Anyone here have exp. with it ? Looks like really, really gooooood.
Thinking of doing some rib eyes ala sous vide and then searing them for about a minute plus @ 950.
YUM!!!
Sous Vide cooking
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FreeMountainHermit
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Sous Vide cooking
Blah, blah, blah,........
Re: Sous Vide cooking
Check out kenji alt lopez - beer cooler sous vide.
If you can find the specific heat of the thing you want to cook, you can do it all with a styrofoam or rotomolded cooler for pennies on the dollar. We did it for some giant (2+ in) porkchops and they were spectacular.
Make sure you take a peek at the USDA temp/time curve for pasteurization
http://www.prep-blog.com/wp-content/upl ... 00x525.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
If you can find the specific heat of the thing you want to cook, you can do it all with a styrofoam or rotomolded cooler for pennies on the dollar. We did it for some giant (2+ in) porkchops and they were spectacular.
Make sure you take a peek at the USDA temp/time curve for pasteurization
http://www.prep-blog.com/wp-content/upl ... 00x525.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
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FreeMountainHermit
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- Location: Two Dogs Holler, West Virginia
Re: Sous Vide cooking
Been wanting to do it for quite awhile using my Aubers plug and play controller and our old rival crock pot. Darn vac pak is gathering dust as well.
I use my chimney starter to sear rib eyes and I'm guessing that it's over 1K degrees as my pyrometer pegs @ 959F
Most excellent REs.
I use my chimney starter to sear rib eyes and I'm guessing that it's over 1K degrees as my pyrometer pegs @ 959F
Most excellent REs.
Blah, blah, blah,........
Re: Sous Vide cooking
I Google searched on the internet what you are talking about. I have seen vegees in a bag that you drop in hot water but who would have ever thought about doing it to a steak. Apparently upscale eateries are doing it. If I were doing rib eyes I might do one like you are talking about but the other one without searing. I would season it and bag it and cook em both and tell us what you thought. I am thinking Id throw some rosemary in it and garlic salt and I bet it taste like prime rib. The site I went said steak could loose 40 % of the steak but I think they were meaning weight. Wonder if a cheaper piece of meat with a teaspoon of season flour would be good steak and gray. Keep us informed.
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Goofylunatic
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Re: Sous Vide cooking
I've been doing it for over a year now, it is truly amazing. The easy route is to spend $200+ and get an ANOVA or something similar.... The trick is constant heat, circulation, and patience.
I custom made mine for about $30. What I did was bought a HVAC temperature controller off amazon that was a basic temperature guided relay with a long thermocouple. You can set it to either turn on or of based on a temperature you can set. I then made an outlet box that plugs into the wall with the thermocouple wired to it so that the relay turns the entire outlet on and off. Now the free part... I plug my dumb (as in OFF, LOW, HIGH knob; no computer settings) crock pot into the outlet set to high. This is my apparatus.
As for food prep, you need to keep fill contact to the water. The big commercial companies out there will tell you for vac's are the only way to go.... It's not. You can accomplish reasonably the same thing with ziplock bags and your sink. It's known as "water displacement packing" and is quite simple. Fill your sink (or reasonably large bowl/bucket) with water. Put your food in question into a sturdy, quality Zip top bag (I like to use Ziploc Freezer Bags, both gallon and quart depending on food size to be cooked. It has been verified they use temperature safe plastic with zero threat of chemical leaching. It's the same kind of plastic used in the fancy commercial vacuum systems). Quality is important here for the leaching thing I just mentioned. Much like you don't use rubber or silicone in your still... Be smart with your materials here as well. Quality Cling or SARAN wrap are safe plastics as well as Ziplock. You'd have to research more yourself if you want. Don't skimp, nobody likes BPA in their dinner unless they are trying to increase their femininity artificially on purpose. With food in the bag, zip up both sides while leaving an inch gap in the middle open. Then force the bag under water slowly to the zipper, do not submerge. The water pressure will fit the bag around the food and push the air out your gap. You may have to finagle some bubbles to the top, but it does the trick. Finish the zipper while holding the bag under the water. If you did it right, the bag should not be able to sink to the bottom. Done! Fancy near vacuum that's perfect for sous vide, without the cost!
