Sous Vide

lporter229

I just got a sous vide for my birthday and am looking for good recipes. Last night I made this chicken piccata with artichokes and sun dried tomatoes and it was absolutely delicious.

http://unorthodoxepicure.com/the-unorthodox-epicure-sous-vide-chicken-piccata/

Tonight I am cooking pork chops which i will pan sear after the sous vide. What are your favorite things to make sous vide? Recipes welcomed!

swirlybee

I did lobster tails last night. 134F for 1 hour with just butter and salt. Served with linguine in a simple butter sauce and spinach. Delicious. Might try it 130F next time.

I usually do ribeye at 129F for 1 hour. Pan seared and served with a red wine reduction (red wine, garlic, shallots, rosemary, thyme and butter).

Pork chops, I season with garlic powder and salt, then sous vide at 145F for 1 hour.

I also do onsen tamago (Japanese soft-cooked egg) for use in ramen and other stuff. 145F for 1 hour.

Vegetables, I generally do them with butter, salt and garlic powder at 190F for half an hour.

DX2JX2

Skinless chicken breasts are generally the revelation to sous vide cooking for most. Cook to 140F or 141F for the juiciest and most tender meat ever. Super lean and low calorie, too.

140F will give you super soft and tender meat. This is my favorite though some don't like it because it lacks the grain normally found in chicken breast.

141F-142F will give you a more traditional meaty texture but the meat will still be super juicy, soft, and flavorful. This is how I cook it for guests.

The other 'standard' for most sous vide newbies tends to be beef short ribs. Cook to medium rare/medium over a 48 to 72 hour period. The results are awesome and cannot be replicated by any other cooking method.

I've had a sous vide rig for going on 10 years now and I've stopped using except for those cases where it produces results that I can't get via any other means (a la chicken breast and beef short ribs). Nothing against sous vide; I just refound my love for the process of traditional cookery.

That said, I find the water bath a lifesaver when cooking individual serving pieces in bulk, for holding things at serving temperature before service, or for reheating leftover proteins to good as freshly cooked quality.

lporter229

We made these spice rubbed pork chops last night. Put the rub on prior to sous vide, then seared in the pan. I have read conflicting opinions on whether or not it is preferable to put a rub on prior to the sous vide cooking or afterwards. i thought they turned out good this way, but wondered if anyone else had opinions.

lporter229

I sous vide salmon last night then gave it a quick pan sear. I cooked it at 122 F and it was amazing. The texture was perfect. I don't think I will ever make it any other way again. Wish i had taken photos. Next time.

emmies_123

My husband loves his sous vide (he is the cook in our house). We go to Costco and buy meat in bulk, he will spend a few hours on the weekend trimming and sealing serving sizes with whatever rub seasoning he wants on it. Then later on he can take the serving out of the freezer, stick it in sous vide, and boom dinner with no effort.

Also makes the best pulled pork and burgers we have had.

acpgee

Now I want one too. I never did before because I assumed a sous vide would use up a lot of counter space. But now I see there are models that fit in a drawer and turn an ordinary pot into a sous vide.

Are people happy with the performance of this type of sous vide stick? Can you use it in liquids other than water? Is it possible to do a stew or yoghurt?

swirlybee

I have an anova sous vide stick and it works perfectly. They're technically called immersion circulators in that you immerse part of the machine in water. Then it suck up water, passes it through a heating element, then spits out the hot water. You can probably use it to heat up and keep a huge vat of tea or coffee but it wouldn't work for stew or yogurt. In other words, you should only use it for water.

aokoye

I would not use one for anything other than water for a few reasons. 1. it just isn't going to work for stew or yogurt, though I'm sure you could make yogurt via putting it in canning jars and then putting those in the pot (a quick google shows that to be correct). I wouldn't use it to keep tea or coffee warm because cleaning it would be a pain. That's especially true if there's sugar in any of those liquids, though even if there isn't, there will potentially be small amounts of sediment.

Ok, after more googling, you can make stew sous vide, but all of the ingredients have to be sealed in the bag you're cooking in. Here's an example https://recipes.anovaculinary.com/recipe/sous-vide-beef-burgundy

lporter229

Mine is the Joule, stick style sous vide. It is controlled exclusively through an app on my phone, so it is very easy to use.

acpgee

Will I need to buy a cast iron frying pan too to sear meat afterwards? My frying/sautee pans are either stainless steel or stone coated. I do have a couple of cast iron iron griddle pans with ridges. What type of pan do sear with afterwards?

