"Sous Vide" Discussion

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I love doing the DIY projects for just about anything. However with something like this for home I think I would go the Anova path. For the price diffrence of making one verse buying the Anova immersion circulator. You have a compact, accurate and tested design that works for up to 5 gallons of water at a fairly decent price.  That is sweet, I may pick one up after my Build

With that said I would suggest using a container that is insulated to help with better temp accuracy. We have seen some temp issue like mentioned earlier depending on the different containers used. Im with you on that, Some folks are saying that high temps in stuff like coolers may not be a wise choice, I have no clue and my build is a 54qt Coleman.

Just a crazy tip....... Don't plug into a switched outlet. It might get turned off and cause you to loose the cook batch......really makes the day suck to start off......I lost 5# of beef short ribs to just that.....
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I could not find anything about not using a cooler for hot food. I did find several on cooking corn, shrimp, potatoes and other items in coolers by pouring boiling water over top and closing the lid. I would make sure it is a good quality cooler and not a cheap quality one. In catering we use these Cambro products that are basically a different shaped igloo cooler. We go straight from the oven to them with no issues. After a couple hours we still need towels to remove the pans. I don't think the temps used for sous vide cooking will cause much if any issues for a good quality cooler. Just my $0.02.......
 
I could not find anything about not using a cooler for hot food. I did find several on cooking corn, shrimp, potatoes and other items in coolers by pouring boiling water over top and closing the lid. I would make sure it is a good quality cooler and not a cheap quality one. In catering we use these Cambro products that are basically a different shaped igloo cooler. We go straight from the oven to them with no issues. After a couple hours we still need towels to remove the pans. I don't think the temps used for sous vide cooking will cause much if any issues for a good quality cooler. Just my $0.02.......
I have read on a few websites (general chit chat) no science, that it may be unsafe at higher temps and you know everything on the web is true, the internet don't lie.
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I'm not worried about it and personally think it's fine as well, hell I think I ingested more harmful stuff working on my new sous vide machine, Paint, Tolulene, Grinding and cutting plastic etc...
 
Sous Vide Top Round
 
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  • This is my first Sous Vide top round, some of the family prefer this cut cooked to a medium I prefer medium rare at the most, I set the machine for 134° "medium Rare".
  • Dinner was planned for around 5:30 and I figured a two hour Sous Vide bath was plenty, but due to unforeseen circumstances the dinner had to sit a bit longer in the bath, about an hour.
 
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  • I hate when these are packaged on those foam trays, there's no way to check the meat, luckily these were cryovaced.
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  • Trimming and slicing
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  • Presear in an oiled skillet 60 - 90 seconds per side.
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  • Salted and tenderized each side, the meat was hit with the Jaccard about ten times each side. A presear is suggested for safety reasons if using a Jaccard type tenderizing method.
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  • All fat is trimmed then fried (I suggest removing all the fat before serving the steak unless your going to hit it with a torch during the post sear).
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  • Fat is placed in a bag with some ingredients for a gravy, If you want to make a good gravy, you can put the fat on hours and even at a much higher heat before you plan on cooking the steaks.
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  • Everything is vacuum sealed with weights. The top two packages are the steaks the bottom pack is the fat and gravy ingredients with two end cut steaks.
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  • Temp was set to 134°

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  • Meat is removed from the bath.

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  • All drippings and the gravy bag are poured into a pot on low heat, a little vermouth is added then ran through a sieve.
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  • Post searing the steaks. If you have any fat on the sides of the steaks, either trim the fat off or hit the sides with a torch.

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  • Just the way the family likes'em. I like them more rare, next cook I'm going to drop the temp from 134° to 132°, hopefully that will make everyone happy.

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Looks like a great plate of food. I would not have any issues with sitting down to a plate like that.

But because I am still learning more about this process i have a question. Why the steps before the vaccum sealing? I know they are to tenderize, but the sous vide process in my understanding is supposed to make the meat very tender.

BTW I love the weights!!!!
 
