Sous Vide

I did a couple of hams sous vide for Easter dinner. They turned out pretty well. The recipe I used said you could cook the ham in the wrapping they came in and I tried that last time I did ham sous vide. Not a good idea, the seal wasn’t great and the packaging swelled with air and floated no fun. So with these two I took them out of the original packing and vacuum sealed them myself. I finished them in a 500 degree oven. 

I never did SV ham because all it needs is to be warmed up. I'm trying to remember... I think I simmer it for 90 minutes (after it comes to the boil). I have baked it but that happens as the sole cooking method. But it's really too salty for us baked.

Interesting that you SV it.

I never did SV ham because all it needs is to be warmed up. I'm trying to remember... I think I simmer it for 90 minutes (after it comes to the boil). I have baked it but that happens as the sole cooking method. But it's really too salty for us baked.

Interesting that you SV it.

I like the temperature control aspect. Plus I got the SV as a gift from my wife so I have to use it. I put a honey garlic and Dijon glaze on them and it was really tasty. I ate a few pieces of the crispy glazed fat as the cook’s share while carving. Good.

Took a vac' packed SV flank steak out of the freezer today and put it into the BBQ refrigerator to thaw. At some point, since it's been previously SV it's just a matter of bringing it up to temp to warm it for an hour, then finish it off with the torch. In an hour a finished SV steak. But it has been SV previously and frozen. I'm not cooking it in an hour from frozen. That would be impossible for food safety. We've done this many times and there is no change in quality.

Took a vac' packed SV flank steak out of the freezer today and put it into the BBQ refrigerator to thaw. At some point, since it's been previously SV it's just a matter of bringing it up to temp to warm it for an hour, then finish it off with the torch. In an hour a finished SV steak. But it has been SV previously and frozen. I'm not cooking it in an hour from frozen. That would be impossible for food safety. We've done this many times and there is no change in quality.

That sounds good. Are you using propane or the mapp gas blend?  I never knew the stuff existed until I went to get propane. Now I need to do more research

Propane can give a rotten egg taste to those sensitive to it so when I was shopping for one I stayed with butane designed for kitchen use.

Iwatani torch

If I was going to use propane I would look at this:
Searsall Torch head

But that isn't an endorsement, I've never used it but I know others who have. Of course you can always test one piece of meat using a standard propane torch head to see if anyone tastes the rotten egg scent.

If the meat to be browned is given a solution of 50/50 dextrose/baking soda solution it will brown faster and have a meaty grilled flavor from the Maillard reaction (any reducing sugar + protein + heat = Maillard reaction) ( Karo syrup is another reducing sugar).

I never used MAPP other than for plumbing.

I have now come upon the way to cook a perfect steak every single time.  I did some ribeyes last week and did them in the sous vide cooker for about 2 1/2 hours at 125F just seasoned with kosher salt and pepper.  Then I seared them for 30 seconds a side on the infrared sear station on the new Napoleon grill I recently acquired.  The steaks were absolutely delicious and perfectly done over the entire thickness.  I'm in steak heaven.  The sear station gives you that authentic steakhouse taste.   

I experimented with three different techniques for using the sear station - first I did a couple of tenderloins exclusively on the sear station.  This wasn't ideal for a 2"+ thick steak because by the time I had the inside at 120 the outside was a bit more charred than I like.  Next, I did a couple of NY strips, first on the conventional grill for 2 minutes a side then on the sear station for 30 seconds a side.  This was OK except that next time I would pre-grill the steaks for a little less time as the steaks were just a tad overdone - the medium side of medium rare.  Last was the ribeyes in the sous vide, now this is the way to go in my opinion.  The video below uses an alternate technique where he sears the steaks from raw first then finishes them to desired temperature on the conventional grill. This works too.  In case anyone is worried about my cholesterol, I don't normally have steak three times in one week but I had to take one for the team in the name of science.  Also, have you seen the price of beef lately? 



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SE-r5td3KUo

If anyone is thinking about getting into sous vide cooking, and seriously, why wouldn't you be?? Heres a good review on the Serious Eats website.  I have the #2 pick and I've been pretty happy with it and I'm thinking about getting a second unit so I'd probably pick the #1 Joule.  www.seriouseats.com is an excellent website with a wealth of recipes and articles - you can search recipes by cooking technique, sous vide, Instant Pot, smoking, etc. very useful.

https://www.seriouseats.com/best-sous-vi...irculators

Yup, sous vide is a keeper!

God, I wish I could taste it. I'm shocked that you can cook so well. I would like to know exactly how you marinate meat. I recently passed a test for intolerance to products from https://www.intolerancelab.co.uk/food-intolerance-test/ and found that my stomach was swollen from some sauces and spices. Who would have thought, but now I avoid these products so as not to feel like an inflated balloon. I would be grateful if you would tell me how you cook meat before frying it.