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    #16
    Sous vide is not a fad. As lower priced immersion circulators have become available in the last couple of years more and more people are trying and liking many of the advantages offered by the sous vide method.

    Sous vide isn't perfect for everything but it does make it very easy to achieve an intended result again, and again, and again without having to constantly monitor/babysit the food. Just plop it into the hot tub at the temp you want and then go play golf.

    Badf00d has provided an excellent take on sous vide but here's another resource folks that have not yet made the dive into sous vide may want to read: http://www.seriouseats.com/2016/01/f...l-recipes.html

    Comment


    • MBMorgan
      MBMorgan commented
      Editing a comment
      That SeriousEats.com link is awesome ... a must-read! Thanks for sharing ...

    #17
    I like my Sous Vide for many things. Chicken breasts for salads and other uses, scallops, veggies, eggs, etc. But I have no desire to Sous Vide my meats. I am sure that they turn out well and people enjoy them, but I am perfectly satisfied with the results I get from my smokers, and I really enjoy the whole process. Different strokes for different folks, right? Cook the way you like!

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    • Breadhead
      Breadhead commented
      Editing a comment
      Bingo... Different strokes for different folks! We're all a little different and the Pit is a melting pot of ideas.😎👍

    • ecowper
      ecowper commented
      Editing a comment
      I think the process is the thing for me. I love the process of turning cheap, tough, unusable cuts of meat into something that people rave over. SV has yet to capture my imagination that way.

    #18
    Some excellent posts here, great education. Thanks everyone.

    Comment


      #19
      Some great stuff in here...and a few extra resources. Thank you.
      ​Still not fully convinced LOL but as they're nowhere near what the commercial ones used to cost it would be easy to spring for one and try it out. Maybe. ;-)

      Comment


        #20
        Wonderful conversation. I'm curious on the chicken comment. My cast iron chicken on the stove takes about 20-25 minutes and is delicious. I love chicken and may buy one just to check the chicken out. Gee..... Thanks jerod! Tri tip?? I love it. Here in SoCal cal it's everywhere. I buy it about $2.50 to $3.00 and pound sold in large vac seal bag at about 15-20lbs. It's so good with rubs and smoke. Can't imagine a SV tri tip. SO CURIOUS. Anyone have a pic of the SV chicken or tri tip?
        Last edited by HouseHomey; May 22, 2016, 11:31 AM.

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        • ecowper
          ecowper commented
          Editing a comment
          I'm from Central California originally. Tri-tip is like our national meat. And I think in Santa Maria they would run you out of town on a rail for sous-vide and a tri-tip :-)

        #21
        HouseHomey ...

        This is a 3 pound Tri-Tip. I put it in the SV hot tub for 23 hours at 131°. I took it out of the cryovac package and blotted it dry with a paper towel, brushed on some beef love and put some Memphis Dust rub on it. Then I seared it on a grill to bring to 135°. All turned out nicely.
        Attached Files

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          #22
          Man o man!! I'm starving now. Did that firm up the texture? Not tough or fry firm but a density reference? That looks amazing. We have lots of tri tip around here. I think it's a west coast thing. Thank you for the pic.

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            #23
            HouseHomey ...

            I could have seared after 3 or 4 hours in the hot tub but the extra time tenderizes it a little more. Yes... Every store that sells meat in California has a selection of Tri-Tip. I'm amazed that it not available everywhere. However there are only 2 on each cow so that might be the reason for limited distribution.

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              #24
              Wow, now that I look at it on my iPad and not my tiny iphone that's a funny looking tri tip. I went to take pics of mine from the freezer but I have two, in one bag together, so there's no triangular definition.i was going to send pic like you are in some far away land but your in Hermosa. Duh! I'm in Huntington Beach. I'm dense sometimes. I found that it cooks more like a steak. W love it. I buy mine at Smart and Final in a vac seal. My brisket too. Which SV do you have. I'm seriously thinking about it. I need the slow and sear first.