Can I use any kind of container, such as a plastic bucket if I wanted to sous vide, say, a Thanksgiving turkey?

aokoye

You should buy a cast iron pan regardless They are great. But no, you don't need to buy one if you don't want to and yes any type of container will work.

acpgee

So if I want a sear sous vide meat, is cast iron the best choice on a gas cooker?

For my normal needs (stir frying and sauteeing) I am quite happy with my non stick stone coated pans but I might need to go above temperature recommendations to sear sous vide meat.

aokoye

You can use stainless steel as well.

acpgee

Thanks. Sorry for temporarily hijacking the thread. Please continue to post sous vide recipes.

garystrickland357

I copied this cooler hack for my sous vide. It works very well. Try carrots with some brown sugar and butter - they are magical sous vide. Cook them and then toss in a hot pan to reduce the liquid into a glaze - yum...

acpgee

I asked for a sous vide stick for my birthday next week. Are skin on boneless chicken breasts the first thing to try?

acpgee

Tried a roast topside of beef (American round, I believe). Was a little confused by online recipes with temperatures ranging from 52C to 59C and times for 2.5h to 24h. Tried 6 hours at 52C. The meat looked great but the texture was a bit stringy and sandy (like liver or chemically tenderized meat). I suspect temperature was too low to break down collagen. Will try higher temperature and shorter cooking time, I guess.

If you use time/temperature tables you trust please let me know.

John772016

Read this thread on Sunday, went for a long walk, ended up in store & bought an immersion sous vide.......you guys are a bad (good) influence. 👍

Soon2BSuper

Combine the Sous Vide with your BBQ and you'll have THE BEST steak you've ever made in your life!
https://amazingribs.com/tested-recipes/beef-and-bison-recipes/sous-vide-que-ribeye-steak-recipe

acpgee

just_Tomek wrote: »

Soon2BSuper wrote: »

Combine the Sous Vide with your BBQ and you'll have THE BEST steak you've ever made in your life!
https://amazingribs.com/tested-recipes/beef-and-bison-recipes/sous-vide-que-ribeye-steak-recipe

Nope not BBQ. A very very hot skillet. Either cast iron or carbon. Something that will allow you to do a VERY hot quick sear.

What temperature do you like to take the pan to on a infrared laser thermometer to get a good sear? I get my non stick stone lined pans to 205C regularly, though the manufacturer says you can take them to 260C. Might need to get a cast iron one if I want to go higher. My carbon steel wok is too big and cumbersome for searing sous vide meats.

acpgee

just_Tomek wrote: »

acpgee wrote: »

just_Tomek wrote: »

Soon2BSuper wrote: »

Combine the Sous Vide with your BBQ and you'll have THE BEST steak you've ever made in your life!
https://amazingribs.com/tested-recipes/beef-and-bison-recipes/sous-vide-que-ribeye-steak-recipe

Nope not BBQ. A very very hot skillet. Either cast iron or carbon. Something that will allow you to do a VERY hot quick sear.

What temperature do you like to take the pan to on a infrared laser thermometer to get a good sear? I get my non stick stone lined pans to 205C regularly, though the manufacturer says you can take them to 260C. Might need to get a cast iron one if I want to go higher. My carbon steel wok is too big and cumbersome for searing sous vide meats.

I have not checked the temp to be honest, but its kitchen exhaust fan full on and there is smoke Quick I mean 10 second per side to get you crust. Otherwise you will overcook whatever you just made.

Try 1.5" beef tenderloin steak in the sous vide at 132F for 1-3 hours and then pat dry, salt and pepper, and the quick sear. You will not need a knife. Like butter and perfect done top to bottom.

My carbon steel wok starts smoking badly at 240C measured with the infrared thermometer, which is the smoking point of the oils I used to season it.

acpgee

Okay.

