I currently have some vacuum sealed bacon under the spell of Sous Vide. The bacon has been cooking for about 16 hours now. Chef Steps tells me I could go for another 36 hours at 147.2 F. I am thinking about taking this for a total of 36 hours @147.2. Does anyone else have any experience with cooking bacon sous vide? How long and at what temp do cook at when you are sous viding bacon? I am curious to hear what other members have to say.
I plan of searing tomorrow after taking it out of the bath. What say you?
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I agree. I am at work now so I can't remove it from the bath. Originally I was gonna run home and take it out. Turns out, I got hung up at work and couldn't break away. So Now I am going for the long cook!
We used this approach last month. Unfortunately, the wifey likes meat "cooked" and cooked it like regular bacon instead of following the approach in the recipe. So I don't really know how it turned out yet.
I did the sous it overnight, then sear it on one side at whatever temp Kenji/chef steps said. It was really good, but wife likes a crispier bacon than I, so I only did it the one time.
This is sliced bacon, or a slab? I'm curious also. I'm not sure off the point, as bacon seems best fried, but an experiment... I want to know the results.
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I often SV bacon. 145 for 12 hours. Then on the pellet grill with a grate and drip pan for the grease at 400 until 75% done. After that in the freezer until we want a few slices. A minute or two in the microwave finishes it. Usually I SV a couple pounds at a time. Works good for us with just two at home.
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I was originally planning on doing a 16-hour bath time at 147 F. Then life got in the way and I ended pushing it back to 24 hours. Then I thought, "I don't want to eat the bacon at night, I want this for breakfast." So, I pushed the cook out to 36 hours. After time was up, I took it out of the bath and shocked it. I am planning on cooking it in a little bit to have some co-workers try it out, so I can hear what they have to say.
I would be curious to hear what temperatures and times you have experimented with.
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The idea behind it is to cook it through, and then sear it only enough to crisp one side, and maybe put a bit of color on the other (2 minutes/5 seconds) at ~325. Then you're supposed to get crisp combined with the soft fatty part.
Please enlighten me (and anyone else as ignorant in SV'ing bacon as me) what does this accomplish with bacon when you still cook it afterward?
Sous vide is a middle step in cooking. It is rarely the first or last stage. This is the thing that people miss. Rarely do you eat something straight out of the bag. Even my beloved sous vide corn on the cob tends to get a quick heat blast on the grill for a bit of char.
The SV bacon comes out very meaty, with a great texture. It's best seared on one side, as it's thin, to give it that crunch. It's hard to explain the goodness.
As I said, my wife prefers a crunchy bacon. So, not for her. This is a tender strip of bacon. Also, you have to use thick bacon. Skinny strips suck in general, and will not work well here. Also, given how many commercial bacons are flavored with brine, it's better for bacon flavored bacon, as opposed to say Costco Applewood bacon... Also, works better with dry cure than wet cure, at least for longer cooks. The dry cure holds together better beyond 8 hours. At 8 hours, wet cure should be fine.
If you don't find Grant to be too annoying (I go back and forth), he explains it all a bit better in the video:
ChefSteps is here to make cooking more fun. Get recipes, tips, and videos that show the whys behind the hows for sous vide, grilling, baking, and more.
Last edited by Potkettleblack; October 5, 2017, 10:34 AM.
I get SV is a mid step, I just mean with bacon in particular. Seems (to me) to be a waste of electricity for bacon. Hence my asking for clarity. Thanks for your answer.
I'm with Huskee on this one, isn't this taking a good thing too far? I love the results of sous vide meats but bacon is meant to be crispy and crunchy. In its purest essence it is one of the major food groups in my estimation. How much more tender can a crispy piece of bacon be?
Re: @Huskee's fair question: One thing great about SV bacon is the perfectly clear bacon fat rendered. Pretty hard to do in a skillet or in the oven. The clear fat rendered is lots better for many things, although "browned" fat also good for some purposes. The other benefit is an approximate 2-minute period standing over the stove to "finish" the bacon, as opposed to the usual long sessions keeping an eye on a sizzling, grease-filled skillet. (IMHO, of course.)
Seems like the SV process may help prevent brown sugar/maple syrup bacon from scorching the sugars as it shortens the the frying process?
May have to give it a try...
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