OT: Sous Vide Cooking

[MaroonCrusader]

I have been thinking about buying a sous vide machine ever since we went to a friends house and they cooked some ribeyes this way..they were cooked perfectly and seared on the grill after. Any of y'all have one of these things and can comment on them?

 

[civildawg88]

I got one about six months ago and it’s awesome. I suck at grilling chicken, always dry it out but with this it is tender and very moist

 

[57stratdawg]

I love it. But to me it’s best for pork and chicken rather than steaks. Nothing wrong with the steaks, but I miss the wood/smoke flavor on steaks. It can be a little tricky getting fat to cook down when you sousvide ribeyes too, IMO.

Its the best way to cook some 1.5inch bone in pork chops.

 

[TXDawg.sixpack]

I have been thinking about buying a sous vide machine ever since we went to a friends house and they cooked some ribeyes this way..they were cooked perfectly and seared on the grill after. Any of y'all have one of these things and can comment on them?

I got the Joule about 3 months ago. Best chicken, pork chop, and filet I’ve ever made. I jumped on the reverse sear method for steaks a LONG time ago. It’s good, but this is even better.

As mentioned in a previous post, you do miss on the smokiness, bu there are ways around that if you’re wiling to put in the time:

https://amazingribs.com/more-technique-and-science/more-cooking-science/sous-vide-que-marrying-grill-and-smoker-sous-vide


https://amazingribs.com/more-technique-and-science/more-cooking-science/big-chill-trick-making-perfect-sous-vide-que-steak

He best part about the Sous vide for me is the ease with which I can cook steaks at different temps and have them all done at the same time. It takes time to do it right, but it’s well worth the effort.

 

[Dawgbite]

I actually have been researching this for awhile. There is a good Facebook group devoted to this. I finally decided that it was just another added step to get to where I can get to with a fire anyway. A good instant read meat thermometer is a better investment in my opinion. No doubt it's pretty foolproof but I like my fire.

 

[aTotal360]

I got over sous vide after about 2 cookings. Takes too long and the payoff is negligible. It fool proofs cooking a cheap steak, but it's too much of a process. Anyone that says a sous vide steak is 1000x better than a normally grilled steam, doesn't know how to grill a steak in the first place.

 

[jethreauxdawg]

Good grief!

I just got the Blackstone paid off, now I’ve got to get something else? I love the blackstone, maybe I do need this, too.

 

[615 Guy]

Been thinking about getting one myself, big price range, anyone have a rec?

Meant to reply to the main thread, I am an idiot on Saturdays

 

[codeDawg]

Lots of fun. The steaks are fine, but doing chicken and pork this was is good too. If you aren’t grossed out by pink chicken you can cook it to a normally unsafe temp if you keep it in the bath long enough. It will be super tender and juicy

Some of my best results are seafood though. Shrimp is awesome. Always the perfect texture. I buy premarinated frozen salmon and toss it in for lunch some days.

My best cooking secret with it is using it to safely defrost food though. Put a bunch of ice in the water and set the temp to 34 degrees. It will defrost food quickly and safely to that temp so you don’t have to wait on the fridge overnight or have it unsafe in the sink.

 

[Jeffreauxdawg]

While we are experimenting... I really want this.



https://us.beefer.com

It's expensive, but damn I love steak.

 

[WrapItDog]

keep it in the bath long enough. It will be super tender and juicy

How long do I leave it in the bath for the Dale's to really penetrate the meat?

 

[57stratdawg]

I have the Anova, it’s been great. If you keep an eye out, you can usually grab it on Amazon for less than $100.

It has Bluetooth, but I never use it. The App gives you plenty of receipts, you can save your favs, etc.

 

[hatfieldms]

I agree. My favorite to cook Sous vide are pork chops. Surprisingly burgers are also really good cooked sous vide

 

[blacklistedbully]

I've been sous-vide cooking for a long time now. You're getting some good and some bad info here. Sous vide is awesome. If you know what you're doing you can easily overcome every objection you've seen in this thread.