Now how to use it. To cook sirloin for example, I trim as much fat of the meat as I can. That's right, to much fat is a problem here, I'll explain later. I then dry the meat and season to my preference, either salt/pepper or some Montreal steak seasoning. Each steak into the quart Freezer bag and sealed up using the water displacement method. I prepare the device by filling the crock pot ceramic bowl to about an inch from full, put on the glad lid and microwave the whole thing for 15 minutes. This usually brings the water temp up to 160*F, much faster than turning on the crock pot with cold water or getting another pan out to hear the water on the stove first. Out of the microwave and into the crock pot. Into this water I place the thermocouple probe (the one I have is submersible rated and has a wire about 24" long) and the controller will let me know my water temp. If it's something crazy like 170*F or higher, I'll temper the temp with pulling out some of the hot and pouring in some cool water until it's about 160F. Then I set the controller to 133*F. This is the magic. Mine is set to "heat mode" rather than cool, so when the temperature drops just 1 degree F below my setting, 133*F it will turn "ON". In this way, when the temp drops it turns on the outlet the crock pot of plugged into and the crock pot will then hear the water back up! Once the water goes just 1 degree F over my 133*F, it turns the outlet and therefore crock pot back off. It will keep the water bath at your precise temperature within a degree or two as long a the controller outlet has power! Into the water bath goes the sealed sirlion, I put them in so the steak is on edge so to speak and let the edge of the bag hang out the side of the pot and held in place by the lid. I go a minimum of 1 hour per inch. 2 inch sirlion? Minimum 2 hours. Longer is generally better, but too long can be bad. This is nice because you can throw them in say at lunch or in the afternoon, then they will be ready whether you want to eat at 5, 6, or 8 pm that night! Keep the lid on as that will prevent evaporation.
To finish.... You will notice the steaks will come out GREY... This happens, now we need to dress it up! Half of the great flavor of steak comes from the mallard reaction on the grill. This is where the high temp causes caramelization of the cellular sugars in the meat and you get that wonderful char and smokey grill flavor. Your steak in the bag will be swimming in wonderful juice. Use some tongs to get it into a plate. If you're feeling spunky, get a saucepan out and reduce that juice with some wine/mushrooms & onions and create a great topper. If not, discard. Then thoroughly dry the steak with a paper towel on both sides, searing happens faster on dry meat. Get your cast iron pan out grill SCREAMING HOT. You are looking to do this as FAST as possible. Throw the steaks on to get your grill marks/ caramelization. When they look good to you pull them off an serve immediately, NO resting! This step shouldn't take more that 45-90 SECONDS per side! You just spent hours cooking the meat evenly to the perfect temperature, ding kill it on the grill. You are merely searing, not cooking further. Some people even use a blow torch for the final sear, if you go that route use MAP as it burns cleaner and shouldn't leave that propane after taste.
Now cut that baby in half and admire a beautiful charred steak that is perfectly medium rare pink from crispy edge to crispy edge!
I've done steak, fish, chicken, pork chops, fresh pork steaks, turkey breasts, beef tongue, pork heart, shoulder roasts, pulled pork roast (72 hours at 135*F... Spoon tender!). It's my preferred method of cooking now. The only thing I haven't done if vegetables, only because I only have one pot! I have even taken the controller outlet to a friend's house for a part and plugged it into their giant electric roasting oven and cooked 16 rib eyes at the same time. Amazing.
A foot note about trimming the fat. Cooking this method, Low and slow, gives the food time to really break down. This means you can make cheap sirlion fork tender and as delicious as filet mignon. I bought some ridiculous looking sirlion that was cut just like filet and cooked it like this for friends... They didn't know they weren't eating filet and thanked me profusely for cooking them something so extravagant. They couldn't believe me when I told them it was sirlion. Over the coming time, the intracellular fat and connective tissue with denature and render down like fat in a frying pan. This will happen throughout the whole cut off meat. This breaks down the connective forces on the muscle fibers, this tenderizing the meat as well as flavoring it with the rendered fat. If you leave big chunks of fat untrimmed on it, that will render to and lead to to much fat in the bag and the potential for the fat to spoil the flavor you're after. Trim it off there if plenty more in the meat itself. And since you're cooking it sealed in the bag underwater it CANNOT dry out!
