Sous Vide BBQ

[MTH]

I have an Anova and a PBC, and I'm really interested in using the Anova to make what would otherwise be a really long cook in the PBC shorter, or at least more convenient.

I've done a bit of experimenting with this, with mixed results. My general technique is to dry brine whatever whatever I'm cooking and toss it in the sous vide the night before for approximately 18 hours (i.e., convenient time: start the sous vide in the evening for a smoker cook the following afternoon). I set the sous vide to 165 (the Meathead temp magnet chart says 160-165 is the temp at which fat/collagen melts, and the additonal helpful comment, "Sous vide BBQ meats before smoking"). Then, the next afternoon, I apply seasoning and smoke it in the PBC for a couple of hours.

I've done that with three types of meat:

Pork ribs: these came out terrible. Out of the sous vide, the meat was falling off the bone, making them really hard to work with. After smoking, all but the thickest ribs were really dry. Honestly, this was probably a waste of effort and ribs, since ribs smoke relatively fast without any sous vide-ing.

Beef short ribs: these came out OK. Once again, the meat was falling off the bone, which is really inconvenient. However, they were really tender and flavorful after smoking.

Lamb shanks: these came out great. The meat stayed on the bone, and they were tender and flavorful after smoking. Taking them out of the sous vide bag is like getting hit in the nose with a mutton hammer, though.

So my goal is refining this technique. I'm interested in achieving the effects of a traditional low & slow cook with only having to tend a smoker for a maximum of 2 hours rather than 5-10. Clearly, the sous vide is great for slow-cooking in general, but there's not a lot out there on how to use it in conjunction with a smoker to achieve true BBQ. So these are the questions I have:

1. If your meat has been in the sous vide for a long time at 165, do you really need to take it to 203 in the smoker? After many hours in the sous vide, it seems like all the fat/collagen should have had plenty of time to melt and tenderize things.

2. What's temperature curve for meat in a sous vide like? For obvious reasons, you can't put thermometer in your meat while it's bagged and in the bath. My guess is that the meat fell off the bones of my sous vide beef ribs because they'd been cooking for so long, so I'm wondering how long it takes meat in the bath to reach 165 internally. It seems like that much time + an hour or two for all the fat/collagen to melt would be a good pre-smoking cook time that's not so long that bones flop out of the meat.

3. How long does it take a good bark to form in the smoker? Bark is one of the signature qualities for good BBQ, so if it's not possible to get a good bark from just two hours of smoking, then maybe this whole exercise is in vain.


Thanks for any insights!

[Dewesq55]

165° is too high for a long sous vide cook for most things. Try 149° for beef, maybe 140° or 145° for pork ribs. For things like beef ribs, you want 24 hours +. I actually did beef back ribs at 135° for 24 hrs then sauced and grilled. They were medium rare to medium and very tender, but not mushy. "Corned" short rib rack for pastrami SV at 149° for 48 hours after a 7 hour smoke at 150°. Spectacular. 165° for that long, as you have discovered, makes the meat pullable.

[tbob4]

I have the Anova, as well. I got it to satisfy the temperamental tastes of family members who have to have steaks "Rare", "Medium Rare", Medium".... etc. I don't use it for my smoked meats - everybody is greatly satisfied with those. So I set the Anova to rare temp and then grill accordingly for my finicky family. I know it may be sacrilegious for me to admit that I use it for steaks - only choice cuts, I promise. For longer cooked meats, I would stick with temps at the top portion of the temp guide you got when you signed up (magnet temp guide) and cook for the allotted time as prescribed by Anova. Cooking in water has different properties than in the BBQ. So you want to shoot for the temps that will break down the proteins at the optimal time. And with Sous Vide this does take time. Low and slow is the moto for good BBQ - Lower and slower for Sous Vide. In closing, think of it this way: You would never cook a burger on a BBQ for an hour at 133. However, Sous Vide calls for a burger to be cooked at that temp and length only to be seared thereafter. Makes for a very nice moist medium burger.