I was just reading an article in the Austin American Statesman about Nathan Myhrvold, the renowned chef and author of the $500, 2,000+ page tome Modernist Cuisine.
They linked to an article on "the stall" which reaches the same conclusions as what our own experts here at AmazingRibs found.
What really caught my eye however was this section at the end of the article:
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Sous vide cooking is, in our opinion, by far the best way to achieve the perfect cooking rate necessary for great barbecue. We barbecued in two distinct steps: smoking to impart the smoke flavor, followed by sous vide cooking to achieve the optimum texture and doneness.
Smoking before a long sous vide cooking step has the advantage of proteins remaining intact and able to react readily with smoke. Smoked food continues to change while being cooked sous vide: its pellicle darkens, the rind becomes firmer, and the smoky flavor mellows.
The alternative, of course, is to smoke the food after cooking it sous vide. This also works well, but a longer smoking time is required to develop a robust smoked flavor and appearance. This is because precooking denatures a large fraction of the proteins in a cut of meat or a piece of seafood, which leaves the flesh less reactive to the smoke.
__________________________________________________ ________________________________
Has anyone here tried this or had barbecue prepare this way? I've seen some talk here about Sous vide, but not in conjunction with a separate smoke.
Given Myhrvold's reputation, I'm curious if he's really on to something here.
They linked to an article on "the stall" which reaches the same conclusions as what our own experts here at AmazingRibs found.
What really caught my eye however was this section at the end of the article:
__________________________________________________ ___________________________
Sous vide cooking is, in our opinion, by far the best way to achieve the perfect cooking rate necessary for great barbecue. We barbecued in two distinct steps: smoking to impart the smoke flavor, followed by sous vide cooking to achieve the optimum texture and doneness.
Smoking before a long sous vide cooking step has the advantage of proteins remaining intact and able to react readily with smoke. Smoked food continues to change while being cooked sous vide: its pellicle darkens, the rind becomes firmer, and the smoky flavor mellows.
The alternative, of course, is to smoke the food after cooking it sous vide. This also works well, but a longer smoking time is required to develop a robust smoked flavor and appearance. This is because precooking denatures a large fraction of the proteins in a cut of meat or a piece of seafood, which leaves the flesh less reactive to the smoke.
__________________________________________________ ________________________________
Has anyone here tried this or had barbecue prepare this way? I've seen some talk here about Sous vide, but not in conjunction with a separate smoke.
Given Myhrvold's reputation, I'm curious if he's really on to something here.
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