Just got a Lodge cast iron frying pan because I was worried I couldn't get any of my pans to a high enough temperature to sear off sous vide steak. The Lodge is pre-seasoned so you can use it straight out of the box. They season with refined soy oil and I could get the surface temperature to 250C according to the infra red thermometer without smoking. Clearly I need to start seasoning cast iron and carbon pans in avocado oil which smokes at 270C.

acpgee

just_Tomek wrote: »

acpgee wrote: »

Okay.

Just got a Lodge cast iron frying pan because I was worried I couldn't get any of my pans to a high enough temperature to sear off sous vide steak. The Lodge is pre-seasoned so you can use it straight out of the box. They season with refined soy oil and I could get the surface temperature to 250C according to the infra red thermometer without smoking. Clearly I need to start seasoning cast iron and carbon pans in avocado oil which smokes at 270C.

With my Lodge, I strip whatever the factory applied and re-seasoned it with avocado oil. No issues.

Do you strip off old seasoning on cast iron the way you season a new carbon wok by burning off the factory coating of machine oil? I ask because I have clearly done my wok a disservice as I am limited at what temperature I can heat it to by seasoning with an oil that smokes at 240C.

acpgee

So I tried skin on boneless chicken breasts tonight as we need to hunt a bit to find thick steaks where I am. I followed the recommendations of Serious Eats. Definitely the best way to cook whole chicken breasts. Though following the Serious Eats guidelines I cooked at 63C, and next time will definitely take the @DX2JX2 recommendation to cook at 60C for a less traditional texture.

Nonetheless whole chicken breasts are not my favourite way to deal with chicken breast. I still prefer a Chinese stir fry following a gong bao chicken recipe, where the sliced chicken has been dry brined and coated in cornstarch a few hours prior to cooking. If you velvet the chicken (coat in cornstarch) you need to use a really good non stick pan as otherwise scraping the baked on starch will drive you mad.

Next sous vide experiments will be steak if I can find some thick ones and beef rendang braised in a bag as we struggle to keep it at the right temperature when we cook this in other people's ovens.

acpgee

Second attempt with sous vide cooking.

Soon2BSuper

just_Tomek wrote: »

Soon2BSuper wrote: »

Combine the Sous Vide with your BBQ and you'll have THE BEST steak you've ever made in your life!
https://amazingribs.com/tested-recipes/beef-and-bison-recipes/sous-vide-que-ribeye-steak-recipe

Nope not BBQ. A very very hot skillet. Either cast iron or carbon. Something that will allow you to do a VERY hot quick sear.

My BBQ does the perfect reverse sear everytime....just saying.

acpgee

Thanks for all the advice @just_Tomek.

Found a 1 inch rump steak which I dry brined, then sous vide at 55.5C for 1.5 hours and reversed seared on a 240C pan. I probably won't go back to conventional steak cooking unless really pressed for time. Hubby actually doesn't care for steak, but he liked it from the sous vide.

Another convenient thing about cooking steak sous vide. Normally I eat my steaks blue and the hubby likes his medium to medium well (see, he really doesn't like steak). Sous vide, we were both happy with medium rare.

acpgee

The next sous vide experiment I want to try is beef rendang, which is my hubby's speciality. Our typical gift for new parents is an afternoon of batch cooking to fill up their freezer with meals. We get a lot of requests for beef rendang, which we know how to cook in our own oven but struggle in someone else's. If our oven, if the thermostat is set to 130C the braising liquid inside the lidded casserole is 83C and holding that temperature for 3 hours results in perfect rendang.

To do this sous vide, my instinct says sear the beef, then ziplock it with the curry paste and coconut milk and sous vide at 83C for three hours. However, when I google sous vide curry recipes the consensus seems to be lower temperature and much longer.

https://recipes.anovaculinary.com/recipe/sous-vide-curry-lamb-shoulder-steak

Any recommendations welcome.

acpgee

Beef rendang was still tough after 3 hours at 83C, so ended up pan frying some fish for dinner. Let the rendang go another 20 hours at 65C and it was okay but not super soft. Next time will just try lower temperature overnight.

The good news is the stringy leftovers from my first sous vide attempt of a topside roast was rescued by another 10 hours in the water bath.

acpgee

Discovered the air fryer is good for reverse searing irregularly shaped meats such as rack of lamb that is hard to sear in a pan. Takes a good 15 minutes to heat up to 200C for searing.