Having a "crack" at sous-vide

[paulyman]

Attempting pulled pork for tomorrow's meal. 18-24 hours and will be the star of our GYG inspired chipotle pulled pork burrito bowls.

Haven't had much luck with the WIFI on the Anova, but aside from that it works flawlessly. Love this thing in spite of the WIFI.

Edit - oh and I decided to drill out the lid of one of our spare eskies to house the unit. Works perfectly. And would hold its own in the Ghetto thread.

 

[barls]

oh nice I've got a hunk of silverside sitting at 63 atm. it comes out tomorrow.
did 63 eggs for the wife today and they got the big tick of approval.

 

[Coalminer]

Speaking of pork. This was my first attempt at sous vide, 18 hours in the bath followed by a quick upside down visit to the pan to crisp up the crackle then 3 hours in the oven.
Absolute delicious.

Pork belly and crinkle chips.

Brad
What does the 3 hrs in the oven contribute, after 18 hrs in the bath?

 

[drsmurto]

Anyone cooked lamb rosettes (aka neck chops) sous vide?

My local Foodland often has them in the offal section next to shanks and pork hocks for a few $/kg. I generally use them in slow cooked stews but wondered if i could seal them up with some rosemary and garlic and sous vide them for a day or 2?

 

[Cervantes]

I tried sous vide steak for the first time recently.

Two very thick steaks, one rump and one rib eye, in the Braumeister for two hours at 55 for medium rare. Then reverse seared on the barbecue.

Evenly cooked and turned out okay, but I didn't think that they were as juicy as my conventionally grilled steaks on the barbecue.

Am I doing something wrong?

 

[djar007]

Try pre searing it.

 

[reVoxAHB]

Try pre searing it.

Pre-sear will have little effect on end quality, and is generally frowned upon with sous-vide
http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/06/food-lab-complete-guide-to-sous-vide-steak.html#presear

If you are having less than desirable result, follow this guide: https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/sous-vide-steak
Not sure which way to sear, or what works best for you? Watch this (pretty kick ass Adam Savage work): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JB1x0O-bhrw

Reverse sear is fine but try the Heston method (also touched on in the Savage clip) of constant flipping every 15 seconds or so, with screamingly hot source.

I have tried rump only a couple of times at 4 hours 52C (no tenderisation via traditional means - pounding, etc. just plopped into bag seasoned) and it was OK but not very tender. I've had persons suggest rump takes many hours to tenderise.. these folks are on the 40+ hour tip: https://forums.egullet.org/topic/140020-sous-vide-rump-i-expected-more-from-it/%C2 I would again try your rib eye for 3.5-4 hours before pulling from bath, pat dry and sear.

I think the consensus is that if you want a shorter cooking time like 2 hours in your Braumeister, you truly need to use more tender cuts - and the advantage is that something like eye fillet will be spot on beautifully and evenly cooked under sous vide in 45m.

I use an Anova wifi/bluetooth unit fwiw. Oh and cheapie Aldi vac sealer and bags. Works fine.

Cheers

 

[Cervantes]

Thanks for that. Will take a look.

The steaks were tender enough, but to me seemed to be a little on the dry side. They lacked the juice that I get when I cook them on the barbecue.

 

[djar007]

The link you put up revox does little to explain why it doesn't help with dealing in the juices before further holding them in with the vacuum sealing. The Internet is fairly divided on the subject and as cervantes is losing moisture it may be worth a try. It makes sense to me to seal the protein before sous vide to try to hold the juices in as even with a professional cryovac sealer and Mylar bags the juice does push out of the protein.just my opinion based on my understanding and worth sacrificing a steak on to try.

 

[Cervantes]

Taken a look at the video and it's pretty well exactly what I did. (Except for the bay leaf).

The only difference was that mine was sous vide for two hours, not 45 minutes. Maybe that's why it was a little dry. Over cooked maybe.

I'll give it one more try before giving up on it though.

Maybe I'll try the open bag approach next time as I can then use a meat thermometer and know when it's cooked rather than leaving it so long.

