Anyone Using Sous Vide To Cook?

[Guy Fawkes]

I've now done Lamp chop, Dteaks (ribeye, T-Bone), Hard boiled eggs (8 in the 6qt pot), Squid, Chicken Thighs (Skinless, boneless)... All have turned out well... All were easy to prepare...

 

The 12qt Rubber Maid container, Sous Vite Balls, and a Jacket for the container are on order.

[Guest]

@Guy Fawkes

 

Invest in a 12 quart with a fitted lid for sous vide as there will be lots of evaporation. Problem lid though is you can't clip. I also have sous vide balls or you can use ping-pong balls to reduce evaporation.

BTW, I never really liked chicken breast but with sous vide chicken breast comes out very moist.

Wouldn’t ping pong balls add a plastic flavor?

 

[MikeBiDude]

Remember the the food is not in direct contact with the water. It’s either vacuum packed, or sealed in some sort of plastic bag before being immersed in the sous vide

Wouldn’t ping pong balls add a plastic flavor?

[510guy]

Wouldn’t ping pong balls add a plastic flavor?

 

And if you are worried about plastic from the bag weather it be a freezer bag or a vacuum sealer bag they can withstand temps up to 190F. I see no reason to ever cook anuanyth that high. 165 is the most I have ever done.

[510guy]

I've now done Lamp chop, Dteaks (ribeye, T-Bone), Hard boiled eggs (8 in the 6qt pot), Squid, Chicken Thighs (Skinless, boneless)... All have turned out well... All were easy to prepare...

 

The 12qt Rubber Maid container, Sous Vite Balls, and a Jacket for the container are on order.

Wow you are becoming quite a pro at this. Some people love dog carrots in these with olive oil and garlic but I think I prefer veggies roasted or steamed.

[MikeBiDude]

Wow you are becoming quite a pro at this. Some people love dog carrots in these with olive oil and garlic but I think I prefer veggies roasted or steamed.

I was surprised how long carrots took....easier and more tasty (pan glazed)ways to do carrots

[Guy Fawkes]

Living in Las Vegas in the summer can be a pain for cooking because of the heat. Sous Vite seems to generate a lot less heat. My favorite so far is Chicken Thighs, Two or Three in a Ziploc bag is just right for a meal.

 

This weeks experiment:

 

I was able to get a family pack of Chicken Thights for 88 cents/pound. I spiced them up with Salt, Pepper, Garlic & Herb for three, Monterey Chicken Spice for two. Packed them two thighs per ziploc bag, pressed out as much air as I could and straight into the freezer except for one (Garlic & Herb) that I'll cook tomorrow. 165 degrees for 1-4 hours (I've been doing 90 minutes)

Should work as spices tend to be freezable. What should be interesting to test is can I go straight from the freezer to the Sous Vite. It takes the water bath about 15-2o minutes to come up to temperature.

 

The 12qt container should arrive tomorrow. I'll be trying the Sous Vite Balls and a Jacket insulating the container.

 

I'll try another batch of Hard Boiled eggs sometime next week. I hoping that new container will be large enough for an even dozen. First batch was hard to peel so I'm going to try the cooking tricks I normally use: 2 week old eggs, Bring them to room temperature, and adding vinegar to the water bath.

[Guy Fawkes]

Straight from the freezer to the Sous Vite works well. The Garlic/Herb spice adds enough color to the thighs that searing them becomes optional. The Monterey Chicken spice less so.

 

Living in Las Vegas in the summer can be a pain for cooking because of the heat. Two or Three in a Ziploc bag is just right for a meal.

 

This weeks experiment:

 

I was able to get a family pack of Chicken Thights for 88 cents/pound. I spiced them up with Salt, Pepper, Garlic & Herb for three, Monterey Chicken Spice for two. Packed them two thighs per ziploc bag, pressed out as much air as I could and straight into the freezer except for one (Garlic & Herb) that I'll cook tomorrow. 165 degrees for 1-4 hours (I've been doing 90 minutes)

Should work as spices tend to be freezable. What should be interesting to test is can I go straight from the freezer to the Sous Vite. It takes the water bath about 15-2o minutes to come up to temperature.

[Guy Fawkes]

Garlic/Herb pork chops work well too. Used the same technique that I used for the chicken thighs.

[+ LIguy]

How much longer do they take to cook when going into sous from the freezer? I have been defrosting first.

[Chuckball]

My partner is into this type of cooking. So asking on behalf of @LIguy the response was: It all depends. If fish, it takes a very short time; if beef it depends on the cut. Best bet is to Google the question or keep track by trial and error. Recently we ate once frozen short ribs that were in the pot all day. Came out very flavourful.

[+ LIguy]

Thanks. I'm going to try turkey thighs tomorrow.

[Guy Fawkes]

Full racks of Pork Ribs were on sale for 99 cents/pound.

 

I opted for 153 degrees, 24 hours using salt, pepper, and Garlic/Herb. The result was meaty, tender, and juicy. This is a more advanced cook but still is doable by a beginner cook.

• I cut the rack of ribs in half. Next time I'll cut into thirds for better portion control and to ease the loading the gallon ziplock bags.
  
• Use a cloth towel to remove the gray skin on the back of the rib. Paper towels just don't cut it.
  
