I realize this isn't new to most here, but this is part brain dump and part request for feedback.
As of late, I've been experimenting a lot with multiple cooks with different goals on my meats. This began with reading The Big Chill and seeming Epic Grilled Turkey and my recent revelation that low'n slow with sous vide is a thing and what a thing it is! Most recently, I watched another ChefSteps video about brisket and which lead to some additional considerations. I've been doing burgers sous vide a lot lately because it's awesome and pink. And I love pink. Mixed Method Cooking (MMC, haha) is a total revelation. And while I've been doing it for a while (reverse sear generally) I don't know that I really considered deeply what I was doing.
In general, we're going for a number of things when we cook meat. Want to:
1. Control temperature
2. Control texture
3. Control moisture content
4. Impart particular flavors
This gets really complex. My steak, for instance, I want juicy, pink, and tender in the center with enough salt to bring out the flavors but brown and crusty on the outside with a bigger bang of flavor that's a mix of spices and smoke. I'm building a special kind of complementing contrast.
I've finally begun to really think about exactly what I am trying to do with each step. So, let's look at my current burger routine:
1. Sous vide the burgers patties with no seasoning at 131º for a couple hours. They're at the tail end of medium rare and safe for consumption.
2. Cool the burgers. This could be a total chill, or I might let them rest in the fridge for a bit to drop things 20 - 40º. It just depends on time.
3. Fire up the grill to around 225º - 350º (depends on how much time I have), pop some wood on the coals, and smoke them back up to around 110º - 120º.
4. Bring them inside, apply a liberal amount of butter, salt, and pepper.
5. Add more coals, pop a griddle over said coals, and sear the burgers.
The end result are burgers that are pink inside, super smokey, crusty, and delicious. In some respects burgers now require more effort than steaks and I'm not sad about it at all.
First I'm doing target temperature cooking and sterilizing, then smoking, then searing (crusting). I would have presumed moisture would suffer significantly, but as it turns out... you lose moisture primarily in two ways:
1. Muscle fibers constricting under heat. This is why even in a bag we lose a ton of liquid in sous vide.
2. Evaporation. This is only a really big deal (and often intended) on long, dry cooks.
The first is particularly important because, even if you go through a bunch of steps, as long as you're not letting the meat dry out somewhere for long periods, once you hit that target temp and as long as you don't exceed it moisture content isn't going to change too much. When I go through the smoking step on the burgers, there is very little that ends up on the drip pan. The exteriors dry out a bit, which turns out to be a boon for searing anyway. The insides are still juicy though.
This all brings me to my next experiment (or two) with pork. I made carnitas sous vide this weekend and I think it's a better method than "the real thing." Sous vide at 165º for about 24 hours followed by pulling, then crisping under the broiler. (My grill was being used for smoking tomatoes for soup.) I've been doing something similar where I would pressure cook the pork and then broil it, but the results with sous vide are better. I ended up with a lot of soft, juicy pork and a lot of crispy pork. Pop some salsa verde on that (smoked the tomatillos earlier in the day) and I was in heaven.
Pulled pork is next. I love pulled pork. It is how I rate all barbecue joints I check out. In the traditional method, it's a long cook in the smoker that results in a smokey seasoned exterior, a slightly deeper bark, and tender pork that gets mixed together. I honestly wonder much a slight variation on my carnitas can produce similar and maybe better results.
1. Sous-vide
2. Pull
3. Season, mix cool
4. Smoke pulled meat
It seems like, by creating more surface area, I can imbue smoke and bark much more quickly by working with the pulled meat. It's advice in this article about pulled pork (see "For more crust or if you are in a hurry") taken to an extreme. Since I've already hit the target temp with sous vide, really I just care about bark and smoke at this stage.
Anyone messed this a similar method or aware of something I'm missing? Maybe there's science I've missed? I'd rather not ruin some perfectly good pork butts. (Though I suspect even subpar results can be salvaged easily. Meathead's Memphis Rub can make shoe leather work fine with coleslaw.)
Sorry if this is a bit too long. I've been really messing with sous vide, smoking, and MMC a lot lately though and not a lot of people in my own social circle are that interested in the details—even if they really dig the results!
(PS: I don't want anyone to mistake that I am advocating this for everything either. I do ribs low'n slow and don't even sear. That's by far my favorite method. Also, when I grill steaks, I don't bother with sous-vide. I find Adrenaline Barbecue's method to be far better.)