I'd suggest you make your own, "machine" by purchasing an immersion circulator and a cooler, then adapting the cooler to accept your IC. I've made some for friends in various constructions.

Of course you can just buy the immersion circulator and use it in a stock pot to see how you like it. I love using the coolers as you can heat larger amounts of water more efficiently, which means you can cook more food at the same time, or larger packages like a rack of ribs.

Personally, I wouldn't buy the expensive ones with blue-tooth, wifi, etc. Not needed. Do buy an accurate thermometer that you know reads correctly (test by boiling water to see if it reads 212 when the water boils). That way, if the IC doesn't read correctly (some are off by 4 or more degrees), it's not a problem...you just adjust the temp on it until it reaches your desired temp on your instant read thermometer.

I could go on and on about the wonders and benefits of sous vide, but it would take a long post. If you want me to share what I kniow, including how to make your own, let me know.

BTW, you cannot make a steak the same way on a grill as you can with sous vide then a sear. Happy to explain why, but it is simply impossible.

 

[aTotal360]

I have an Anova as well. They are almost always on sale on Amazon.

https://www.amazon.com/Anova-Culina...UTF8&qid=1532826972&sr=1-5&keywords=sous+vide

 

[seshomoru]

Had a Wancle for about a year now

Freaking love it.

Best thing I’ve done is a brisket at 145 for 36 hours. Then whenever hell i felt like it, smoked it up to 195 on the Traeger on high.

 

[patdog]

A good instant read meat thermometer is a better investment in my opinion.

Bought a remote thermometer a few months ago. Chicken, fish, & steaks have all come out perfect since then.

 

[blacklistedbully]

Almost all of them work just fine. Recently bought a few of these to make for friends,
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BT57W6F/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

$52. No bluetooth or wifi, but you don't need them with sous vide.

Even better, go to vipon.com and get one for a great deal in exchange for a review. Takes you to amazon..you just purchase through Amazon with the promise you'll give an honest review.
https://www.vipon.com/product/50981...-Stick-Machine-Kitchen?ref=ss_5098197_1_title
I've bought this one before as well. Works great and through Vipon is $34.29.

Keep in mind, if you decide to later do the, "cooler thing" where you cut holes in a cooler lid to slide your immersion circulator in, you'll want an immersion circulator that doesn't have a clip fastened to it. You want one that has a separate bracket that fastens to a pot, which your circulator then slips into. When you cut the holes in a cooler, you don't need the separate bracket anymore.

Either of the ones I've linked work great for this.

You're better off buying one of these less expensive ones, or even buying two of them so you can then buy a large cooler, cut two holes and use two at the same time for things like a rack of ribs.

Were I in your shoes or the OP's, I'd buy the $34 one (or even two of them) and give it a spin in your standard stock pot to see how you like it.

As I said before, make sure you also have an accurate instant thermometer so you can calibrate what setting you need to use on your immersion circulator to get the real water temp.

 

[DAWG61]

If you leave a steak in a Worcestershire bath for about a week it'll cook it up to R. Just in case anyone was wondering. [h=3][/h]

 

[blacklistedbully]

Keep in mind, sous vide cooking imparts a lot more flavor, so you'll want to use less seasoning than normal, or your end product could wind up overwhelmed.

 

[blacklistedbully]

Some pics of rigs I've put together:
View attachment 10793
My largest one so far. In the middle is the remote instant read digital thermometer I use. Has two probes for two readings. I also cut a sheet of plexiglass including holes for the immersion circulators. This way, I can continue to use the cooler as it was originally intended, and I can see through to what's cooking.


View attachment 10794
On this one I just cut holes in the lid for the IC's and a thermometer probe. The black bracket in the middle of the top is the way these things attach to a stock pot or other container that doesn't have holes cut in a lid. This is the kind you want, rather than the ones with clips attached. It allows you to cut a clean round hole in the lid. Go with the attached clip ones only if you don't intend to use a cooler later on.

