[blair.streit]

The Anova Culinary WIFI Precision Cooker (B01761T6V4) is currently $149 at Amazon.

Thanks for the heads-up on this. I ordered when I saw your post last week and mine will be arriving tomorrow

[MDixon]

Finally pulled mine out today in anticipation of a pork tenderloin tomorrow. We decided to cook some poached style eggs which were a cinch. 173F for 13 min with a fridge temp egg. Came out perfect, but took some effort to open the shells. Tenderloin is tomorrow, shooting for 140F for at least 2 hours and then sear.

[MDixon]

Ran a seasoned pork tenderloin with chopped garlic in it today at 140F for 2.5 hours. Then quickly seared in the pan as fast and hot as possible. Came out fantastic.

[MDixon]

Ran some soft boiled eggs this morning, 173F for 18 minutes and they came out perfect. Then ran a pork loin at 143F for 3 hours. After searing it also came out perfect.

[blair.streit]

I'm admittedly a Kenji fanboy, but if you've always been underwhelmed by chicken read this:

http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/07/the-food-lab-complete-guide-to-sous-vide-chicken-breast.html

I cooked mine to 140 and then pan seared as hot and fast as possible in some ghee. It changes my entire opinion of chicken.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[dbeechum]

As part of my "attempt to keep my weight down" efforts, I sous vide boneless skinless chicken breasts every week. I actually do two batches - one with cheap frozen chicken and no spices/salt/nada for the dogs, the other with good quality fresh chicken for me. That bag gets salt, pepper, smoked paprika, poultry seasoning. The dog batch gets cook to 153F for 80 minutes and is used for their breakfast. The batch for me gets cooked at 151 for 60 minutes. Both get flash cooled in an ice bath and sliced and re-bagged for storage in the fridge and use doing the week. It's instant sandwich meat, fodder for salads or just about anything else.

The texture on it is amazing and there are times when I just snack on chicken slices.

[stpug]

As part of my "attempt to keep my weight down" efforts, I sous vide boneless skinless chicken breasts every week. I actually do two batches - one with cheap frozen chicken and no spices/salt/nada for the dogs, the other with good quality fresh chicken for me. That bag gets salt, pepper, smoked paprika, poultry seasoning. The dog batch gets cook to 153F for 80 minutes and is used for their breakfast. The batch for me gets cooked at 151 for 60 minutes. Both get flash cooled in an ice bath and sliced and re-bagged for storage in the fridge and use doing the week. It's instant sandwich meat, fodder for salads or just about anything else.

The texture on it is amazing and there are times when I just snack on chicken slices.

Do you using a simple sous vide gadget that goes on the side of a pot, or some kind of recirculating homebrewing system (rims, herms, etc)?  I'm curious how well those sous vide pot gadgets work.

[dbeechum]

I have two circulators (I'm a nerd, shocker) - One older Anova Model (this is the newer oner one) and a Joule from ChefSteps (newer, more expensive, but kinda badass - it's chugging away on my corned beef right now)

I really like mine. They just work.

[stpug]

I have two circulators (I'm a nerd, shocker) - One older Anova Model (this is the newer oner one) and a Joule from ChefSteps (newer, more expensive, but kinda badass - it's chugging away on my corned beef right now)

I really like mine. They just work.

That's actually pretty reasonable for the Joule.  I've been wanting to pull the trigger on one of these for a couple years and just haven't... yet.  Thanks for pointing out the ones you've tried.  I also like the idea of having quality lean meat chunks for snacking on.  I make my own jerky in my smoker but with it comes the flavorful red meat and delicious carcinogens - my body could use a switch-up

[dbeechum]

Hey, no problem - I think the best part about the sous vide chicken is just how perfectly tender it is - much better than when I would poach or bake chicken breasts for use later.

[MDixon]

Ran some sirloin steaks seasoned with salt, garlic powder, and a local spice company product for 2 1/2 hours at 128F and then quickly seared in a scalding hot pan for about a minute on each side in a smidge of bacon grease. Served on top of quinoa and it was devine. Cut the steaks into slices and then we were able to cut the slices with a fork. Might run the next ones a half hour longer to see if they become even easier to cut with the fork.

[blair.streit]

Yeah I think portioning out perfectly pre-cooked food is one of the biggest upsides of sous vide.

I love a good steak, but with my meat thermometer and a fair amount of flipping I feel I can achieve a better "eat now" steak on the grill with less mess/time.

However, I love using the technique you guys described to cook chicken or steak towards the rarer side of the safe zone and then store it in the fridge. Then I can be lazy and heat the last little bit in the microwave without overcooking. It makes putting chicken or steak into a salad something I can achieve in under 5 minutes.

On the beef side, one place where I think sous vide can do something unique is with cheaper/tougher cuts like flank. With a little time in the bath those things soften right up and then have tons of flavor. It's just hard to extract any other way because most cooking methods won't allow you to simultaneously cook them evenly and also loosen up some of those tough bits.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[santoch]

Guys-
Be really careful about time and temp when doing sous vide.
Just like we avoid the 140F down to 70F range because it lets the bugs grow, bringing meat UP through the 40F-140F zone requires speed as well.

This goes for sous vide, barbecue, stuffed turkey, anything where you are bringing the meat up to temp slowly.  You can build up an inordinate amount of bacteria, and even if they eventually die due to higher temps, they can and do emit toxins that build up over time and remain after they are dead.

One of the BBQ forums I frequent has a rule that says "40-140 in 4". It is an interpretation of the USDA guidelines that is reasonable and gives a bit of margin for error.  Different factors, such as puncturing the meat and putting high-bacteria sources such as onions and garlic in the punctures, as well as a whole host of other factors, LOWERS that time.

The bottom line here is BE CAREFUL and learn everything you can before you blindly try out a technique that may have hidden dangers when it pertains to food safety.

HTH-
Steve

[Phil_M]

I thought the idea with sous-vide was that you can hold the meat at temp to kill the bugs that take hold at that temp range using the time at temperature as opposed to max temp.

That being said, I do not sous-vide, nor do I plan on it. I redneck sous-vide: on the grill in indirect heat, 225-230ish till ~10^o from done. Then sear the crap out of it on direct heat/in a cast iron skillet/etc.

[MDixon]

There are no worries about time to reach temp IMO. Of course you don't want to take all day or anything, but putting a frozen piece of meat in the water and allowing the Sous Vide to bring it up to temp is no issue.

Keep in mind the guidelines should be temp and TIME, but they only list temp so it is really the catch all temp where safety is assured.

Look particularly at the section on Sous Vide:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/craig-goldwyn/usda-pork-beef-temperature_b_867143.html

A Scientific Paper
https://www.fsis.usda.gov/wps/wcm/connect/9ab2e062-7ac8-49b7-aea1-f070048a113a/RTE_Poultry_Tables.pdf?MOD=AJPERES

And something more approachable
http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/07/the-food-lab-complete-guide-to-sous-vide-chicken-breast.html