Looks like a great plate of food. I would not have any issues with sitting down to a plate like that.

But because I am still learning more about this process i have a question. Why the steps before the vaccum sealing? I know they are to tenderize, but the sous vide process in my understanding is supposed to make the meat very tender.

BTW I love the weights!!!!

Cooking in a Sous Vide setup does not neccesarily mean tender. This may be true for LT-LT cooks... Low temp long time. Sort of the same idea behind low and slow.
The presear is two fold. Its a safety thing because you are piercing the outside of the meat pushing to the inside and a presear helps limit the amount of penetration on the post sear.
I hope I answered your question.
If you were referring to the gravy stuff, you don't need to do the post vacuum steps, but it made sense to me at the time. I could have just as easily cooked the fat down on the stove.
 
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"---Just a crazy tip....... Don't plug into a switched outlet. It might get turned off and cause you to loose the cook batch......really makes the day suck to start off......I lost 5# of beef short ribs to just that....."

Good tip. However, you should plug into a GFP outlet anyway, which is generally not switched.

"---With that said I would suggest using a container that is insulated to help with better temp accuracy.----"

 

It is a very good idea to have good insulation for the container. I may be wrong, but I don't think that has anything to do with temperature accuracy, which is supposedly controlled by the PID electronic logic. That is one of the reasons why you need a PID controller. Good insulation will allow faster water temperature rise, and will save you energy cost.

 

 

TBSTBS
 
Giving this a Bump.

Sous Vide - Smoked London Broil and Chuck Steak
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.... and Stew

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Sous Vide - Buffalo Wings
 

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Sous Vide Venison Roast

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Not an expert here. Only done a few things Sous Vide. The company I work for their Food Safety Team is not a huge supporter of this cooking style. They allow a couple kitchens to play with it while they come up with a safe process for it. But the kitchen I currently work in was able to purchase one. It is the PolyScience Sous Vide Professional Chef one. It is a model where we can attach it to just about any container. I will say this model has a very high water flow, actually a bit too much and usually tone it down a bit for the size of container we use.

Just tossing out ideas for a water flow method. What if you were to use a magnetic driven water pump for an aquarium for the circulation. Maybe use a cooler with two cambers, one for the food and another for the heater. Put the thermometer probe in the food chamber to be monitored. Another thought is to again use a cooler, but put the heater and aquarium pump inside a 6" PVC casing with holes to allow the water flow, again the probe in the food section for more accurate temp monitoring............. I really like the flexibility the model we have gives us verse the box styles........


I am very interested in this and look forward to learning.

I agree with what was said about food safety. It is all in the freshness and handling. Use only fresh properly handled products and you will lessen the chances of food born illnesses greatly.........
First, great thread, guys - great idea to start it.  In the interests of full disclosure, I'm a sous vide convert and I own a Sansaire immersion circulator, and am a Kickstarter backer for both the Searzall (torch attachment) and the Anova 2 (end generation Anova immersion circulator).  I am not an employee of nor do I have a financial interest in any of the companies mentioned in this thread.

The food safety issue is a valid one, but as long as you follow guidelines, the food is just as safe (in many cases, safer) than food prepared by another method.

The fear with Sous Vide cooking is the meat staying in the "danger zone" - between 40 and 140 degrees - too long and will allow the bacteria to multiply to unsafe levels.  For simplicity, let's talk chicken...chicken is unsafe to eat unless it reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees, right?  Yes...for traditional methods.  The problem is with grilling chicken, you cook it until it's done and then take it off - you can't maintain a set temperature for the meat because the heat source is always going to be a higher temperature than the food.  Knowing this, we are all taught to cook chicken to at least 165 degrees to kill the salmonella - and at 165 degrees and beyond, salmonella is instantly killed.  However, you can cook chicken at 130 degrees and as long as it is held at 130 degrees for 112 minutes or more, you have the EXACT same sterilization of the food as at 165 degrees.  Take a look at this chart - it's published by the FDA, and it shows just how dramatically the hold time reduces with temperature:

Center temperature

Hold time

130ºF

112 minutes

140ºF

11 minutes

150ºF

1 minute

155ºF

5 seconds

158ºF

instant (less than 1 second)
If you've never tasted chicken that's been cooked at 140 degrees, you're missing out (130 is too moist for me...can't describe it, but it just kinda weirded me out).  

