Sous Vide Que Book

[Brewmaster]

Thank you

[Pequod]

Had $3 in Kindle credits burning a hole in my virtual pocket, now put to good use.

[JGrana]

Finished the book today. Typical Meathead combination of information, myth busting and entertainment. Very good section on microbial safety. Overall a great, quick read, especially for people new to Sous Vide. Left a review on Goodreads and Amazon :-)

Meathead , one thing I noticed - when you click the link in the Kindle book to get the Sous Vide Que Time & Temperature Guide in a larger version, it takes you the Sous-Vide-Que Marrying The Grill, Smoker, And Sous Vide article. After the article, I saw the temp guide article. I went to that article and found the actual link for the larger version. Just an FYI

[Meathead]

Thanks!

[Razor]

Some of the sections of the book are formatted so that one paragraph fills the screen, while other sections are more traditional where I have two columns of text when in landscape mode. Is this by design?

[fzxdoc]

I really enjoyed reading your book, Meathead . It's great to find so much good sous vide information in one place. Special kudos to you for spending so much time to give detailed information regarding food safety with sous vide techniques.

Only one part gave me pause--the section about purge, Sauces from the Bag. You suggest that the purge is pretty worthless for sauce-making unless cooked at very low temperatures to keep the albumin and myoglobin from clotting.

Here on the Pit, Potkettleblack has suggested on this informative topic that heating the purge in the microwave for a minute or so and then filtering the albumin and other clumped products out with a coffee filter placed into a sieve results in a clear purge that translates into some amazingly-flavored sauces and gravies.

Nowadays when I smoke chuck roasts, for example, I'll do a couple the old school way on the smoker but one I will SVQ (or QVQ). I end up with 1 to 2 cups, sometimes, of wonderfully beefy filtered purge. Ditto with an ornery grass-fed brisket flat that I just QVQ'd. I save the filtered purge in the freezer if I don't use it immediately for a sauce or gravy. It's liquid gold.

And for that cook with 3 or 4 chuckies, one of which is SVQ'd? I add the heated filtered purge back into the big batch of pulled beef. It adds so much wonderful flavor.

This filtering method for purge doesn't work so well when I SV a couple of pork chops, chicken pieces, or steaks because there's not all that much (if any) cleared purge left after heating and filtering the smaller amount of purge that results. But for a big piece of meat, the purge is more productive because there is a higher liquid-to-clumped mass ratio after microwaving.

And finally, as you say in your book, the purge can be pretty salty if the meat has been salted and/or dry-brined in the prep stage. When a lot of purge results, I do not find this to be a problem. FWIW, I do not surface-salt meat and add it to the bag right away. If salt is in there, it's from a 24 hour dry brine which I do with a lighter hand for SVQ or QVQ.

Just a thought...

Kathryn

[Meathead]

I have also frozen the purge, and last week to my surprise, my wife threw some beef purge it in the crockpot with some beef and it was wondeerful. And yes, I have read the teachings from Potkettleblack . My beef purge always clots and the little liquid left behind is clear. I have talked to several chefs and they say not to bother. Perhaps I need to do more experimenting with this and hear more feedback from members.

[Potkettleblack]

If I were working in a commercial kitchen, I probably wouldn't bother with filtering. The volume of work for however many covers would diminish the value. The value in purge filtering is in the clarity of the stock, essentially. If you want a clear sauce, filter. If you don't care, don't. And it's generally best harvested from slow low cooks.

[fzxdoc]

Yes, Meathead , I agree that filtering small amounts of purge is not worth the effort. But when I get 1 to 2 cups of purge, then there's a lot of flavor left in that thar bag! Potkettleblack's topic on this that I linked you to in my previous post is a goldmine of info from him and others. It sure enlightened me.

BTW, I posted a review on Amazon and on Goodreads of your book.

Kathryn

[Meathead]

I will go back and read the posts from Potkettleblack I have also reached out to some experts. Maybe I gave up too quickly.

[Meathead]

So I brought the purge question question to Grant Crilly, the boss at ChefSteps. He said that usually purge does not have a lot of flavor right outta the bag. He likes to throw some fat, like butter, in a frying pan. He tosses in some herbs and maybe shallots and garlic. Then he dumps in the purge and it reduces and the proteins turn to gunk. He keeps on frying the gunk! It browns and you get maillard flavors. He then deglazes with stock or wine and then mounts it with butter and then strains it. He shows this process in the video here, starting about 1:10 in https://www.chefsteps.com/activities...red-wine-sauce

[Potkettleblack]

I would never take an argument against Grant, but, as with everything, it's a question of what end you have in mind. Grant's red wine sauce has the tell tale dots in it. That might have extra flavor from the browning of the albumin, but when I make one it's clearer. I dunno that one has better flavor than another...

I will defer to Norm King for the filter side:

https://sousvideresources.com/2016/10/07/sousjus/

[fzxdoc]

Wow. Now that's a thought. Thanks, Meathead . Shows that there's more than one way to skin the proverbial kitty. I think I'll give Grant's method a try on my next SVQ chuck or brisket. Thanks!

Kathryn

[MBMorgan]

Like "Jennifer Miller" in another thread, I’m thinking that the "Steven D" post is probably spam.

Spinaker
Huskee

[Nate]

Defiant SPAM or self promotion.

[fzxdoc]

Same link as other spammers like Franky last week.

[Meathead]

Both Spinaker and Huskee are on vacay. I nuked him. Thanks!

[jnc2015]

Hi Meathead, I was just looking at your terrific sous vide kindle book and there's something that caught my eye, the comparison of Diamond Crystals and Morton Kosher salt. It says Morton Kosher is half as salty as Diamond Crystals but I've always known that to be the exact opposite. To check, I just weighed out a teaspoon of each and the Morton weighs 6 grams and Diamond Crystals 3. Thanks.

[jnc2015]

Thanks! Got it, makes complete sense, that it takes almost twice as much DC to equal saltiness in MKS. Maybe I'm misreading, but the book says (under "Dry Brine") to substitute ½ the quantity of DC or table salt for MK because those 2 are saltier by quantity than MK.

[Meathead]

I'll check the book. Sounds like I made a mistake. Please don't tell my wife I am flawed.

[jnc2015]

No way! Typos happen. ;-) You da absolute best, can't thank you enough for all you do.