View attachment 10795
This is my smallest one with one hole cut for the IC and one small one drilled for the thermometer.

All of them work great. The small one is good for at least 2 steaks or a few ears of corn, etc. Heats up pretty fast since there's a lot less water to heat.

Don't get too caught up in the watt ratings. Sous vide cooking takes more time, so does it really matter if your water heats up 15 minutes or less faster when you're cooking for an hour to 48 hours, depending on recipe? Sous vide is about considering cooking time in advance, realizing you've got a huge window, literally hours wide, so you can set it up, then go about your business, knowing if your food is done in an hour, you can go get it an hour later, 2 hours, 4, etc. It's gonna stay the same level of done.

 

[blacklistedbully]

It can be a little tricky getting fat to cook down when you sous vide ribeyes too, IMO.

You must be doing it wrong. Ribeyes are one of the best things you can sous vide. Done properly the fat renders better than any other way, IMO. Just make sure you sear it after you take it out of the sous vide.

I prefer to use an iron skillet to sear after. 30-60 seconds per side and you have a restaurant-quality steak.

 

[blacklistedbully]

Probably get the same effect leaving it in a bag of urine, but I'm damn sure not gonna ruin a prime cut of steak by brineing or marinating it in anything.

I guess if you really just love the flavor of Worcestershire you could go that route, though I'm highly skeptical it compares to sous vide in any case.

Sous vide makes the steak exactly the degree of done you want from surface to surface. Then when you sear after, only the surface gets cooked for that nice char. Cooking via grill, pan-fry, broiler, etc subjects the steak to gradation, where the very center can be rare/medium rare, etc, but a good portion of the meat below the surface is well-done, gradually becoming more rare as you approach the center. And every part that is not rare/medium rare is a percentage of the juice that you're losing.

Also, cooking sous vide allows you to safely cook at, "less well done". Harmful bacteria is killed by heat relative to time subjected to heat. Shorter cooking times require higher heat. With the lower temps of sous vide at the longer times, the bacteria is killed without over-cooking the meat. Since the food never rises above the temp of the water, your food will come out of the bath just the way you want it...no guess work...no careful timing required, etc.

Take burgers as another great example. Most people really like a juicy burger, but most people also know it's risky to eat a burger anything less than well done because, unlike steaks where the really bad bacteria is on the surface (where it is quickly killed off by sufficient heat), in ground meat the bad bacteria is mixed all the way though when it is ground. Traditional cooking requires every part to be well done to be really sure...any pink in burgers carries a risk (people do it anyway, but it is a risk).

But if you cook it sous vide, you can literally have it just about as rare as you could possibly want it and have it be perfectly safe and juicy. Truly, if you want an incredibly juicy burger that you know is safe to eat, sous vide that puppy, then pan-sear it (or hit it with a torch, or use a BBQ charcoal chimney of you want that smoke flavor).

 

[blacklistedbully]

 

[blacklistedbully]

 

[blacklistedbully]

Sorry, but this is just wrong. You literally cannot achieve the same results with fire. It's scientifically impossible. You may well decide you like the, "fire" version just fine, but you will never achieve the same results.

Take a 2" thick steak for example. In order to get the center of your steak medium rare over fire you have to heat it from the surface up, then flip and repeat. Since the heat must pass through, you are exposing the parts closer to the surface to more heat and for longer time.

With sous vide, you are cooking your food in a vacuum surrounded by water set to the temperature associated with your desired level of done. For medium rare I go with 130 degrees. With this method every part of the steak is brought to 130 degrees, so the entire steak, surface-to-surface if exactly medium rare with all the extra juiciness that goes with it. Since searing for the char can be done in 30 seconds per side, there is no gradation. That's just long enough to get that char without cooking the rest of the meat beyond medium rare.