In a perfect world, a temp probe in the food would be great - it's just not practical.  You have to seal the food from the water, and I don't know anyone (yet - I'm probably passing on yet another million dollar idea here) who makes a wireless probe that could be completely enclosed in the bag...though you could make it small and rechargeable and have it transmit the temp via blue tooth...Hmmm....kickstarter project, anyone?  If you pay attention to the timing, you really don't need the probe - if you can maintain the water at a 140 degree temperature, anything you insert into it is going to reach that temperature or the temperature in the bath will reduce - don't rush it and make sure you give it enough time to get to proper temp and then hold the temp and it's perfectly safe.

That being said, sous vide cooking isn't for everybody, and if someone does something they shouldn't, the food could be dangerous.  It remains important to observe proper food handling guidelines.  Done correctly, sous vide increases food safety and is 100% replicable because you're eliminating so many of the variables.
 
I am not sure why you need to measure IT of food in a sous vide cooker.

Food in a bag inside a circulating hot water container that is controlled by a PID controller, it is impossible for it not to reach and maintain exact (+- 1 degree F/C) temperature. That is one of the beauties of cooking sous vide. No more poking probing around.

dcarch
 
In a perfect world, a temp probe in the food would be great - it's just not practical.  You have to seal the food from the water, and I don't know anyone (yet - I'm probably passing on yet another million dollar idea here) who makes a wireless probe that could be completely enclosed in the bag...though you could make it small and rechargeable and have it transmit the temp via blue tooth...Hmmm....kickstarter project, anyone?
 

All that's needed is some sealing tape and a miniature needle temperature probe.
The tape facilitates puncture of the bag without leakage.
It works great and it's useful in very accurately timing pasteurization.

....if someone does something they shouldn't, the food could be dangerous.

But that applies to any type of food preparation, doesn't it? :smile:


~Martin
 
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Any thoughts on the SousVide Supreme Water Oven? Looking into buying one.

Never used one. It looks like it has good reviews. If I was spending the money I would go with the immersion style and buy a vaccuum sealer to go with it. Then have some money for meats to practice with. But that is only me and my money.
 
As to the Sous Vide Supreme (SVS), does it work? Mostly yes. Is it worth the money? Not at all. I have a PID controlled 22 ltr steam table from my first build and a Avona imersion circulator. The imersion circulation is much more usefull and about $199 vs $300- $400 of a SVS. If I had to do again I'd buy the Avona (or similar) and if I had that kind of $ to spend on a SVS l would ook at a chamber vac from a commercial dealer such as the web restaurant store. A chamber vac will not only let you vac liquids to cook and achieve a better level of vacumn, it will also allow you to infuse or marinade items quickly. Something not possible with a food saver vacumn machine.
INMHO
 
I have the Sous Vide Supreme. I bought it a few years ago. I have certainly enjoyed it, but I have outgrown it. I am going to purchase the Anova Precision Cooker soon. I also just purchased this chamber vacuum and absolutely love it. The bags are so much cheaper, plus you can vacuum liquids.

http://www.webstaurantstore.com/ary...oiSFsjT2Qz4_KXK2undOD6E4iAuxiiQejGRoCReDw_wcB

I love cooking sous vide then finishing with a sear on the grill. Tri tip is my favorite. I'm glad to see so many folks on board with this. I recently received as a gift Thomas Keller's Under Pressure and it is a great book. There's so many online resources now, which is very nice.



 
All this stuff looks great, I bought one of the Sous Vide Supremes during their open box sale, I have not used it yet just got it.

I would like to see more about those wings SQWIB.

I need to take time and make a spot for it on the counter.
 
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