#41

Posting Freak
Freddy thats exciting. I can recommend a good cookbook and a website that’s excellent.  Serious Eats is a great all around website. You can search food/recipes by cooking technique (sous vide) and they have comprehensive articles discussing the results of different times and temperatures.  While I recommend a vacuum sealer, it’s not essential. You can use ziplock bags and if you use the major brand bags they’ve been designed and tested for food safety. There’s instructions in the front of the cookbook and on serious eats for getting the air out so your food doesn’t float. Double bagging is a good idea and allows you to put something heavy like a serving spoon in the outer bag so you can weigh the food down and keep it submerged. 

I think sous vide cooking is excellent for fish and seafood that can otherwise be easily overcooked and dried out (ruined). 

www.seriouseats.com 

https://www.amazon.com/Sous-Vide-Everybo...152&sr=8-1

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#42

Posting Freak
There are some reasonably priced vessels you can get that will give you more flexibility than just using a pot. I have the Anova cooker and vessel that was sold at Costco. I’ve been very happy with it. 

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07GQV5C4P?pd_...b72f603ba5

https://www.amazon.com/Anova-Culinary-AN...194&sr=8-8

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#43

Super Moderator
San Diego, Cal., USA
Thanks for the tips, Mark.  I have a hand held sealer for the zip type bags with the flat valve built in and that should work just fine.  I also got this (and it comes with a rack that will prevent the bags from floating):

[Image: ysu8ebG.jpg]

It will be a while before I give it a go as I made a big pot of something (that I cannot define nor would I serve to anyone I like Tongue) so shall be eating leftovers for a few days.  That will give me time to get comfortable with the instructions and also take a look at the information you have given me here.

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#44

Posting Freak
Freddy  that looks great.  I think I'll get something like that - I have the vessel with a rack on top for hanging stuff.  It generally works well but sometimes I get floating issues.  That cookbook I recommended is good.  All kinds of helpful information at the front and lots of info on time and temperatures as well and some really good recipes.  Theres a chicken Tinga taco recipe that I've made a few times and it's quite tasty.  Makes enough that I divide and freeze portions so I wind up with about five meals (10 servings) for my wife and I.  Doing steaks Sous Vide is great too as you can get the steaks to the exact internal temperature you want and then a quick sear on a hot cast iron pan and you won't want to go out for (more) expensive steaks again.

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#45

Member
Central Maine
(This post was last modified: 01-11-2023, 06:44 AM by ShadowsDad.)
I see Marko beat me to it. I'm leaving it anyway. :-)

Freddy, if you can set the thermostat in your home, use a ruler, and tell time you can sous vide. I hope you like to read because here's a site (below) that fully explains the process.

Juicy pork? No problem. Rare tuna? No problem.

OK, here's the gist, but definitely go to the link and read. It also has charts so that you can figure out cooking times. It gives the math if you're into that. I just use the charts.

But the gist... Traditional high temp cooking over cooks the outside to quickly cook the center to the desired doneness. Use a thermometer to check the center and a given temp will be med rare every time the center reaches that temp. Just know the temp desired and the result will be perfect every time. At the same time the outside is cooking the meat is also killing off any bacteria that can make us sick. OK, that's high temp cooking.

Sous vide cooks at the desired temp the entire time. Want a perfect med rare steak? We like ours a bit more rare so I set our circulator to 129.8°F. The steak when finished will be a perfect med rare from edge to edge and in the center as well. But how do we kill the bacteria? Do you feel like procreating at 130°F? Well neither do the bacteria. Keep them there long enough and they'll die the same as we do. The key is to keep them there long enough. Start with frozen meat? There's a chart that tells us how long the bath will take to thaw the meat. Then it needs to be sanitized, then cooked. Just add up the times and that is the minimum time. SV is very forgiving, if you keep it in the bath longer it just gets tenderer but it can't over cook since (assuming our med rare) the bath never gets above 129.8 to overcook it. Find out how you like a steak, remember that temp and you'll nail it perfectly every time. The key for food safety is to always cook for at least the minimum times. I ALWAYS go over to make sure.

