New cooking methods ... sous vide

[Fire Me Boy!]

So I took the plunge (pun not intended) and purchased a personal sous vide machine.

I've made a wonderful roasted garlic and herb compound butter and I'm about to put a couple of thick cut KC strips in the bath, set it for 134 degrees and in a couple hours I should have perfectly medium rare steak to throw in a screaming hot skillet to sear. Then it's eatin' time.

Will post pics.

Anyone worked with sous vide before? Any tips, tasty things to try?

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Great Expectations

I've fallen in love with short ribs cooked for 72 hours at 134 degrees.

I love chicken/poor along with the beef cuts (flank, skirt, sirloin, tri tip, tenderloin Sears in bacon fat), but the short ribs blow people away.

Sous vide is very simple and easy to use, it's virtually mistake proof. I think the name is too intimidating for amateur cooks. Otherwise it'd be huge everywhere.

Man, how did you finish them?

I just did them last weekend and didn't care for them at all. Just fatty messes that were damn near impossible to get meat out of and nowhere near worth the effort. I'll just stick with the chuck roast.

If you have some tips that may convince me to try again I'll give them another shot but I did 72 hours at 131 degrees and was damn disappointed.

[Great Expectations]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

Man, how did you finish them?

I just did them last weekend and didn't care for them at all. Just fatty messes that were damn near impossible to get meat out of and nowhere near worth the effort. I'll just stick with the chuck roast.

If you have some tips that may convince me to try again I'll give them another shot but I did 72 hours at 131 degrees and was damn disappointed.

131 might be just a little low, but the main thing is the quality of the short ribs. I've made this three times. Twice I bought the ribs from a local butcher shop and they were the best thing ever. Once I bought them from the super market and they came out closer to what your are describing.

Try and purchase them with little to no fat on the outside of them. If they are very fatty on the outside there is little meat on the bone.



I also made salmon for the first time yesterday. It is very, very good. I put it on at 130 for 35 minutes. I like my steaks medium rare. I find that I like my food a degree or two higher than what is suggested on the food sites. Chicken at 135 isn't appealing to me, but I can eat it at 147-150 which is still less than what I'd grill it to.

[DJ's left nut]

Sirloin Tip Roast - 48 hours at 130 is too long. I think 24 would have been the way to go there.

Did some strip steaks for 4 hours at 131; just about perfect but I was doing it at a buddy's house, didn't want to smoke his house up and all he had outside was a gas grill that hadn't been cleaned up for a long time and wasn't up for the task. I'd individually wrapped 8 of them and was serving for 6 but it was just too much mass and not a hot enough grill so I couldn't get nearly the sear on the outside I wanted.

I kept trying to talk him into letting me use his blow torch to save them but he wasn't up for it. The sear makes the steaks with these things.

[aturnis]

Anyone have any experience on one of these?

Anova Culinary Precision Cooker/Immersion Circulator

http://www.amazon.com/Anova-Culinary.../dp/B00UKPBXM4

[chiefzilla1501]

Originally Posted by aturnis

Anyone have any experience on one of these?

Anova Culinary Precision Cooker/Immersion Circulator

http://www.amazon.com/Anova-Culinary.../dp/B00UKPBXM4

Just ordered over the weekend. Will let you know how it is when it comes in. I've heard good reviews. You'll need a vacuum sealer too but I already have one.

[Buehler445]

I can't remember if it was this one or another thread, but Baby Lee posted a pretty comprehensive review (done by a magazine).

[aturnis]

From baby lee, post #255

http://gizmodo.com/anova-precision-c...eve-1693499013

[Great Expectations]

Here is a great deal on the one I own. It works very well.

http://www.sousvidesupreme.com/SousV...mited+Quantity

[Sorce]

Saw this video today to make smoked brisket using sous vide.

[DJ's left nut]

I'll definitely have to try that.

