Sous veni, sous vide, sous vizzle

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Goons with Spoons > Sous veni, sous vide, sous vizzle

Phanatic: Mar 13, 2007; Please don't forget that I am an extremely racist idiot who also has terrible opinions about the Culture series.

I just pulled the trigger on the Anova unit.

One thing I've read is that while slow immersion in a ziploc bag is a reasonable facsimile of vacuum-sealing for short cooks like steaks and such, if I want to do 72-hour short ribs or anything like that I should really get a real vacuum unit.

What's the dividing line between "Ziploc's good enough" and "No, you need a real seal"? 8 hours? Less?

# ¿ Jan 14, 2014 16:33

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# ¿ Apr 26, 2024 04:30

Phanatic: Mar 13, 2007; Please don't forget that I am an extremely racist idiot who also has terrible opinions about the Culture series.

Wow I can't wait for this to come out.

https://www.shopstarter.com/p/1708738346/the-searzall/

# ¿ Mar 11, 2014 13:14

Phanatic: Mar 13, 2007; Please don't forget that I am an extremely racist idiot who also has terrible opinions about the Culture series.

ScienceAndMusic posted:

Why is this better than just throwing it in a pan at high heat?

Output's higher than your typical home burner.

Also:

# ¿ Mar 11, 2014 20:13

Phanatic: Mar 13, 2007; Please don't forget that I am an extremely racist idiot who also has terrible opinions about the Culture series.

Any suggestions for corned beef? I read the seriouseats.com article but wondered if anyone has any suggestions or experience to offer.

# ¿ Mar 12, 2014 19:12

Phanatic: Mar 13, 2007; Please don't forget that I am an extremely racist idiot who also has terrible opinions about the Culture series.

Just did scrambled eggs. 3 eggs, 1.5 Tbsp cream, .5 Tbsp butter, salt, beaten good and hard and into a bag at 167 for 10 minutes. Then take the bag out, squish it around, back in for 5 minutes.

Dear lord, this is literally the best $200 I've spent on a kitchen appliance.

# ¿ Mar 23, 2014 17:01

Phanatic: Mar 13, 2007; Please don't forget that I am an extremely racist idiot who also has terrible opinions about the Culture series.

ShadowCatboy posted:

What's the opinion on liquid smoke?

EDIT: Also dipped into my batch of sous vide poached eggs for a midnight snack:

Decided to abstain from the hollandaise though because I don't care for it much.

When you poach eggs how long can you keep them for, assuming ice bath and then right into the fridge?

# ¿ Apr 16, 2014 11:28

Phanatic: Mar 13, 2007; Please don't forget that I am an extremely racist idiot who also has terrible opinions about the Culture series.

TATPants posted:

Untrue - remember that the air is a fluid, too. By vacuuming the bag to 99.9%, you are essentially adding all the weight of the atmosphere onto the item of food. So at 99.9% vacuum, the food is at around 1 ATM of pressure.

The food's at 1 atmosphere of pressure when it's sitting there on the counter, just like you are. Putting it in a vaccuum bag can't *add* any pressure to it.

geetee posted:

Kenji shows what happens to chop meat here: http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives/2010/06/the-burger-lab-how-to-cook-a-burger-sous-vide-without-a-sous-vide-machine.html

A solid piece of meat isn't as porous, but I can definitely observe the bag contorting the meat a bit.

That's happening because the burger has some 14.7psi air in it, and you're sucking that out too when you apply the vaccum.

Phanatic fucked around with this message at 10:26 on Apr 20, 2014

# ¿ Apr 20, 2014 10:20

Phanatic: Mar 13, 2007; Please don't forget that I am an extremely racist idiot who also has terrible opinions about the Culture series.

Did a couple of things.

First up, sliced beets with thyme for 2 hours at 185F. Chilled down, did a reduction of the beet juices along with some port and some balsamic vinegar, served with candied walnuts.

Then skirt steak with thyme and shallots at 137F for about 6 hours, finished off with the torch and a pan sauce of the reduced oozings. Holy tender.

# ¿ Apr 29, 2014 21:37

Phanatic: Mar 13, 2007; Please don't forget that I am an extremely racist idiot who also has terrible opinions about the Culture series.

mod sassinator posted:

Torch takes more effort in my experience. You really want a MAP Pro gas torch instead of propane

Note that there actually isn't any MAPP gas anymore, at least not in the US. The yellow cannisters are just LPG/propylene. It doesn't burn much hotter than propane.

