Welcome!


This is a membership forum. Guests can view 5 pages for free. To participate, please join.

[ Pitmaster Club Information | Join Now | Login | Contact Us ]

Only 4 free page views remaining.

Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Inaugural Sous Vide Launch

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    Inaugural Sous Vide Launch

    Well as all things would have it, it was time to finally embrace the new technology. I say new but it's obviously been around for a while with professional chefs who have used sous vide as a restaurant staple. I was in New Orleans in 1993 to interview for a large hotel project and the developer treated us to lunch in the warehouse district in a restaurant that had just opened by this rising young chef. During lunch he asked the waiter to have the owner come by and say hi to us. This unassuming guy stops by, handshakes all around and we order this killer meal. He suggests the pork chops. Well pork chops it is. I'm here to tell you I don't remember all of my thousands of restaurant eating experiences all over the country, but for some reason that one stuck in my mind. When asked how in the world they could get a 2" think chop to butter smooth, fork cutting texture, the waiter explained to us it was done via sous vide and searing it in a double broiler. The name of the restaurant, by the way, was Emerils and unknowingly I got to meet the man himself, Emeril Lagasse.

    Okay so fast forward to today and this website. I'm blown away by the marriage of sous vide and smoking/queing. So much so that I had to take the plunge. FlaBouy and others have inspired a whole new set of techniques that have peaked my interest. Thus my first attempt at this process. I'm especially interested in taking the lessor cuts of meat; flank, round, sirloin, chuck, etc. and seeing how tender and unctuous I could make them. Decided to do a chuckie first so hit the butcher and had him give me a big 2" thick clod. I'm in the long process of smoking, SV, chilling and searing at the moment but was hungry for something sooner so also picked up a 2" thick, 2.5# top round to do a London Broil straight sous vide, chill and RS. Given that here is the result of my first SV attempt;

    Click image for larger version

Name:	London Broil 10-19-17.jpg
Views:	339
Size:	119.6 KB
ID:	399371
    Click image for larger version

Name:	London Broil 10-19-17 2.jpg
Views:	195
Size:	114.7 KB
ID:	399372

    Here is my take on this so far;

    PROS - extremely tender meat after a 24 hour bath at 132*. Although not done here, the marriage of smokiness and tenderness is unbeatable.

    CONS - long process (although worth the effort). I may adjust the time downward a bit because although super tender, the meat had a slight spongy feel to my palette. I'm thinking less time may firm that up a bit. Obvious lack of deep seared flavor, very superficial.

    All in all this definitely becomes part of the tool chest. I don't see it as a do all, end all for cooking meat (or anything for that matter) but it definitely has it's place in the Troutman pantheon of cooking accouterments. More later on the verdict for the smoked chuckie currently taking a bath.
    ​​​​​​​

    Click image for larger version

Name:	Anova cook.jpg
Views:	157
Size:	28.7 KB
ID:	399370
    SMOKE ON - TROUTMAN OUT.......














    Attached Files

    #2
    Great writeup!

    Comment


      #3
      Looking good! Great story, by the way.

      I will not use sous vide all the time, but I have one area where I think it really shines, and that is weekdays. I can't take the time for a low and slow smoke during the week. The bottom round I did recently simply could not have been done except on a weekend without my Anova.

      Comment


        #4
        I agree with EdF - great writeup.

        Comment


          #5
          Great-looking first sous vide cook, Troutman . Did you do a whole reverse sear on the grill after chilling (to ?°F), or just do a simple sear on the grill after a quick chill?

          That meal looks like pure contentment must have followed.

          Kathryn

          Comment


          • Troutman
            Troutman commented
            Editing a comment
            You know i Googled in the best method and there are so many opinions on chilling versus not. I went ahead based on reading an article here to chill down in ice water for 30 minutes and then refrigerate until sear time. So that's what I did. Not sure if skipping that step would have mattered or not.

          • fzxdoc
            fzxdoc commented
            Editing a comment
            I'm guessing you got a bit more smokey/grilled flavor by chilling for 30 min and holding in the fridge then doing the full reverse sear step, Troutman . It sure looks mighty fine. When I sous vide, dry and quickly sear steaks there is virtually no smokey/grilled flavor but the Maillard alone ain't bad.

          #6
          I am interested to get your impression on the texture differential between the 132* and the 155*, which is where my personal palate resides. Nice looking cook my friend.

          Comment


            #7
            That is one sweeeeet looking lunch.
            You have a lot more to experiment with. It will take some time and will be fun with some delicious meals ahead of you. 👍

            Comment


              #8
              Yeah Troutman!! Looks great brother! Awesome write up too.

              Comment


                #9
                I love it! My experience has been time equals texture/tenderness and temperature equals doneness. So, for instance, I do Tri Tip at 131 for 12-hours, but NY Strip for about 90-minutes. Both with the same chill and sear step at the end.

                I do do like the chill and then reverse sear to get some smoke. My wife prefers the SV then straight sear for just the Maillard crust and no smoke.

                Comment


                  #10
                  Troutman this is impressive, and I too am on the SV journey. But what I want to see is some speckeled trout on your grill.

                  Comment


                  • Troutman
                    Troutman commented
                    Editing a comment
                    Trying to go through beef first. I do have a whole redfish I’ve got in the que. Got a custom pellet smoker coming, he may be in that inagural.

                Announcement

                Collapse
                No announcement yet.
                Working...
                X
                false
                0
                Guest
                Guest
                500
                ["pitmaster-my-membership","login","join-pitmaster","lostpw","reset-password","special-offers","help","nojs","meat-ups","gifts","authaau-alpha","ebooklogin-start","alpha","start"]
                false
                false
                {"count":0,"link":"/forum/announcements/","debug":""}
                Yes
                ["\/forum\/free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-downloads","\/forum\/free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-downloads\/1157845-paid-members-download-your-6-deep-dive-guide-ebooks-for-free-here","\/forum\/the-pitcast","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/bbq-news-magazine-2019-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/bbq-news-magazine-2020-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/bbq-news-magazine-2021-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/bbq-news-magazine-2022-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/current-2023-issues","\/forum\/national-barbecue-news-magazine\/national-barbecue-news-magazine-aa\/current-2024-issues","\/forum\/free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-downloads\/1165909-trial-members-download-your-free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-here"]
                /forum/free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-downloads/1165909-trial-members-download-your-free-deep-dive-guide-ebook-here