              Comment


              • Breadhead
                Breadhead commented
                Editing a comment
                I have the Anova with Bluetooth. I rarely use the Bluetooth feature though. It really is set it and forget it.👍

              #25
              I cook a lot of competition barbeque. Slice, pull and vacuum seal in desired serving size, sous vide is excellent for rewarming. Pork and brisket comes out just as tasty as it went in. It's far superior to just dropping the vacuum bag in a pot of boiling water. I've played with cooking other foods SV. I think it's a neat tool, but it won't replace my stove top or grill.

              Comment


              • Breadhead
                Breadhead commented
                Editing a comment
                Candy... I won't replace my stove or grill either. However, I like using to SV to shorten some smoking time. SV a pork butt to 175° and then put it in the smoker to bark it up and finish it off to 203°. Or SV a beef tenderloin to 125/130° and then sear it on your grill to put a nice crust on it.

              • CandySueQ
                CandySueQ commented
                Editing a comment
                My opinion -- sometimes shortcuts are just that. Short cuts to less than optimum results. I've done beef tenderloin SV and didn't like the results. Again, my opinion only. There's a place for SV, just not for my steak!

              #26
              Originally posted by badf00d View Post
              Sous vide has its benefits, in addition to those described above, and they all apply to the home cook. Other methods share some of these, but not all at once. It's not a replacement for all methods of cooking. It's a tool that makes some of your cooking better, as needed. And no, I wouldn't think of using it exclusively instead of my grill or KBQ. It just makes it easier to get the results I want, both with steaks and with long cook cuts.
              • Predictable: Using the same temperatures and times on the same cut of meat will yield the same results, whether you're cooking for one person or twenty
              • Precise: temperatures are generally held within 0.1 or 0.2 degrees
              • Safe: because of the precision, it is very easy to know you've pasteurized foods, even at extremely low temperatures
              • Flexible: if you need an extra hour or two before you can eat, just leave it in the bath and the results will still be the same
              • No involvement: You don't really need to do anything while it cooks - relax, run errands, prep/cook something else
              • Easy setup: add water to bath, preheat bath, drop bag in bath
              • Easy cleanup: recycle bag, dump water bath
              • Efficient: extremely low operational electricity cost, compared to cost of charcoal, wood, gas, electric oven
              • Unaffected by weather: doesn't matter if it's blazing hot or freezing outside, you're not out in it
              • Doesn't take experience to get it right every time


              Not so great:
              • It's terrible for crunchy/crispy textures, browning, and smoky flavor. So if you're talking about meat, you'll want to also incorporate another method, but for a much shorter time than usual.
              • No aroma to get you hungry.
              • You can't overcook (by temperature) meat with sous vide, but you can over-tenderize. If you cook meat too long (this takes many, many hours), instead of turning into a brick, it goes mushy. Although with a grill or oven you can both oveheat and turn it into a brick.


              Other random thoughts:
              • No need to wonder if food is overdone or underdone - no need to cut it open to check - no compromising.
              • You can space out the cook process for easier prep and time management, even over a couple of days - seal one day and refrigerate or freeze, days/weeks later you can sous vide cook in the bag. Ice, then refrigerate for a couple of days, then pull back out and reheat briefly in the bath again. Finish it in a pan or on the grill when ready to eat. Crazy convenient.
              • Easy to safely pasteurize pre-ground burgers or pre-tenderized cuts (a la Costco and their love for Jaccard) to rare or medium-rare, and then put a crust on them with some heat.
              • Great way to reheat leftovers without losing any moisture or changing the flavor. Seal them, then reheat in the bath.
              • You can pasteurize raw eggs in the shell and still use them like raw eggs.
              • It's easy to seal and cook per-person portions, and then just cook what you need.
              • Not related to meat, but eggs, custards (creme brulee and ice cream), and yogurt all turn out perfect every time with sous vide - regardless of how big of a batch you're making.
              This is a great post! I've been home sous vide cooking for 3 years and it sums up my experiences perfectly.

