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OT - Sous Vide

Good day, for those who love to cook and like to play around in the kitchen, have you ever cooked any meat using the sous vide method?  Pronouced "SU-VEE"  aka precision cooking.

I've seen them used on Iron Chef Amercia and just placed on my Christmas List and sent it to my wife.  I am curious if we have any Chefs in the forum!  If you want to see what this is - Go here and watch the video---this is the one I want:

https://www.amazon.com/Anova-Culinary-PCB-120US-K1-Bluetooth-Precision/dp/B00UKPBXM4/ref=pd_lpo_79_bs_t_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=20Y3YJDMSKW65HRB9ZPQ

Yes Dennis. I am a amateur chef ... love the kitchen. Going to watch this video and let you know if its going on my list.

I'm very familiar, and use this method of cooking often. It's a time saver, and you just cant go wrong. Beef comes out beefier, and by that I mean beef flavor is intensified. Chicken comes out nice and juicy. I promise you will end up observing every bite in awe. Definitely worth it. Sounds like another gimmick but its actually really awesome.

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  • Sas

Looks like an innovative way to cook, but
Don't know if boiling my food in plastic bags is a great idea. Perhaps someone could shed some light on the safety of long term cooking in plastic bags.

My brother has one and does steaks with it. Someday I will get one. You season your meat and put it in the bag and push the air out before sealing(if using a ziploc), the water doesn't contact the meat as in wash away flavor. The meat stays in there long enough to bring the center(well the whole piece actually) up to exactly whatever temp you want. Then you bring it to the grill or put it in the oven just to grill or caramelize the outside, this part is quick. There is no risk in food safety because the temps go higher than bacteria that contaminate food live in. The upside is you can't really overdue it, if you have company and you are enjoying yourselves and having drinks you can throw the steaks on whenever works. 5 minutes on the hot grill and all the steaks are done, perfectly.

Lots of people love this way to cook. I prefer more of the smoky taste from cooking my meat longer on the charcoal grill.

If memory serves, my sister loves hers.  As Calvin-san mentioned you don't get the Maillard reaction that browns the outside of the meat.  That's good news health-wise as those glycoproteins are hard on your kidneys but of course bad news flavor-wise.  I think for fish, chicken and maybe pork it would be great.  If I was going to sear something on the grill I'd set the sous vide 5 - 10 degrees lower than I wanted the food to end up at.

Let us know what it's like with vegetables.  Allez Cuisine!

Hi,
I like the fried taste (meat in oil in a pan).
There are  lots of devices one can buy for the kitchen; I would just need an additional room/more counter place for all of them: coffee machines, water boiler, toaster, steam cooking (for rice, and veggies), bread making and cooking, cheese cooking (raclette machine), oven for chicken ( chicken is in up position to avoid it sitting in its fat), deep frier (for potatoes), device for fondue au fromage (melting the cheese), and fondue bourguignone (for small pieces of beaf meat) and the list goes on and on.

Hell, time to go to eat something, I'm hungry now !

Keep us posted on your experiments !

That piece is called a thermal circulator. Sous vide means "under vacuum " in French. It's a technique that's been around for a long time actually. When you cook anything, it's natural juices come out and are pretty much lost so this technique concentrates the flavor and you can sear it after. If you like soft boiled eggs you can program it to the correct temp and it will never over cook them, same with anything actually. You program to 120 degrees for a steak and it will cook mid rare and stay at that temp. Definitely a tool worth having, some of the best ribs I've had were cooked sous vide before finishing the on the grill. Good luck

Just saw this post. I did end up picking one of these up yesterday as I had been eyeing the Joule a competitor but they did not have a sale. I've heard there great. We don't have a vacuum sealer yet but hope to borrow one to get the best experience out of it. I got the wifi one. 

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  • Lewi
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Lukie29
That piece is called a thermal circulator. Sous vide means "under vacuum " in French. It's a technique that's been around for a long time actually. When you cook anything, it's natural juices come out and are pretty much lost so this technique concentrates the flavor and you can sear it after. If you like soft boiled eggs you can program it to the correct temp and it will never over cook them, same with anything actually. You program to 120 degrees for a steak and it will cook mid rare and stay at that temp. Definitely a tool worth having, some of the best ribs I've had were cooked sous vide before finishing the on the grill. Good luck


need to think about safe cooking temps: https://www.foodsafety.gov/keep/charts/mintemp.html

Interesting article...ESPECIALLY Stuart Yaniger's comment below the article: http://nomnompaleo.com/post/12463202060/cooking-sous-vide-plastic-safety

Very good point about the estrogen activity leaching in plastics. I had thought about this but wasn't sure what to do about it. The article you provided had links to silicone bags and I purchased 2 different ones to try out. Thanks!

 Though I know plastics are in everything we really try to avoid them with the whole house carbon filters, glass tupperware, steel water bottles, etc. 

Food temps I'm not to worried about. I can handle a bout of O157.

-On the topic of figs I did notice a faster rooting rate when using the carbon treated water, and about the same with RO/DI water.  Compared to our tap water which I know has chloramines as well as heavy chlorine. It could also be the heavy amounts of minerals in the tap water as well...

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  • Sas

Those "special bags" make me wish to try this cooking method. Thank You.

Welcome.


I worry about many pathogens that .gov does not, but figured some would want to know what is reccomended.

Personally, I over cook meat until it could be dead for the third time...and yes I grew up eating meat that way. My favorite was the over cooked offal (kishke) so YMMV. ;)

Down in Cajun country we use an ice chest , what some call a cooler. The water is heated in a crawfish pot and poured in the cooler. The water temp drops about 2* an hour. Regular zip lock bags with meat are placed under water in sink or bucket to allow air bubbles to be released if you don't a have a vacuum sealer.. a thermometer is needed to make sure the water temp is correct,, 135 to 145 Fahrenheit depending on your preference . One hour is usually long enough for 1" thick steaks. Then sear each side on a very hot grill or skillet.
Ruth's Chris and other restaurants steaks are done similar to prevent juices from escaping. Many different seasoning and marinades can be used.

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