Fire can't do this...it just can't. With fire, the parts of your meat closer to the fire cook more. They have to in order for the temperature to rise enough in the center of the steak to get to medium rare. And every part of your steak that gets above 130 degrees is losing some of the juice.

 

[Jeffreauxdawg]

Seems too much like boiling a hot dog vs grilling it. I like the unevenness of the grilled dog. Boiled dogs are yucky.

Now I will admit, I am **** at grilling steaks so I went to the skillet-stove-oven method, but that dance from the char on the outside to the rare in the middle seems like the good stuff. If the whole mofo was mid rare, I would likely give myself gout.**

I will have to try it before I admit that I am wrong, but it's intriguing.

 

[MaroonCrusader]

A lot of high end steakhouses cook their steaks Sous Vide now.

 

[Dawg1976]

I'm a charcoal guy myself but have gone the simple indoor route too.....with just a pan.

 

[Uncle Ruckus]

You are pretentious and annoying as 17 in this thread.

 

[blacklistedbully]

Don't have a pretentious bone in my body. I just happen to be well-informed on this particular subject and like to help people that need help.

There are two posters on here specifically asking for help and they are getting some bad info. Not just bad opinions, but bad info in some cases.

You're just being an ******* for no good reason whatsoever.

 

[blacklistedbully]

The biggest difference is with the sous vide you are cooking,"under vacuum". You're also almost always cooking at temps well below boiling. Another difference is juice retention. With boiling you're allowing the water to permeate your food as well.

Scientifically there is a massive difference between boiling and sous vide. Just check out the above youtube videos of steaks cooked sous vide, then imagine what those steaks would be like if you boiled them.

 

[blacklistedbully]

Yep, and they have several of them precooked in a sous vide bath so all they have to do is sear them.

That reminds me, you can also cook them sous vide, then seal them back up and put them in the fridge for later. Good for parties, etc. You can have as many as you need ready to go so you can finish them more quickly when you need them.

 

[hatfieldms]

I do like flank steaks done by the sous vide method but as far as ribeyes/filets etc I prefer the grill. I have a Kamado grill and will get the temp up to 700+. I cook steaks two minutes per side and then two minutes with the vents closed

 

[blacklistedbully]

Another great thing is you can cook from frozen...just add a little extra time...not a big deal since with sous vide you're starting the bath well in advance anyway.

This makes it easy to buy in bulk if you want or see a good deal, then throw your food in the freezer. Even better if you vacuum seal your food before you freeze it. Not only does vacuum-sealing protect your food longer in a freezer, it allows you to simply pull it from the freezer and throw it right into the sous vide bath. No need to let it thaw prior.

 

[blacklistedbully]

I still really like pan-seared ribeyes as well. They don't cook the same, but they're still damn good. If I want a steak in minutes instead of an hour, I'll pull out the iron skillet using this Alton Brown method:
https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/pan-seared-rib-eye-recipe-2131274

 

[DAWG61]

Good job catching on to the joke

 

[blacklistedbully]

I guess so. Didn't seem, "ha-ha" funny so I thought you were inferring a week-long marinade in the fridge. Sorry I misunderstood.

 

[UpTheMiddlex3Punt]

I did redneck sous vide. Saran wrap and ziploc the meat, get a pot of water up to 140, turn it off, and toss in. Wait about 30 minutes then put on the grill.

 

[ScoobaDawg]

I have been thinking about buying a sous vide machine ever since we went to a friends house and they cooked some ribeyes this way..they were cooked perfectly and seared on the grill after. Any of y'all have one of these things and can comment on them?

Get a cheap vacuum sealer. Foodsaver (less than $50)
Get an Anova Sous Vide for $129
https://www.amazon.com/Anova-Culinary-Precision-Bluetooth-Included/dp/B01HHWSV1S/

Get a cast iron grill pan.

Enjoy having perfectly cooking meat every time.