You can find temperature guides out on the internet. I generally go 5-8 degrees higher than if I would normally for a cooking method as it cooks so even, you want the food to be warm enough. 125*F on the grill = 135*F on the plate after 10 minute covered rest, even then the very middle might be about 130*F but outside edge is probably closer to 150*F. Fish at 150*F comes out super firm and super flaky... To the point where you have trouble getting it out of the bag in one piece.
Hope this inspires you all to give it a try!
I custom made mine for about $30. What I did was bought a HVAC temperature controller off amazon that was a basic temperature guided relay with a long thermocouple. You can set it to either turn on or of based on a temperature you can set. I then made an outlet box that plugs into the wall with the thermocouple wired to it so that the relay turns the entire outlet on and off. Now the free part... I plug my dumb (as in OFF, LOW, HIGH knob; no computer settings) crock pot into the outlet set to high. This is my apparatus.
As for food prep, you need to keep fill contact to the water. The big commercial companies out there will tell you for vac's are the only way to go.... It's not. You can accomplish reasonably the same thing with ziplock bags and your sink. It's known as "water displacement packing" and is quite simple. Fill your sink (or reasonably large bowl/bucket) with water. Put your food in question into a sturdy, quality Zip top bag (I like to use Ziploc Freezer Bags, both gallon and quart depending on food size to be cooked. It has been verified they use temperature safe plastic with zero threat of chemical leaching. It's the same kind of plastic used in the fancy commercial vacuum systems). Quality is important here for the leaching thing I just mentioned. Much like you don't use rubber or silicone in your still... Be smart with your materials here as well. Quality Cling or SARAN wrap are safe plastics as well as Ziplock. You'd have to research more yourself if you want. Don't skimp, nobody likes BPA in their dinner unless they are trying to increase their femininity artificially on purpose. With food in the bag, zip up both sides while leaving an inch gap in the middle open. Then force the bag under water slowly to the zipper, do not submerge. The water pressure will fit the bag around the food and push the air out your gap. You may have to finagle some bubbles to the top, but it does the trick. Finish the zipper while holding the bag under the water. If you did it right, the bag should not be able to sink to the bottom. Done! Fancy near vacuum that's perfect for sous vide, without the cost!
Now how to use it. To cook sirloin for example, I trim as much fat of the meat as I can. That's right, to much fat is a problem here, I'll explain later. I then dry the meat and season to my preference, either salt/pepper or some Montreal steak seasoning. Each steak into the quart Freezer bag and sealed up using the water displacement method. I prepare the device by filling the crock pot ceramic bowl to about an inch from full, put on the glad lid and microwave the whole thing for 15 minutes. This usually brings the water temp up to 160*F, much faster than turning on the crock pot with cold water or getting another pan out to hear the water on the stove first. Out of the microwave and into the crock pot. Into this water I place the thermocouple probe (the one I have is submersible rated and has a wire about 24" long) and the controller will let me know my water temp. If it's something crazy like 170*F or higher, I'll temper the temp with pulling out some of the hot and pouring in some cool water until it's about 160F. Then I set the controller to 133*F. This is the magic. Mine is set to "heat mode" rather than cool, so when the temperature drops just 1 degree F below my setting, 133*F it will turn "ON". In this way, when the temp drops it turns on the outlet the crock pot of plugged into and the crock pot will then hear the water back up! Once the water goes just 1 degree F over my 133*F, it turns the outlet and therefore crock pot back off. It will keep the water bath at your precise temperature within a degree or two as long a the controller outlet has power! Into the water bath goes the sealed sirlion, I put them in so the steak is on edge so to speak and let the edge of the bag hang out the side of the pot and held in place by the lid. I go a minimum of 1 hour per inch. 2 inch sirlion? Minimum 2 hours. Longer is generally better, but too long can be bad. This is nice because you can throw them in say at lunch or in the afternoon, then they will be ready whether you want to eat at 5, 6, or 8 pm that night! Keep the lid on as that will prevent evaporation.