The steak can be eaten as it comes out of the poly bag, but DON'T! Spend a little more time, just minutes. Rinse off the steak and rub the cooked blood off of it. Save the bag juices for the dogs kibble, or use it in soup. Take the meat and dip it into a puddle of 50/50 solution of Dextrose and baking soda. The dextrose and protein when heated gives that fantastic grilled taste, and the baking soda promotes browning. I use a rack in a baking pan and place the wet dipped steaks on it, I use a butane torch since propane can give an eggy taste, but try propane and see. Then keeping the torch moving I brown the outside of them. Flip and do the other side. Do this where smoke won't bother. We have an outside venting hood over our range so I do it there. Serve them and get ready for compliments!

Could you brown in a fry pan? Sure! Or under a really high output broiler? Sure! But it's not going to be a normal broiler It must be a high output catalytic broiler to get hot enough to brown w/o overcooking the surface.

There's more to it but that's the gist.

Tips: Don't salt the meat before SVing it. It'll draw juices out and you don't want that. No EVOO added to the bag, it'll degrade from the heat and taste lousy. The same goes for fresh garlic but gran' garlic is OK. There's more, so read at the link. He also sells a book that goes into more depth. There are plenty of other sites online that are also worth time. But Baldwins site helped me the most with his charts and explanations. But that's me, I need to actually understand how things work. If that isn't you just skip over those parts at the link.

Freddy, it's not difficult even though it may seem as though it is at first. If you have questions get back to us and we'll help. Just don't give 5 minutes for a response. Don't do what my brother did either and serve unbrowned steaks to anyone. His wife told him to never serve her any of that garbage ever again. He knew better, I just don't understand him. But that's my brother. Following directions just isn't done. I showed him precisely how to do it.

http://douglasbaldwin.com/sous-vide.html

Freddy, I can't help you with the fish, I've never done fish in the SV bath. But it's no more difficult than a steak.

FWIW, I've served SV meat to non meat eaters and they absolutely loved it. I made a sampling and they had to try every one.

-----------------

FWIW, I bought another top round today at $2.99/# for a 5 pounder. I'll need to slice it thinner into 2 pieces to allow the heat to better penetrate it and when it's done in the bath I'll chill it rapidly and put it in the freezer, bag juices and all. When we want roast beef for sandwiches I'll thaw it at 129.8°F then do the dip and torch routine and thin slice it and the result will be every bit as good as the $15/lb roast beef from the deli. Not the first time of done this, I've added "Italian spice blend" to the bag as well as just gran' garlic and both were really good.

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Brian. Lover of SE razors.
#46

Super Moderator
San Diego, Cal., USA
Marko and ShadowsDad, thank you so much for your responses.  Mark, I took a quick look at the web site you suggested and it looks excellent.  Brian, your explanation had me laughing out loud and was incredibly helpful, all at the same time. Big Grin

As for the books, I shall look them up but I believe I can get a few for free on my Kindle and while I generally dislike online nonfiction books (including cookbooks) as opposed to physical ones, that should give me an idea of where to start.  Later today, after I get some coffee in me, I plan on taking more in depth looks into the sites you both provided.

Brian, I noticed that you suggest not using salt or fresh garlic in the original process but I have seen a lot of recommendations that clearly show a steak being salted and peppered with maybe a piece of fresh rosemary and a few garlic cloves being thrown into the bag.  I did see a couple of things that suggested not to salt ahead, for the reason you gave, but only if the food was to be cooked for a very long time or was going to be left in the bag and put in the freezer for use at a later date.  I guess that’s where the experimentation will come in.

Again, thank you both for all of the tips. Happy2

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#47

Member
Central Maine
(This post was last modified: 01-11-2023, 09:19 PM by ShadowsDad.)
Freddy, lots of times bovine excrement gets repeated over and over re: cooking. The tip about fresh garlic and salting might be in that realm. One chef might come out with it, it sounds good and it gets repeated over and over. I have no experience with either as I described their use. I just took what I read for fact and it might not be. But it makes no difference as far as salt goes for me. Salt applied after the cooking allows me to use much less and since I try to control my salt intake it just works for me. Plus if I salt in the bag I can't/won't give the bag juices to the dog.

