decision and go with it.  Also, seeing you say you are new to sv you may want to go simple at first and make a nice sauce to with.  On the other hand you can always mix your flavouring paste in with oil and put that in the bag.  Whatever you do, be sure to peel the skin off while the tongue is still relatively hot otherwise it will stick to the meat.  Good luck and let us know what you did and how it turned out in the What are you Cooking Sous Vide thread.

cheers.

[Okanagancook]

I was reflecting on this and think you sure picked an usual meat to introduce to your limited sous vide repertoire.  But good on you.
 

 If you want to get your feet wet with longer sous vide cookery you might like to try beef short ribs.  The quality of the meat is important.  144 F for 48 hours, dried and seared in a hot pan to get a good crust, perfection:  meltingly tender meat that is moist and a little pink.  
As others have noted this forum is jam packed with good intentioned cooks with a huge span of knowledge and most important a genuine desire to help.🥰

[gfweb]

Disclaimer...ive never done tongue but I've done lots of tough beef

 

having said that I'd err on the side of lower temp and longer cook. Red meat is overcooked when it reaches 170...I like 155 for doneness and 2 days for tenderness.

 

Id put a tbsp of soy and some garlic powder in the bag...and maybe some msg (shhhh)

[Okanagancook]

Agree totally, 170 is for veggies.  Maybe a little marmite 🙉

( double shhhh)

[gfweb]

56 minutes ago, Okanagancook said:

I was reflecting on this and think you sure picked an usual meat to introduce to your limited sous vide repertoire.  But good on you.
 

 If you want to get your feet wet with longer sous vide cookery you might like to try beef short ribs.  The quality of the meat is important.  144 F for 48 hours, dried and seared in a hot pan to get a good crust, perfection:  meltingly tender meat that is moist and a little pink.  
As others have noted this forum is jam packed with good intentioned cooks with a huge span of knowledge and most important a genuine desire to help.🥰

 

 

I love SV short ribs, but they are a quite different thing from braised short ribs.  Its amazing to me how different the same cut is when cooked by another method.

[Okanagancook]

I have made sous vide ribs numerous times but never braised….hummmmm.

A project for the upcoming cooler days.

 

[gfweb]

10 minutes ago, Okanagancook said:

I have made sous vide ribs numerous times but never braised….hummmmm.

A project for the upcoming cooler days.

 

 

Onion, carrot (amazingly critical), tomato paste, 1 cup red wine, garlic, soy. Water to 30% immerse.  Cook covered at 300F x 3 hours.

 

I skim the fat and reduce the sauce (maybe thicken with starch)...shred the meat and serve over noodles.

 

If you wait a day it improves.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

4 hours ago, xDraug said:

Well I searched around again for cooking times...

Serious Eats suggests cooking at 170°F for 24 to 48 hours.

Anova suggests 158°F for 36 hours.

Amazing Food Made Easy actually has a discrepancy in their article on sous vide cooking beef tongue. The author states the ideal cooking time is 48 hours at 140° F for a braise-like quality, but then later states they usually do 150°F for 24 to 48 hours for braise-like quality. They did list a whole table of cooking times with expected results for each though. I think I will go with 150°F for 24 to 48 hours and see what happens. Fine Dining Lovers state in their smoked beef tongue recipe that the internal temperature is expected to be 150°F after all.

 

It seems unorthodox, but I am seriously thinking of breaking the seal during cooking to rub garlic infused with peppers. I am going to prepare it as a garlic confit. Since the garlic will be cooked, I am hoping it will have a nice garlic flavor along with the various peppers I am thinking about. I cannot see a safety reason against breaking the seal then repackaging. Lol. I might do it. I am just concerned the garlic and pepper flavors won't hold up well for the full cooking time. I'm still thinking about it. I have a temp probe I can insert directly into the meat to monitor the temperature to ensure it doesn't drop too much. I have sous vid tape as well. Much to learn still!

 

 

I suggest using dehydrated granulated garlic powder in the bag rather than fresh garlic.