To finish.... You will notice the steaks will come out GREY... This happens, now we need to dress it up! Half of the great flavor of steak comes from the mallard reaction on the grill. This is where the high temp causes caramelization of the cellular sugars in the meat and you get that wonderful char and smokey grill flavor. Your steak in the bag will be swimming in wonderful juice. Use some tongs to get it into a plate. If you're feeling spunky, get a saucepan out and reduce that juice with some wine/mushrooms & onions and create a great topper. If not, discard. Then thoroughly dry the steak with a paper towel on both sides, searing happens faster on dry meat. Get your cast iron pan out grill SCREAMING HOT. You are looking to do this as FAST as possible. Throw the steaks on to get your grill marks/ caramelization. When they look good to you pull them off an serve immediately, NO resting! This step shouldn't take more that 45-90 SECONDS per side! You just spent hours cooking the meat evenly to the perfect temperature, ding kill it on the grill. You are merely searing, not cooking further. Some people even use a blow torch for the final sear, if you go that route use MAP as it burns cleaner and shouldn't leave that propane after taste.
Now cut that baby in half and admire a beautiful charred steak that is perfectly medium rare pink from crispy edge to crispy edge!
I've done steak, fish, chicken, pork chops, fresh pork steaks, turkey breasts, beef tongue, pork heart, shoulder roasts, pulled pork roast (72 hours at 135*F... Spoon tender!). It's my preferred method of cooking now. The only thing I haven't done if vegetables, only because I only have one pot! I have even taken the controller outlet to a friend's house for a part and plugged it into their giant electric roasting oven and cooked 16 rib eyes at the same time. Amazing.
A foot note about trimming the fat. Cooking this method, Low and slow, gives the food time to really break down. This means you can make cheap sirlion fork tender and as delicious as filet mignon. I bought some ridiculous looking sirlion that was cut just like filet and cooked it like this for friends... They didn't know they weren't eating filet and thanked me profusely for cooking them something so extravagant. They couldn't believe me when I told them it was sirlion. Over the coming time, the intracellular fat and connective tissue with denature and render down like fat in a frying pan. This will happen throughout the whole cut off meat. This breaks down the connective forces on the muscle fibers, this tenderizing the meat as well as flavoring it with the rendered fat. If you leave big chunks of fat untrimmed on it, that will render to and lead to to much fat in the bag and the potential for the fat to spoil the flavor you're after. Trim it off there if plenty more in the meat itself. And since you're cooking it sealed in the bag underwater it CANNOT dry out!
You can find temperature guides out on the internet. I generally go 5-8 degrees higher than if I would normally for a cooking method as it cooks so even, you want the food to be warm enough. 125*F on the grill = 135*F on the plate after 10 minute covered rest, even then the very middle might be about 130*F but outside edge is probably closer to 150*F. Fish at 150*F comes out super firm and super flaky... To the point where you have trouble getting it out of the bag in one piece.
Hope this inspires you all to give it a try!
Last edited by Goofylunatic on Fri Oct 30, 2015 10:09 am, edited 1 time in total.
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BaxtersDad
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Re: Sous Vide cooking
We have an Anova sous vide machine, it is simply the best! You will never cook most of your food the same old way again!
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FreeMountainHermit
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- Joined: Thu May 12, 2011 6:45 pm
- Location: Two Dogs Holler, West Virginia
Re: Sous Vide cooking
Goofylunatic, Thanks for the in depth write up.
Definitely inspirational .
I wonder if steaks could be done beforehand then frozen for later consumption without losing flavor.
Thaw and toss on the grill or CI pan for a quick and tasty meal.
Definitely inspirational .
I wonder if steaks could be done beforehand then frozen for later consumption without losing flavor.
Thaw and toss on the grill or CI pan for a quick and tasty meal.
Blah, blah, blah,........