• Put the ribs in before topping off the container. They displace a lot of water. I didn't have to top off the 12qt container during the cook because of the Sous Vite balls and the container scuba suit. The water went down by about 2 cups.
  
• I found a low carb BBQ sauce that was 2 carbs/serving. Actually better than my normal Hawaiian BBQ sauce at 15 carbs/serving. Putting two more on my shopping list, because I love it, it'll disappear before I know it.
  
• Finished in the oven two passes of the BBQ sauce for 15 minutes each pass, final coat when it came out before resting 10 minutes.
  

The best thing is that I still have the half rack in the freezer already seasoned. Will take it out early so that I can add Garlic/Herb. This is a dish that needs aggressive spicing.

Edited July 9, 2018 by Guy Fawkes

[Mhs]

Living in Las Vegas in the summer can be a pain for cooking because of the heat. Sous Vite seems to generate a lot less heat. My favorite so far is Chicken Thighs, Two or Three in a Ziploc bag is just right for a meal.

 

This weeks experiment:

 

I was able to get a family pack of Chicken Thights for 88 cents/pound. I spiced them up with Salt, Pepper, Garlic & Herb for three, Monterey Chicken Spice for two. Packed them two thighs per ziploc bag, pressed out as much air as I could and straight into the freezer except for one (Garlic & Herb) that I'll cook tomorrow. 165 degrees for 1-4 hours (I've been doing 90 minutes)

Should work as spices tend to be freezable. What should be interesting to test is can I go straight from the freezer to the Sous Vite. It takes the water bath about 15-2o minutes to come up to temperature.

 

The 12qt container should arrive tomorrow. I'll be trying the Sous Vite Balls and a Jacket insulating the container.

 

I'll try another batch of Hard Boiled eggs sometime next week. I hoping that new container will be large enough for an even dozen. First batch was hard to peel so I'm going to try the cooking tricks I normally use: 2 week old eggs, Bring them to room temperature, and adding vinegar to the water bath.

I definitely see the appeal of cooking meat & poultry sous vide...but are eggs really worth it? I can have poached eggs in 4 minutes using only a pan of simmering water and a slotted spoon. 15 minutes seems like an eternity! Am I missing something?

[Guy Fawkes]

I tend to hard boil eggs a dozen at a time. I plan to use the Sous Vite Balls mesh bag which should comfortably fit the eggs.

 

I definitely see the appeal of cooking meat & poultry sous vide...but are eggs really worth it? I can have poached eggs in 4 minutes using only a pan of simmering water and a slotted spoon. 15 minutes seems like an eternity! Am I missing something?

Edited July 9, 2018 by Guy Fawkes

[Guy Fawkes]

Most of the recipes quote a range of time say: "1 to 4 hours." I just allow a bit of extra time and put the ziplock bag in while the water is coming up to temperature.

 

How much longer do they take to cook when going into sous from the freezer? I have been defrosting first.

[Mhs]

I tend to hard boil eggs a dozen at a time. I plan to use Sous Vite Balls mesh bag which should comfortably fit the eggs.

Cool...I googled that - certainly looks easy. How long does it take to hardboil them?

[+ LIguy]

Cool...I googled that - certainly looks easy. How long does it take to hardboil them?

 

I hardboil eggs by putting them in a pan and when water comes to a boil i just turn the heat off and leave it on stove til it cools.

[Mhs]

I hardboil eggs by putting them in a pan and when water comes to a boil i just turn the heat off and leave it on stove til it cools.

So do I...but the talk of all this fancy technology makes me wonder if I’m missing something! Lol

[MikeBiDude]

I hardboil eggs by putting them in a pan and when water comes to a boil i just turn the heat off and leave it on stove til it cools.

Eggs and people’s favorite ways to do them....we could talk all day!

 

“The 100 folds of the toque are said to represent the many different ways a chef knows to cook an egg”

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chef%27s_uniform

[Rudynate]

I'm thinking about sous vide as a way to perk up the limited fare on the cutting regime I'm starting - e.g. a lean steak, cooked to medium rare with ginger, herbs and garlic and topped with pickled green onion and cucumber.

[+ Gar1eth]

@Guy Fawkes

 

Invest in a 12 quart with a fitted lid for sous vide as there will be lots of evaporation. Problem lid though is you can't clip. I also have sous vide balls or you can use ping-pong balls to reduce evaporation.

 

BTW, I never really liked chicken breast but with sous vide chicken breast comes out very moist.

 

At what temperature do ping pong balls melt?

 

Gman

[MikeBiDude]

I'm thinking about sous vide as a way to perk up the limited fare on the cutting regime I'm starting - e.g. a lean steak, cooked to medium rare with ginger, herbs and garlic and topped with pickled green onion and cucumber.

Lean steak does well in the sous vide, but I’d sear it on a grill or dry cast iron skillet quickly right before serving to add some browned/Maillard reaction for some flavor. Searing oil free would preserve your health benefits

[Rudynate]

Lean steak does well in the sous vide, but I’d sear it on a grill or dry cast iron skillet quickly right before serving to add some browned/Maillard reaction for some flavor. Searing oil free would preserve your health benefits

 

But cooking sous vide eliminates the problem of AGEs (advanced glycation endproducts).

[rml]

I've done burgers & steaks so far in my sous vide. I hear pork chops are amazing; they're ext on deck