 

[SBOB]

The link you put up revox does little to explain why it doesn't help with dealing in the juices before further holding them in with the vacuum sealing. The Internet is fairly divided on the subject and as cervantes is losing moisture it may be worth a try. It makes sense to me to seal the protein before sous vide to try to hold the juices in as even with a professional cryovac sealer and Mylar bags the juice does push out of the protein.just my opinion based on my understanding and worth sacrificing a steak on to try.

searing a steak does nothing to 'seal in juices'.. pre-searing 'fans' just believe that doing some maillard reaction prior to cooking adds to the flavours and assists in the crust/maillard reaction for the final sear

 

[paulyman]

The pulled pork came out great.

Cervantes, have a look at the Serious Eats link Revox linked to. They show what happens to steaks cooked to the same internal temperature for different cooking times. It's quite eye opening. The one on eggs is more amazing visually!

 

[Cervantes]

Cervantes, have a look at the Serious Eats link Revox linked to. They show what happens to steaks cooked to the same internal temperature for different cooking times. It's quite eye opening. The one on eggs is more amazing visually!

I've just re-read the article, but still can't see why my steaks weren't quite a juicy as normal.

I'm thinking that what I call medium rare may in fact be rare, so when I sous vide at 55 I got medium rare steaks as promised, but am actually used to eating them slightly rarer.

 

[dteahan]

Don't "over cook" normal lean steaks with Sous Vide. A medium rare 2cm piece of steak like a sirloin only needs 23 minutes.

While the benefits of sous vide indicate you can't 'over cook' a piece of meat it's not entirely true.

Also many of us are conditioned to enjoy steaks that are grilled and/or have benefited from open flame and lots of Malliard reactions.

In many cases you can cook normal steaks using the frequent flip method and a thermometer to get excellent results - leaving SV for long tough cuts or delicate items like fish.

 

[Alex.Tas]

Is this place a good thread to share some nice sous vide photos?

I've been having good experiences with my 20L birko urn i use for sparge water, and my mk2 pump recirculating the water. with around 15L in there and the pump running, just using the temp dial on the side i can keep temps within 0.5*C. Obviously don't rely on the stated temp on the dial though.

I did a beef topside a while ago, nice and even the whole way through, then a quick touch up with the blowtorch...



I also did a porterhouse recently too, 52 degrees for ~1.5ish hours.

blue cheese and steak is awesome.

I like the convenience of sous vide, you can take it out of the water and finish when you have everything else ready to go.


Anyone try and cook their sous vide eggs during a 63*C mash? ie mash a lager and cook brekkie at the same time - just make sure your eggshells are very clean!

 

[bradsbrew]

I am liking the eggs in the mash idea.

 

[Black Devil Dog]

Had a party on Saturday and decided to try sous vide cooking in my 50 litre Brau for the first time.

Cooked some pork belly for 36 hours at 69 degrees and a blade roast for 24 hours at 65 deg.

Finished the pork off in the oven and the blade was finished in a large frying pan.

The pork was the most tender and delicious pork I've ever eaten, the blade was also very tender and delicious, but slightly over cooked.

I'll make some adjustments to cooking blade when/if I cook it again. Wouldn't change a thing with the pork.

In future I'm going to try and do a regular sous vide cook up after I've done my brewing.

With the gear already out and set up, it won't be much effort to throw something in to cook.

Pork knuckle is on the top of the list.

 

[nosco]

I did a rib eye in my Guten on Saturday. It turn out pretty good but maybe a bit over cooked. I did it @60c for 2 hrs. 60c was to be on the safe side but Ill try about 53c next time. Its hard to tell from pics ive seen on the web because some of them look raw. I may have cooked a bit long in the pan too. Either way it was very tender and juicy. Ill definitely try it again.

 

[zensome]

Having my first attempt at sous vide in the mash tun, smoked a 4.5kg boston butt from costco yesterday afternoon at 80 deg for 4hrs with hickory, it's now been in the water at 74c for 24hrs and will come out tomorrow morning before I brew. Will probably give it a blast in the BBQ at lunchtime for some caramelization and appearance before it gets pulled and loaded onto rolls for the punters around 2pm. Will post pics if I remember to take some.

Fingers crossed!!