Re: Sous Vide cooking
Id think that a chicken breast would benefit the most from this method more than anything. They tend to get dry from cooking to slow or burned on outside if to fast. http://recipes.anovaculinary.com/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow They have recipes from steak and ribs to cake and custards and everything in between.
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FreeMountainHermit
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Goofylunatic
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- Joined: Thu Oct 22, 2015 7:19 am
Re: Sous Vide cooking
I agree about the fat. What makes this system different is that it can render ALL fat in the meat given proper time, therefore that large slab of side fat becomes unnecessary to the flavor profile and can overpower.
Also, you might be tempted to put a tab of butter in the bag, but the butter can steal some of the other fat soluble flavors from interacting with the meat and coming out properly. You have to be more conservative with this method, but you are rewarded.
Conversely, marinades I have had excellent results with chicken and fish. I pour a vinegar based marinade that's local here into the bag with the breast or tenderloin and seal it in, cubes it quite well.
As for saving it for a quick meal later? Absolutely, just do it correctly. If you are not going to eat it right away then as soon as it's cooked long enough you switch the bag from the cooker straight to a large bucket of as-cold-as-you-can-get water. Your goal is to get it down to refrigerator temperature as quick as possible so as to not allow bacterial growth that would otherwise spoil it. Then you can refrigerate or freeze as you see fit. When you want it, you could reheat in the water or by any method you choose.
Also, you might be tempted to put a tab of butter in the bag, but the butter can steal some of the other fat soluble flavors from interacting with the meat and coming out properly. You have to be more conservative with this method, but you are rewarded.
Conversely, marinades I have had excellent results with chicken and fish. I pour a vinegar based marinade that's local here into the bag with the breast or tenderloin and seal it in, cubes it quite well.
As for saving it for a quick meal later? Absolutely, just do it correctly. If you are not going to eat it right away then as soon as it's cooked long enough you switch the bag from the cooker straight to a large bucket of as-cold-as-you-can-get water. Your goal is to get it down to refrigerator temperature as quick as possible so as to not allow bacterial growth that would otherwise spoil it. Then you can refrigerate or freeze as you see fit. When you want it, you could reheat in the water or by any method you choose.
Re: Sous Vide cooking
I just ordered a controller for 2 purposes:
1: control my fermenter
2: cook this sous vide
i found it on amazon and it can heat or cool without messing with the innards.... just set the controls , and plug in the appliance ... i had to get a project box, and a few things for less than or close to 30 bucks...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OXP ... ge_o00_s00" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
and it shows Celsius or Fahrenheit ... also the comments from folk have several that did diagrams and construction notes to make it simple to assemble.
GL thanks for the write up that is a great primer... I cant wait to try some moose....
regards
1: control my fermenter
2: cook this sous vide
i found it on amazon and it can heat or cool without messing with the innards.... just set the controls , and plug in the appliance ... i had to get a project box, and a few things for less than or close to 30 bucks...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OXP ... ge_o00_s00" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
and it shows Celsius or Fahrenheit ... also the comments from folk have several that did diagrams and construction notes to make it simple to assemble.
GL thanks for the write up that is a great primer... I cant wait to try some moose....
regards
She was just a moonshiner,
But he loved her Still
But he loved her Still
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Goofylunatic
- Novice
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- Joined: Thu Oct 22, 2015 7:19 am
Re: Sous Vide cooking
I use a very similar one. I have a great idea for a sous vide build... If I ever do it I'll post it somewhere!Rastus wrote:I just ordered a controller for 2 purposes:
1: control my fermenter
2: cook this sous vide
i found it on amazon and it can heat or cool without messing with the innards.... just set the controls , and plug in the appliance ... i had to get a project box, and a few things for less than or close to 30 bucks...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OXP ... ge_o00_s00" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
and it shows Celsius or Fahrenheit ... also the comments from folk have several that did diagrams and construction notes to make it simple to assemble.
