Sous vide comments, favorite recipes, etc.

[ablecane]

Let's hear 'em.

[BrownBear]

I don't do sous vide at home, but before retirement I was around it a lot in a seafood research lab. The research was aimed at developing seafood formulations for a company hoping to add products to their line for restaurants. We were involved because the company had real technical issues with the sauces rather than the seafood itself. It was very difficult to include the sauces in the packs along with the fish and get reasonable results. They ended up packaging them separately, adding the sauces after plating.

My coworker was actually the individual in charge of the research and I was more involved in the fish prep and as a trained taster on taste panels. We're both retired now, though he's continued to play with sous vide using an array of home units. Feedback from him is that it's the latest hula hoop and pet rock when it comes to seafood, as it's much easier to get results without the sous vide. But he reports surprisingly good results with red meat. That's second hand, cuzz sous vide never followed me home.

[stoneflyer]

Our friends sous vide everything. It is a good way to achieve a tenderness in meat but leaves it a horrible grey colour. Color can be improved by hard searing the meat on a cast iron skillet, blow torch etc after being sous vide. To me it is useful for people that overcook their meat, but I find what is gained in texture and tenderness comes at the cost of flavour. The meats taste lifeless to me.
My biggest turnoff is that the foods are being cooked at 125F for 6 hours etc in a plastic bag. I am by no means a fanatical about the use and harms of plastic but 6hrs at 145F seems gross.

Adam

[Adamsdry]

I purchased a vacuum sealer about 30 yrs. ago. I used it to portion, freeze, and cook food. I cooked Salmon in the bag once. I use in for freezing.
I'm a fan of char and fond.
.02

D

[flyslinger]

I'm not a fan either. I learned the old school way and actually enjoy cooking in that style. Kinda like bamboo vs. graphite fly rods.
I am also a bit concerned about the plastic interaction with the food. We've been told for so long how unhealthy heating foods in plastic containers is, I am even more reluctant to go the sous vide route. I do know that it is the growing rage in restaurant kitchens because it is a labor saver that holds cooked food so well (no more overcooked meats or fish), therefore it is cost efficient and enables more profit.
I do understand that some home cooks really embrace sous vide, and if it gives the desired results and makes things easier, good for them. Different strokes.
I have had food prepared both ways, and I get equivalent or better results from the methods I use, plus added flavor with meats. Less plastic getting into the landfills too.

[snorider]

ewwwww! NO Thanks! We chemists know too much about the properties and constituents of plastics. What is the supposed benefit of boiling food in a plastic baggie? I'll continue to use the cooking techniques that make healthy tasty food, things like braising, reductions, carmelization and searing you just can't replicate in a ziplock baggie no matter how precise the temperature. What will they think up next?

[cheffy]

I sous vide a bunch. Do not think of it as boiling as you cannot get the temp up that high. There are also other options to plastic. You can do glass jars or reusable silicone bags.
Snorider, I beg to differ. I’d put my short ribs up against yours any day. Sous vide can be a more precise form of braising. I pre sear,add liquid, sous vide then reduce my remaining liquid for sauce. I’m presuming you would do similar in a traditional braise but without precision temperature control.

[snorider]

Cheffy,
That sounds a lot better, and that is exactly how I braise meat. I have no doubt your short ribs would be superb, likely better than mine. I wish I could try em! The pre- sear post reduction sounds worlds better than the quick recipes I found that featured a raw steak in a baggie with salt and pepper; that kinda thru me.

[ablecane]

I sous vide a bunch. Do not think of it as boiling as you cannot get the temp up that high. There are also other options to plastic. You can do glass jars or reusable silicone bags.
Snorider, I beg to differ. I’d put my short ribs up against yours any day. Sous vide can be a more precise form of braising. I pre sear,add liquid, sous vide then reduce my remaining liquid for sauce. I’m presuming you would do similar in a traditional braise but without precision temperature control.

What are you adding as "liquid"?

[cheffy]

Ok for short ribs. I get plate cut short ribs. I salt and pepper them.brown them in a hot cast iron pan on all sides. Set them aside. In the same pan statue up some medium diced carrots, celery onion and about 1 clove garlic. Deglaze the pan with red wine, toss in some Demi glaze and tomato paste. Stir to blend. Let cool slightly Put the ribs in bag. Add the liquid. Squeeze out as much air as possible and seal. Cook sous vide at 75C for 24hrs. Open bag drain liquid into pan and reduce till thick or add a little cornstarch slurry.

