Leftover Chuckie Sammie's and grilling beans FTW..
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OK got some chucks waiting in the wings for this weekend. I've read through your entire journey again, from the "Time for..." thread until the end of this one. What I guess I'm looking for is your conclusive remarks, i.e.;
1) Which result did you deem the better case, the first SVd try versus this one? Did you think the varied time in the bath had an effect, 36 versus 44 hours? What prompted that long a bath, portion size?
2) I noticed you only smoked at 210* and it seemed at 135* IT there was hardly any signs of the meat being smoked or bark formation. Did you deliberately cut back on the amount of wood used versus the first time? Did less work out better than more?
By the way, thanks for sharing all this information. Obviously I'm somewhat groping in the dark when it comes to the SV experience, but looking forward to the "lessor" cuts of meat.Comment
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Did I do that?
I have been on the road for the last couple days and am just getting back in, so the dogs are tired... I am trying to remember back through the trials to remember the particulars since I rarely ever write anything down... I sort of graze from point A to Point B depending on circumstance. But I will explain as best I can what I tried and why I think some of it worked the way it did and my reasoning (which should be taken with a grain of salt)
My first trial was in conjunction with a brisket so I was throttling the initial smoke chamber temps lower to allow more smoke over the meat for a longer period of time. I was also using a competition blend pellet with a percentage of mesquite mixed in to see how much of that flavor was retained after SV. I actually started the smoke at 180* with chuckies that were still fairly cold on the first round and injected. More moisture, slow the internal ramp, and smoke gravitates to colder, wetter surfaces. I actually throttle initial smoker temps from low to slightly higher in steps during the "smoke" period, which is anything below 135* internals. The longer you can delay that, the deeper the ring and heavier the smoke flavor, which in my mind, I wanted since the SV bath takes place after the "pre-smoke".. Hence why the first trial had a heavier smoke/bark. But.. the mesquite also came through with authority and the wife and I loved it. Problem is, some don't.. so knowing I am cooking for family, I throttled that back the second time around and played with a higher chamber temp and quicker pre-smoke to get a feel for how much difference it made out the back side..
SV.. My dementia on anything I SV is to pre-smoke just below the bath temp. No real reason for that beyond a gut feel that it is right. So, for a 155* bath, I pre-smoke to 135* and then take it directly to the bath. Afterwards, it goes directly into a chilled bath for 30-45 minutes, and then to the reverse sear.
My times are always based on a baseline established by the chefs at Anova and Sous Vide Everything. Their palates seem to jive with mine when it comes to ballpark texture so I use them as a guide to establish a baseline. If you recall, when I started all this madness, I was varying bath temps to start with, comparing everything from 132 - 155... For most lean cuts, the 155* seems to hit my sweet spot and from there out it is just a matter of time. The difference of 36 vs 44 was just a convenience, as in, thats just how it worked out from the time I dropped into the bath and when I got hungry. Personally, on this particular cut, 155* at 36 was the best cook based on just old school texture. There is however, something to be said for fork tender leftover chuckie two days later out of the microwave. As far as difference in taste, it was pretty dramatic but I also changed out the smoke profile to see what effect it would have. For me, the longer smoke with bark that was beginning to form was the ticket. I think several factors were at play there, including the injection. Plus, I smoked that chuckie on the RecTec and the one without all the bark on the kettle.... I think. Its hard to imagine the RecTec forming better bark and rings than the Weber in this scenario, but on my end, it just does. I have cooked a ton more on the pellet pooper so I understand and can control it a lot better than the kettle at this point.
Anywho... that's it in a nutshell.
Good luck and shout if there is any further means that I can confuse you with.
Smoke onComment
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hoovarmin Lol... I suspect there to be more madness than method to my SV experiments with briskets at this point. But to answer your question... maybe. It depends on what the end result is going to be. The two chuckies I did last, I injected not because of SV but because one of the two was going to wind up sliced/pulled and was going to run the full circuit in the smoker. I didn't know up front which was going to be selected for the bath, so I injected both and then watched the cook to decide which one to pull. I dry brine most everything I cook, including fish. And lately, any brisket going the full ride on the smoker gets injected. Its really not needed for the SV unless you are looking to add flavor of some sort, because I find the SV kinda "flattens" the flavor if you will. Hope that helps.Comment
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