GL thanks for the write up that is a great primer... I cant wait to try some moose....
regards
-
Condensifier
- Site Donor
- Posts: 290
- Joined: Tue Jan 01, 2013 4:05 pm
- Location: The Edge of Nowhere
Re: Sous Vide cooking
Lots of great info in this thread already thank you all. Thanks FMH for starting it. I've been thinking about doing this for a while too so I ordered a cheap STC-1000 from a seller on ebay about an hour ago. Just checked and it's already been shipped but I'm sure it will take some time to get here from China. I'll be using it to control my fermenter and sous vide, too.
Re: Sous Vide cooking
along the lines of the sous vide....
another application is what Odin has been preaching about the low temp slow cooked rye bread...
and the Maillard reaction with the bouquet of flavors for making Odin's rye bread whiskey...
all hand in hand
another application is what Odin has been preaching about the low temp slow cooked rye bread...
and the Maillard reaction with the bouquet of flavors for making Odin's rye bread whiskey...
all hand in hand
She was just a moonshiner,
But he loved her Still
But he loved her Still
Re: Sous Vide cooking
I have worked with both home made temperature controllers and and commercial Sous Vide's (two of each, don't ask).
But the home made ones (Sestos and Auber) are fine ... up to a point. From what I can tell, unless you get the feedback loop constants right they are not very accurate. They both run with 5 degrees error, high side. Yeah, smart people can sort them out but why bother. I just set them low.
I've checked a Breville Sous Vide with a Thermopen (anyone want a good Christmas gift idea for a distiller ... but I digress) and found it comes straight to temp with no overshoot and stops about 0.1C off the mark. Amazing. No I am not an employee, just reporting what I measured, work with and like.
We have an Anova which I have not checked. From my cooking of eggs with it I think its pretty accurate. And it is great for mashing, just put it in a cooler of water, set the strike temp, leave it. Come back, add grain. You have to be careful with them as steam from the water can condense in them and they go loopy for a bit. So a marine ply lid with a hole in the middle separates the unit from the water and all is fine.
But the home made ones (Sestos and Auber) are fine ... up to a point. From what I can tell, unless you get the feedback loop constants right they are not very accurate. They both run with 5 degrees error, high side. Yeah, smart people can sort them out but why bother. I just set them low.
I've checked a Breville Sous Vide with a Thermopen (anyone want a good Christmas gift idea for a distiller ... but I digress) and found it comes straight to temp with no overshoot and stops about 0.1C off the mark. Amazing. No I am not an employee, just reporting what I measured, work with and like.
We have an Anova which I have not checked. From my cooking of eggs with it I think its pretty accurate. And it is great for mashing, just put it in a cooler of water, set the strike temp, leave it. Come back, add grain. You have to be careful with them as steam from the water can condense in them and they go loopy for a bit. So a marine ply lid with a hole in the middle separates the unit from the water and all is fine.
Other people can talk about how to expand the destiny of mankind. I just want to talk about how to make whiskey. I think that what we have to say has more lasting value.
Anyone who tells you measurement is easy is a liar, a fool, or both.
Anyone who tells you measurement is easy is a liar, a fool, or both.
Re: Sous Vide cooking
Just got an Anova Sous Vide. Very accuate. Mine is bluetooth but avail in WIFI. Can set a timer on both to shut off.. Pretty impressed on the first go around.... Its been a while so Hi every one
Re: Sous Vide cooking
How's it going bing bot ( halfbaked? )* waves*
HDNB wrote: The trick here is to learn what leads to a stalled mash....and quit doing that.
Re: Sous Vide cooking
Rastus that controller works great but unless they have changed the wiring diagram it is wrong. I have been using that controller for years. Here is a link that will explain the wiring.Rastus wrote:I just ordered a controller for 2 purposes:
1: control my fermenter
2: cook this sous vide
i found it on amazon and it can heat or cool without messing with the innards.... just set the controls , and plug in the appliance ... i had to get a project box, and a few things for less than or close to 30 bucks...
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OXP ... ge_o00_s00" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
and it shows Celsius or Fahrenheit ... also the comments from folk have several that did diagrams and construction notes to make it simple to assemble.
GL thanks for the write up that is a great primer... I cant wait to try some moose....
regards
Temp Controller