# What Should I Sous Vide First?



## Preacher Man (May 30, 2019)

Just got my WiFi Sous Vide from @Inkbirdbbq in the mail yesterday evening. I'm totally new to Sous Vide and I'm asking for y'all's advice on a good inaugural cut of meat and recipe.


----------



## pc farmer (May 30, 2019)

I vote chuck roast, awesome hot roast beef sammies.  Follow Bears step by step.


----------



## chopsaw (May 30, 2019)

First cook I would do steak , but read up on the chuck roast medium rare . It's fantastic . This is one I did awhile ago .
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/first-long-sv-cook-chuck-roast.270657/

Or as roast beef and gravy .
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/chuck-roast-beef.281817/
Like farmer said , check bears steps . That what mine are based off of .


----------



## solman (May 30, 2019)

2nd vote for steak. keep it simple the first time. the serious eats website turned me onto sous vide years ago, and is a great resource to learn more than you ever wanted to know about steaks and sous vide: https://www.seriouseats.com/2015/06/food-lab-complete-guide-to-sous-vide-steak.html


----------



## scottma (May 30, 2019)

I'd also keep it simple.  Get some NY Strips...season them...bag them...and cook at 132 for 1.5-2 hours then sear in a hot cast iron pan or grill.


----------



## SmokinVOLfan (May 30, 2019)

How about some hot dogs?


----------



## daveomak (May 30, 2019)

The best results I've had is with fresh chicken breasts..  Add the meat to a zip bag, add seasonings and veggie stock..  Place a weight in the bottom of the bag so it doesn't float...  Clip the bag to the rim of the water oven leaving the top open so air gets expelled...   I sous-vide at 138 for 4 1/2 hours...  
They can be sliced for sandwiches, diced into salads, what ever...  delicious, tender and juicy...  
 USDA weights


----------



## johnmeyer (May 30, 2019)

I'm with daveomak on this one: chicken breasts. Why? Because the result is very different from what you can get with any other technique. The reason? Because you cook them at a completely different temperature from what you can do with normal cooking. Dave recommended 138° F, but I go just slightly higher at 142°. Either way, this is far below the finished temperature of 160°-165° recommended with normal cooking methods. You end up with a texture and taste that is much better than conventional cooking. I love using the chicken made this way as an ingredient in something else, like a chicken salad sandwich.

I am less thrilled with doing steak this way, even though several people are recommending this. The main advantage of sous vide for a steak made from a good cut (e.g., ribeye) is really not the taste or texture, but the uniformity of doneness and the accuracy of the doneness. If you want medium rare, you will get exactly that result every single time you do it, no matter what, but if you can do that using conventional cooking you end up at pretty much the same place. Put another way, you obviously have to do the reverse sear, and once you do that, the results aren't remarkably different from conventional preparation, and you've taken hours to do what you used to do in fifteen minutes. The main reason for using sous vide for steaks is in restaurants, where they can have the steaks prepped and ready to do, and then only have to do the sear before serving.

If you want to do something with meat, look at some of Bearcarver's posts about doing extremely long cooks on less expensive, tough cuts of meat. He and others claim you can get wonderfully tender results. I haven't yet tried this, but I bet it works really well.

If you want to make recipes with raw eggs, you can pasteurize the eggs prior to using them in a recipe (like mayonnaise) and have a completely safe raw egg dish.

Here's a great site for getting more ideas for what to do with your new gadget:

Serious Eats Sous Vide Recipes


----------



## dr k (May 30, 2019)

I got mine yesterday as well and has been running great for testing since this morning.  I have back bacon that needs smoking this weekend so I'll smoke a chuck roast with the bacon a few hours then SV at 135*/30hrs.


----------



## xray (May 30, 2019)

My vote is for chicken breasts, for the same reasons as Dave and John mentioned.

If you’re really good at cooking a steak you will see marginal benefit from using SV. 

But you could also cook a steak straight from the freezer, it makes cooking dinner a breeze.  That’s where it shines when it comes to steak...all the fuss and prep is done in the beginning and you could pull out the steak and sear when dinner is convenient for you.

Also with the wifi units, you could put your bag in some ice water with the SV unit in the morning and then remotely turn on the SV, this way dinner is done when you get home.

Here’s some chicken I did

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/southwest-chicken-salad-sous-vide.262686/

https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/sous-vide-chicken-piccata-kind-of.261557/

Definitely check out Serious Eats and Sous Vide Everything...those guys make some fun videos.