Off topic, but there are other pieces of bovine excrement currently making the rounds. When a chef doesn't think something should be done the claim is made that it makes something bitter. The other is the mispronounciation in English of the spice anise. It's not a niece any more than it's a nephew. Chefs have to go out of their way to mispronounce it. Maybe it's French. If so by all means continue in French and I'll change the channel.

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Brian. Lover of SE razors.
#48

Super Moderator
San Diego, Cal., USA
(01-11-2023, 09:03 PM)ShadowsDad Wrote: Freddy, lots of times bovine excrement gets repeated over and over re: cooking. The tip about fresh garlic and salting might be in that realm. One chef might come out with it, it sounds good and it gets repeated over and over. I have no experience with either as I described their use. I just took what I read for fact and it might not be. But it makes no difference as far as salt goes for me. Salt applied after the cooking allows me to use much less and since I try to control my salt intake it just works for me. Plus if I salt in the bag I can't/won't give the bag juices to the dog.

Off topic, but there are other pieces of bovine excrement currently making the rounds. When a chef doesn't think something should be done the claim is made that it makes something bitter. The other is the mispronunciation in English of the spice anise. It's not a niece any more than it's a nephew. Chefs have to go out of their way to mispronounce it. Maybe it's French. If so by all means continue in French and I'll change the channel.

Brian, since there will be some experimenting, there is nothing to say that I can't do something like steak two different ways, one with the seasonings in the bag and another with the seasonings added post cooking.  It should be fun to try with a couple of cheaper cuts of beef and then I'll know what works for me.

As for your comments about chefs, I get it and, honestly, that can be said of any "experts" when there are more than one in the same field.  Perhaps that's why starting with the basics and then experimenting (assuming all experimentation is completely safe) is the best route to take.

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#49

Posting Freak
(01-11-2023, 10:19 PM)Freddy Wrote:
(01-11-2023, 09:03 PM)ShadowsDad Wrote: Freddy, lots of times bovine excrement gets repeated over and over re: cooking. The tip about fresh garlic and salting might be in that realm. One chef might come out with it, it sounds good and it gets repeated over and over. I have no experience with either as I described their use. I just took what I read for fact and it might not be. But it makes no difference as far as salt goes for me. Salt applied after the cooking allows me to use much less and since I try to control my salt intake it just works for me. Plus if I salt in the bag I can't/won't give the bag juices to the dog.

Off topic, but there are other pieces of bovine excrement currently making the rounds. When a chef doesn't think something should be done the claim is made that it makes something bitter. The other is the mispronunciation in English of the spice anise. It's not a niece any more than it's a nephew. Chefs have to go out of their way to mispronounce it. Maybe it's French. If so by all means continue in French and I'll change the channel.

Brian, since there will be some experimenting, there is nothing to say that I can't do something like steak two different ways, one with the seasonings in the bag and another with the seasonings added post cooking.  It should be fun to try with a couple of cheaper cuts of beef and then I'll know what works for me.

As for your comments about chefs, I get it and, honestly, that can be said of any "experts" when there are more than one in the same field.  Perhaps that's why starting with the basics and then experimenting (assuming all experimentation is completely safe) is the best route to take.

Try lots of stuff - I usually use salt and pepper on my steaks and theyre fine.  I'll try without next time to see if it makes a difference.  I've never used the dextrose and baking soda + torch method but it sounds intriguing and I'll look for dextrose (thats a type of sugar isn't it?) I usually sear it on the 1,800F sear burner on my grill (Napoleon) and it does a good job.  I do have a butane torch though (amazon).  I have used both EVOO and fresh garlic with fish or shrimp / scallops and I haven't noticed any off flavours.  Maybe temps, I dont know.  I picked up a smoked pork hock today that I'm going to use to make a Cuban Black Bean dish.  It should be good.

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#50

Posting Freak
[Image: LjrVVJJ.jpg]

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