              I'll add these thoughts. I can reverse sear a steak on my Weber kettle with good results the majority of the time. However, I can sous vide a 2 inch thick strip steak to precisely 131 degrees then sear it on a nuclear hot fire or cast iron pan and get a perfect crust and edge to edge medium rare every time. No stress, no fear of over cooking a nice piece of meat.

              One of the single best things you can sous vise is carrots. I typically cut them 1 inch pieces and use a little butter and ginger or dill. They have a stronger carrot flavor than raw carrots.

              I view sous vide cooking as another tool to achieve the great results that we all want. I hope people keep an open mind.

              -Dave

              Comment


              • EdF
                EdF commented
                Editing a comment
                Yeah, that's something no one has mentioned, I think: sous vide concentrates the flavors.

              • Breadhead
                Breadhead commented
                Editing a comment
                +1^... 👍

              #27
              Great stuff.

              Comment


                #28
                It's all about convenience.
                I don't have to hover over my steak to make sure it doesn't get past 131 degrees. And the steak waits for me. If I'm not ready to eat at that particular time, guess what? No pressure, let it swim until I'm ready.


                Second, texture and complete control of temperature. My best fried chicken was actually cooked Sous Vide first. No worrying about whether the chicken is going to murder someone.

                Then again, some folks out there just can't grasp the idea of feeding a smoker for 14 hours for a brisket, some things are just not for everybody.

                Comment


                  #29
                  I like to cook traditional ----- Smoked low and slow in my Klose on the coals hot as hell in my Kamado Joe or Tandori Oven, buried in the ground with banana leaves or baked on my memphis pellet grill, Deep Fried in my outdoor Turkey fryer in a cast iron Dutch Oven over an open fire or Sous Vide with my Dorkfood / Anova setup. Which is really traditional????? Guess that depends on where you are from and what you like. I don't always use the same method it depends on the dinner I choose to cook and who I am cooking for. So WHY NOT SOUS VIDE AT HOME its something different to try to broaden your cooking knowledge and skills as a home cook and its affordable now.

                  Comment


                  • HouseHomey
                    HouseHomey commented
                    Editing a comment
                    Yup!!!

                  • Breadhead
                    Breadhead commented
                    Editing a comment
                    Try making Eggs Benedict for a dozen friends and family without a SV circulator...😆😆😆

                  #30
                  Like has been said, it's a tool. I can't cook pork without it turning to leather. We have made so many pork chops with this thing, it's amazing! A quick run in a hot cast iron pan and it's food! We've done fillets in it - grind peppercorns and coat the meat with the peppercorns. Put into bags and cook as usual in SV. Remove when ready, sear in pan, then BF will make a cognac sauce to deglaze the pan and pour it over the fillets.

                  We have also gotten to be fans of corn on the cob SV. Corn and butter into bag, 182F water for 35 min. Sure beats boiling a big pot of water.

                  It's fun playing with it, I haven't done yogurt yet, but it's got to be easier than what I'm doing now (no yogurt maker, we try to keep "one trick ponies" out of the kitchen a la Alton Brown). I also want to try it for Hollandaise, has to be an improvement over the Knorr I've been using.

                  But I would never put liquid smoke in a bag, that to me is gross (not a liquid smoke fan). If I want smoke, then it should be smoked - why I signed up here so I can learn to do it right! And we don't do fish in it, haven't heard good things.


                  Oh and we have an ANOVA I guess it would be a model 1 - no bluetooth and no wifi. Got it on eBay. Looking to get a second one just like it (so if anyone is looking for a good home for theirs, PM me!).

                  Comment


                  • HouseHomey
                    HouseHomey commented
                    Editing a comment
                    Grew up on bean and rice and I still can't cook either of them very well. I hear you in the pork thing.

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