----------



## Winterrider (May 30, 2019)

Chicken breasts remain very juicy with this method. Can just do them spog and toss them in.


----------



## Preacher Man (May 31, 2019)

daveomak said:


> The best results I've had is with fresh chicken breasts..  Add the meat to a zip bag, add seasonings and veggie stock..  Place a weight in the bottom of the bag so it doesn't float...  Clip the bag to the rim of the water oven leaving the top open so air gets expelled...   I sous-vide at 138 for 4 1/2 hours...
> They can be sliced for sandwiches, diced into salads, what ever...  delicious, tender and juicy...
> USDA weights


What a second... You can cook chicken to less than 165º?!? 

Somebody please 'splain. This is seriously messing with everything I've ever been taught about chicken.


----------



## Bearcarver (May 31, 2019)

Hey Preacher Man!!
Chuckies are Great, both ways, but by far the Best thing is an Eye Round made @ 132° for 21 hours:

*Great Chucky! 
Pulled Beef Chuck Roast 
Eye Round in SV 

Bear*


----------



## Bearcarver (May 31, 2019)

Preacher Man said:


> What a second... You can cook chicken to less than 165º?!?
> 
> Somebody please 'splain. This is seriously messing with everything I've ever been taught about chicken.




I do Breast @ 146°, but I take Chicken Thighs to 165° in my SV.

Bear


----------



## Bearcarver (May 31, 2019)

Here's what came with my SV:


----------



## daveomak (May 31, 2019)

It's called  pasteurization....
Read up on Doug Baldwin's stuff....  He's the Guru of Sous-Vide....

http://www.douglasbaldwin.com/sous-vide.html#Table_4.1

..


----------



## daveomak (May 31, 2019)

I've tried them at 143, 148...  tough ...
I settled in on 138...  tender, moist...  The veggie stock adds a great flavor of vegetables to the meat...  

Just did these...  In the bag with the weight, stock and seasoning...
On the fine china plate with Chile sauce..

.......
	

		
			
		

		
	






	

		
			
		

		
	
... 
	

		
			
		

		
	






	

		
			
		

		
	
 ....

It don't get no better than that....


----------



## Preacher Man (May 31, 2019)

Thanks for the explanation fellas!


----------



## Preacher Man (May 31, 2019)

I just dropped a chuck roast in at 138º


----------



## pc farmer (May 31, 2019)

Preacher Man said:


> I just dropped a chuck roast in at 138º




Yes, I am the winner.  You will love it


----------



## Winterrider (May 31, 2019)

If you like hard boil eggs or pickled, the SV @ 190° for 20 mins then ice bath. The very easiest peeling eggs I've ever had.


----------



## pc farmer (May 31, 2019)

Holly2015 said:


> pc farmer wins the centerpiece off the table :)




Ha.  I am just funnin him.   All good info by you all.


----------



## Preacher Man (May 31, 2019)

pc farmer said:


> Yes, I am the winner.  You will love it


Haha! I love a competitive spirit.


----------



## pc farmer (May 31, 2019)

Holly2015 said:


> Same here just getting in a little jab. We all know Preacher Man is secretly SV'ing a big batch of gizzards and hearts.




Oh I hope he is.    I still need to look for them here.


----------



## Preacher Man (May 31, 2019)

Holly2015 said:


> Same here just getting in a little jab. We all know Preacher Man is secretly SV'ing a big batch of gizzards and hearts.


That was a tough one to pass up. Gizzards and hearts takes me back to my younger days when dad would go by the strip to pick up his beer (we lived in a dry area) and my prize on the way home was a huge bucket of gizzards and hearts. 

Fried, of course.


----------



## pc farmer (May 31, 2019)

Holly2015 said:


> pc let me know iffen you can't find them. Weather is nice and always looking for a 60 to 70 mile ride that I can turn into a 300 or 400 mile ride. The R1200GS has been freshly shod and G's & H's can be delivered.




Will do.  You should come to the pa gathering


----------



## Braz (May 31, 2019)

Nice ride Holly.


----------



## daveomak (Jun 1, 2019)




----------



## Bearcarver (Jun 1, 2019)

Holly2015 said:


> Same here just getting in a little jab. We all know Preacher Man is secretly SV'ing a big batch of gizzards and hearts.




MMMmm---I could go for a bunch of them !!!

Bear


----------

