Sous-vide cooking

[MadPick]

Good tips WW, thank you!

So far I haven’t found sous vide to be less work than reverse searing, especially since I got my MEATER thermometer block. The one advantage that SV has is the ability to accurately predict when the food will be ready (which is whenever you want it to be), assuming you start it early enough.

[JohnMBrowning]

Actually --- that torch would work really well to sear up meat prior to throwing it in a crockpot or instapot too.

[usrifle]

I'm going to sous vide a couple of steaks on Monday, and see if the sous vide can make a comeback against the smoker.

But this time, SV ain't fuckin' around with the sear at the end.



If you want to see it in action: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GdRKZNJ6JFA

Might have to get one of those!

Tumbleweed burner?

[MadPick]

All right . . . so to recap, a couple of months ago I took some identical filet mignons and cooked them with the same seasonings in both the sous vide (my Instant Pot with SV function) and the Recteq pellet grill, reverse seared. Our conclusion was that the steaks from the Recteq had a much more complex and superior taste.

Today we did it again, with New York strip steaks.

It started with my first-ever purchase of a boneless strip loin from Smart Foodservice, which I trimmed up (and saved the trimmings to grind later!) and then cut into ten steaks:





One pair of steaks was dry-brined (put salt on it, left uncovered on a plate in the fridge overnight), then had pepper and garlic powder added the next day and it was reverse seared on the Recteq. Flavor was excellent, similar to the earlier filet mignon though obviously the texture, etc. was different. The other steaks had salt, pepper and garlic powder added, then they were vacuum-sealed in packages of two and frozen.

I thawed one pair of steaks in the fridge, and then cooked it sous vide at 135 degrees today for 5.5 hours. Yes, that's longer than it needs but I wanted to see if it would make the steak more tender. Here they are, all ready for a warm bath:



After cooking I took them out and dried them off, and here they are:



Ewww, right? So then I took them out to the grill (which was turned off but was a safe area for fire, lol) and seared them:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CYkKlR0iZpQ

Here's one that's unseared on the left, and the one on the right has been mostly seared on the top:



Here's a cross-section of the finished product:



Our conclusions? The steaks were nice and tender, no complaints about that. The taste was very good, but it wasn't nearly as flavorful as the Recteq steaks . . . I much prefer the flavor of that.

Sous vide pros: Easy to cook to exact temperature, can cook longer for more tenderness, can eat dinner whenever you want.
Sous vide cons: Less flavor, can't cook different steaks to different temperatures without a little more hassle (sealing them separately, cooking the higher temp one first and then leaving them both in the lower-temp cook)

Fun stuff.

[MadPick]

If anyone wants to get into the sous vide game and is a Costco member, this looks to be a good deal at $150 . . . at least I hope it is, since I just ordered one:
https://www.costco.com/anova-sous-vide- ... 71168.html
Free shipping to your house, but of course they'll get ya for sales tax.

Costco is pretty light on the details, but if you judge by the pic it appears that it's the same as this from Amazon for $279:
https://smile.amazon.com/Anova-Culinary ... 08CF6Y4WF/

Oh . . . and tomorrow (8/1) is the last day for this sale, after that it's back to the regular Costco price of $200.

[usrifle]

If anyone wants to get into the sous vide game and is a Costco member, this looks to be a good deal at $150 . . . at least I hope it is, since I just ordered one:
https://www.costco.com/anova-sous-vide- ... 71168.html
Free shipping to your house, but of course they'll get ya for sales tax.

Costco is pretty light on the details, but if you judge by the pic it appears that it's the same as this from Amazon for $279:
https://smile.amazon.com/Anova-Culinary ... 08CF6Y4WF/

Oh . . . and tomorrow (8/1) is the last day for this sale, after that it's back to the regular Costco price of $200.

Save some Money, Vacuum seal your meat and throw it in a pot of boiling water. Then you can throw it over some fire to actually add some flavor to it at the end.

[JohnMBrowning]

Yeah - I would say a NuWave or any cheaper nock off and a decent pot would pretty much do the same thing for a lot less.....

No offense meant.

[Pablo]

Can these soften up tough round steak ?

[MadPick]

Can these soften up tough round steak ?

Yes. This is the video for you, Pablo:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ois7woj5nsc

[Pablo]

Can these soften up tough round steak ?

Yes. This is the video for you, Pablo:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ois7woj5nsc

If there was a LOVE button. Next one crock pot. Wife is NOT having another Kitchen gadget. I'm working on that. :)

Cool, I like that guy. My Brasil buddy.

[MadPick]

He does some really good stuff. Sous Vide Everything is the channel above, obviously focused on sous vide. He also has a Guga Cooks channel, which has non-SV stuff.

[Pablo]

He does some really good stuff. Sous Vide Everything is the channel above, obviously focused on sous vide. He also has a Guga Cooks channel, which has non-SV stuff.

Yeah, I'm like "Guga!" (I may have posted his vid when we were talking about Picanha way back) - but then I realized this vid was not his channel. I was fascinated by his thoughts verses his guest buddy tasters on the 48hr (different) Yeah 72 hrs. seems gross just by the thought of it.

PS: Love his knife selection. He probably would be in jail in the UK.

I have not said in any detail what I did with the round steak, but I thought a quick sear and off would be OK with the round steak sliced thin across the grain with a very sharp knife. No. It was just barely edible - well some pieces were close to tender others, nope - like bloody leather. Fail. Embarrassed. I believe round steak is slow cook or just grind it up. Or cube steak it.

[golddigger14s]

If anyone wants to get into the sous vide game and is a Costco member, this looks to be a good deal at $150 . . . at least I hope it is, since I just ordered one:
https://www.costco.com/anova-sous-vide- ... 71168.html
Free shipping to your house, but of course they'll get ya for sales tax.

Costco is pretty light on the details, but if you judge by the pic it appears that it's the same as this from Amazon for $279:
https://smile.amazon.com/Anova-Culinary ... 08CF6Y4WF/

Oh . . . and tomorrow (8/1) is the last day for this sale, after that it's back to the regular Costco price of $200.

Save some Money, Vacuum seal your meat and throw it in a pot of boiling water. Then you can throw it over some fire to actually add some flavor to it at the end.

Sorry to disagree USR, but boiling water is about 210 degrees. I want my steak in the 130-degree area. 210 is a burn't offering. I can hold a 130 degree temp from an hour to days depending on what I'm doing.

BTW for a great steak sauce:



These guys are goofy, but when it comes to sous vide they know their stuff.

[golddigger14s]

Making something amazing out of something cheap is where Sous Vide shines the most. Today I will try to turn an eye round to a beef wellington that will give chef Gordon Ramsay a run for its money.

[MadPick]

Today I will try to turn an eye round to a beef wellington that will give chef Gordon Ramsay a run for its money.

I like your shit-talking, Chuck.

Pics are required!