As of late, I've been experimenting a lot with multiple cooks with different goals on my meats. This began with reading The Big Chill and seeming Epic Grilled Turkey and my recent revelation that low'n slow with sous vide is a thing and what a thing it is! Most recently, I watched another ChefSteps video about brisket and which lead to some additional considerations. I've been doing burgers sous vide a lot lately because it's awesome and pink. And I love pink. Mixed Method Cooking (MMC, haha) is a total revelation. And while I've been doing it for a while (reverse sear generally) I don't know that I really considered deeply what I was doing.
In general, we're going for a number of things when we cook meat. Want to:
1. Control temperature
2. Control texture
3. Control moisture content
4. Impart particular flavors
This gets really complex. My steak, for instance, I want juicy, pink, and tender in the center with enough salt to bring out the flavors but brown and crusty on the outside with a bigger bang of flavor that's a mix of spices and smoke. I'm building a special kind of complementing contrast.
I've finally begun to really think about exactly what I am trying to do with each step. So, let's look at my current burger routine:
1. Sous vide the burgers patties with no seasoning at 131º for a couple hours. They're at the tail end of medium rare and safe for consumption.
2. Cool the burgers. This could be a total chill, or I might let them rest in the fridge for a bit to drop things 20 - 40º. It just depends on time.
3. Fire up the grill to around 225º - 350º (depends on how much time I have), pop some wood on the coals, and smoke them back up to around 110º - 120º.
4. Bring them inside, apply a liberal amount of butter, salt, and pepper.
5. Add more coals, pop a griddle over said coals, and sear the burgers.
The end result are burgers that are pink inside, super smokey, crusty, and delicious. In some respects burgers now require more effort than steaks and I'm not sad about it at all.
First I'm doing target temperature cooking and sterilizing, then smoking, then searing (crusting). I would have presumed moisture would suffer significantly, but as it turns out... you lose moisture primarily in two ways:
1. Muscle fibers constricting under heat. This is why even in a bag we lose a ton of liquid in sous vide.
2. Evaporation. This is only a really big deal (and often intended) on long, dry cooks.
The first is particularly important because, even if you go through a bunch of steps, as long as you're not letting the meat dry out somewhere for long periods, once you hit that target temp and as long as you don't exceed it moisture content isn't going to change too much. When I go through the smoking step on the burgers, there is very little that ends up on the drip pan. The exteriors dry out a bit, which turns out to be a boon for searing anyway. The insides are still juicy though.
This all brings me to my next experiment (or two) with pork. I made carnitas sous vide this weekend and I think it's a better method than "the real thing." Sous vide at 165º for about 24 hours followed by pulling, then crisping under the broiler. (My grill was being used for smoking tomatoes for soup.) I've been doing something similar where I would pressure cook the pork and then broil it, but the results with sous vide are better. I ended up with a lot of soft, juicy pork and a lot of crispy pork. Pop some salsa verde on that (smoked the tomatillos earlier in the day) and I was in heaven.
Pulled pork is next. I love pulled pork. It is how I rate all barbecue joints I check out. In the traditional method, it's a long cook in the smoker that results in a smokey seasoned exterior, a slightly deeper bark, and tender pork that gets mixed together. I honestly wonder much a slight variation on my carnitas can produce similar and maybe better results.
1. Sous-vide
2. Pull
3. Season, mix cool
4. Smoke pulled meat
It seems like, by creating more surface area, I can imbue smoke and bark much more quickly by working with the pulled meat. It's advice in this article about pulled pork (see "For more crust or if you are in a hurry") taken to an extreme. Since I've already hit the target temp with sous vide, really I just care about bark and smoke at this stage.
Anyone messed this a similar method or aware of something I'm missing? Maybe there's science I've missed? I'd rather not ruin some perfectly good pork butts. (Though I suspect even subpar results can be salvaged easily. Meathead's Memphis Rub can make shoe leather work fine with coleslaw.)
Sorry if this is a bit too long. I've been really messing with sous vide, smoking, and MMC a lot lately though and not a lot of people in my own social circle are that interested in the details—even if they really dig the results!
(PS: I don't want anyone to mistake that I am advocating this for everything either. I do ribs low'n slow and don't even sear. That's by far my favorite method. Also, when I grill steaks, I don't bother with sous-vide. I find Adrenaline Barbecue's method to be far better.)
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