I get small briskets from my annual cow and any brisket under 6 lbs is going to dry out. I was trying to figure out a way to do it Sous Vide and my thought was that I'd cook it for about 24 hours at 130 degrees to tenderize it. Then I'd refrigerate it to drop the internal temperature down low again to give it plenty of time to accept smoke.

After chilling overnight, I'd drop it on the smoker for about 8 hours. It shouldn't have a stall period in it because some of the fat will have already rendered out during the sous vide cook. All I need is to get it to about 180 degrees, probably over a slightly hotter smoke (maybe 325 degrees rather than 250) to get myself a nice bark on it.

The liquid smoke marinade thing makes me cringe, as does the fake smoke ring. I'm not sure I can talk myself into doing that, but I am happy to see that they've experimented with briskets in a water bath.

[Great Expectations]

Burgers are a hit with it as well. I'm using my machine multiple times a week now.

[Sorce]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

I get small briskets from my annual cow and any brisket under 6 lbs is going to dry out. I was trying to figure out a way to do it Sous Vide and my thought was that I'd cook it for about 24 hours at 130 degrees to tenderize it. Then I'd refrigerate it to drop the internal temperature down low again to give it plenty of time to accept smoke.

Every once and a while I'll see trimmed flats on sale at the grocery store, I wouldn't normally buy one since they cut off the entire cap but I'm wondering if I used the sous vide how it would come out. Smoke it first, pull it and cook in sous vide then maybe high temp to do the bark. I do prime rib at a low temp then pull and rest while I crank oven to 550 and put it back in for about 7 minutes, I figure a similar approach could work.

[DJ's left nut]

Originally Posted by Sorce

Every once and a while I'll see trimmed flats on sale at the grocery store, I wouldn't normally buy one since they cut off the entire cap but I'm wondering if I used the sous vide how it would come out. Smoke it first, pull it and cook in sous vide then maybe high temp to do the bark. I do prime rib at a low temp then pull and rest while I crank oven to 550 and put it back in for about 7 minutes, I figure a similar approach could work.

That may also be a good order for things. If you just take the internal temp to 145 or so over smoke, you should definitely be able to avoid dry out. I wonder if you then let it cook at about 155 for awhile and finished it over a hotter fire for an hour or two for bark if you'd still be in good shape.

My major point of curiosity there would just be where the 'sweet spot' is for the Sous Vide temp. Your order would likely yield less risk of drying out, but I wonder if you'd get quite as much 'barbecue' flavor from it after smoking, then sous vide, then back to high heat.

[Buehler445]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

I'll definitely have to try that.

I get small briskets from my annual cow and any brisket under 6 lbs is going to dry out. I was trying to figure out a way to do it Sous Vide and my thought was that I'd cook it for about 24 hours at 130 degrees to tenderize it. Then I'd refrigerate it to drop the internal temperature down low again to give it plenty of time to accept smoke.

After chilling overnight, I'd drop it on the smoker for about 8 hours. It shouldn't have a stall period in it because some of the fat will have already rendered out during the sous vide cook. All I need is to get it to about 180 degrees, probably over a slightly hotter smoke (maybe 325 degrees rather than 250) to get myself a nice bark on it.

The liquid smoke marinade thing makes me cringe, as does the fake smoke ring. I'm not sure I can talk myself into doing that, but I am happy to see that they've experimented with briskets in a water bath.

I've got a cold smoke attachment for my cheater rig. That would probably work with the sous vide.

[Sorce]

Originally Posted by DJ's left nut

My major point of curiosity there would just be where the 'sweet spot' is for the Sous Vide temp. Your order would likely yield less risk of drying out, but I wonder if you'd get quite as much 'barbecue' flavor from it after smoking, then sous vide, then back to high heat.

Yeah this has me curious as to what a medium rare smoked brisket would be like, I mean if you let it go for a while in the sous vide it should get tender. Googling for sous vide brisket it seems that most recommendations are 135 for 48 hours. Might be something worth trying.