[flyslinger]

So basically Espagnole sauce? Sounds similar to my recipe. I slow braise my ribs after searing them in an enameled cast iron LeCreuset oven at low temperatures until they are falling off the bone.
The sous vide method is one that is favored by my sister in law. She is able to control hers by an app on her iPhone. She was telling me of a party a friend of hers recently held in Dallas where they hired a professional chef to prepare steaks on the grill. One of their friends prepared steaks with a sous vide and did a reverse sear for a taste competition. She told me that the people attending couldn't tell the difference.
I see that the silicon bags you mentioned are reusable, and that eliminates the leaching of plastics into food problem, as well as the issues of used bags in landfills and oceans. I like that solution and it would be relatively easy to do in the home kitchen.
I would assume that restaurants do not use the reusable silicon bags due to costs and labor. Would that be a correct assumption?
Your ribs do sound delicious, but I still prefer to use my old dinosaur pots and pans that I am accustomed to, just from a comfort level.
Thanks for your insights into alternative methods of sous vide cooking.

[cheffy]

Full disclosure here. I’ve been sous videoing for over 8 years in both professional kitchens and home. Be used pretty much every circulator out there. To be fair, some of the new recipes coming out are BS. Here was one recently for an extract for a coffee martini. Just to make that was 10 hrs. That’s a waste of time and your not impressing anyone. However sous vide duck confit is another story.

[BillA]

Nobody has addressed the vide. Cheffy, are you cooking sous vide, or just in a water bath. I never understood what the vacuum did, anyway.

[CJMcK]

I have used a home job for about a year now. Great for some things, okay for others. There is a reason they still make Dutch ovens that you will hand down to your kids.

Some highlights are mason jar cheesecake, in the can dulce de leche, anything poultry other than roast bird. Poached eggs. I tend to use it as a crutch whenever I have a pricey piece of red meat.

It also is handy to pasteurize food.

[BrownBear]

...in the can dulce de leche....

Talks about a blind spot! Our family has made it on the stove top for generations, but it never occurred to me to move the process into the modern era with SV. Thanks!

[CJMcK]

I have never done it on the stove, but it can’t be easier than sv. Last year I took the label off of 8 cans or sweetened condensed milk, popped them in a bath at a certain temp for a very long time. Now I have instant access to Sweet, creamy goodness, with unlimited shelf life.

[BrownBear]

...popped them in a bath at a certain temp for a very long time....

That's the key, and it takes a whole lot of watching to get it right and hold it there on the stove top. And it's in the way of other things the whole time. The greatest feature of a good SV unit is the ability to set a temp and hold it there with no fumbling around. And to put it somewhere other than the stove top of course.

We were visiting a cousin in the Southwest when the temp ran away from her on a stovetop batch. Picture two cans of Eagle Brand exploding. All over the kitchen from ceiling to floor, every wall and window. Fortunately no one was in the kitchen at that moment. Took a couple of days of concerted cleaning to deal with the mess.

[ablecane]

Our local Sam's Club was closing and I picked up a sous vide for half price last week. Got two 2" thick tenderloins filets that I seasoned and vacuumed sealed for 24 hours and dropped them in the pre-heated water. One hour at 128 degrees then seared on the natural gas searer (700 degrees) for about a minute per side. Very tender and tasty!
Santa Maria Tri Tip tomorrow night.

[ShenRods]

My son-in-law and our daughter are into sous vide and their results are far from some of the previous reports and observations. Now, my son-in-law did go take the sous vide course from Bruno himself.
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/ ... ry-Pioneer

Our daughter is also a graduate from Cordon Bleu (Paris). They entertain a lot. So serving up gray meat comes from someone not into the proper techniques.

He was the only "non-professional in the course and took a lot of friendly flack from Bruno until he proved himself. Every other chief in the class was from a top tier resturant with many stars and awards. The technique is used everywhere in high end resturants unbeknownst to most of the patrons.

The sealer (double bag it) is used for long term storage to maintain flavors after the initial water bath. When I go there we make up a big batch of ribs or such and break it down into meal size servings and put it in the refrigerator or freezer for use latter.

The one recipe that has not been mentioned and deserves a try is sous vide mashed potatoes - best you ever have.

Chris

[henkverhaar]

Nobody has addressed the vide. Cheffy, are you cooking sous vide, or just in a water bath. I never understood what the vacuum did, anyway.

Nothing by itself. It's just the easiest and most foolproof way of making sure that there are no air pockets between the plastic and the warm/hot water that would prevent flow of temperature from the water, through the plastic, into the food. In fact, the vacuum itself can sometimes be a hindrance. And you can achieve similar effects by just removing the air from the bag by gently lowering a freezer bag with the food into a water bath - the pressure of the water will push the air out - then sealing the bag. No lowered pressure whatsoever and almost the same water to food through plastic contact...

Now if you use this method industrially (what it was originally conceived for anyway) having the prepared food already vacumized in a sealed container makes it real easy to next freeze it and store it for later use (think ready meals for use on trains - the original application in France).