# ¿ Apr 30, 2014 15:30

Phanatic: Mar 13, 2007; Please don't forget that I am an extremely racist idiot who also has terrible opinions about the Culture series.

BraveUlysses posted:

I'd say it still significantly hotter than propane--I've been using a MAPP torch to light my lump charcoal for years and propane just won't get the job done.

According to BernzOmatic the difference is only about 130F, 3730F vs. 3600F. Not sure why 3600F isn't lighting your charcoal, that's way way above even the autoignition temperature.

# ¿ Apr 30, 2014 16:49

Phanatic: Mar 13, 2007; Please don't forget that I am an extremely racist idiot who also has terrible opinions about the Culture series.

Cool. Guess I'll pick up one of the yellow cans, then.

# ¿ Apr 30, 2014 20:46

Phanatic: Mar 13, 2007; Please don't forget that I am an extremely racist idiot who also has terrible opinions about the Culture series.

Pork in the bag along with a can of diced green chiles and a couple of chipotles in adobo. 12 hours at 167F. Shredded, quick hot fry in a pan carnitas-style, threw in some of the bag juices. Pickled red onions and jalapenos on top.

So good.

# ¿ Jun 4, 2014 23:24

Phanatic: Mar 13, 2007; Please don't forget that I am an extremely racist idiot who also has terrible opinions about the Culture series.

I've got the Anova unit and love it. I'm soon to be moving into a house with some actual kitchen counter space. And drawers and shelves to keep poo poo in. So instead of leaving a pot of water sitting on the stovetop with the Anova clamped to it, I'd like to get some Cambro or similar and do the dremel trick to the lid.

Anyone have a good idea which size/shape would be a good fit? Since you've only got so far between the max/min fill lines, wider and broader's going to be better than taller and narrower, up to a point.

# ¿ Jun 17, 2014 18:27

Phanatic: Mar 13, 2007; Please don't forget that I am an extremely racist idiot who also has terrible opinions about the Culture series.

Was going to two three different meals, so I stuck a big thick strip steak in one bag and two double-cut pork chips in another and threw them in a 125-degree bath.

40 minutes before a tree fell across my power line. Utility says they'll have it working again by Saturday. Fuuuuuuck.

deimos posted:

125 seems extremely low. But sorry for your loss.

Was gonna finish the pork in a pan sauce with fennel and mustard and vermouth so it was gonna wind up cooking hotter than that in the final analysis. Not like it matters at this point. :argh:

At least this is just before I move when I've pretty much cleaned everything perishable out of the fridge already, and not right after I move when I've just filled it.

Phanatic fucked around with this message at 20:24 on Jul 9, 2014

# ¿ Jul 9, 2014 16:00

Phanatic: Mar 13, 2007; Please don't forget that I am an extremely racist idiot who also has terrible opinions about the Culture series.

granpa yum posted:

Botulinum is lethal at one microgram.

That toxin is why you either need to have your food reach a proper internal temp within 4 hours or eat it quickly (e.g. 20-30 minute salmon at 120F). If you throw a super thick meat sphere into a sous vide at 131 and it takes 12 hours to reach 131 internally the pasteurization has not occurred in a safe amount of time. It's also possible that some botulism spores can survive pasteurization and reactivate!

Or just not worry about it unduly because there are about 35 cases of botulism per year in a country with a population of 300,000,000, which means you're roughly as likely to contract botulism as you are to be killed by a terrorist or a shark.

# ¿ Jul 22, 2014 17:45

Phanatic: Mar 13, 2007; Please don't forget that I am an extremely racist idiot who also has terrible opinions about the Culture series.

eddiewalker posted:

Thanks for the tip earlier in the thread. The "party stacker" really is a nice size.

What size is that?

# ¿ Aug 13, 2014 15:46

Phanatic: Mar 13, 2007; Please don't forget that I am an extremely racist idiot who also has terrible opinions about the Culture series.

Which raises the question: Why would you do that with a breed of cattle whose very purpose is the marbling?

That long in sous vide at 130, I'm not sure what it's going to do that you can't do in much less time.

# ¿ Sep 26, 2014 19:15

Phanatic: Mar 13, 2007; Please don't forget that I am an extremely racist idiot who also has terrible opinions about the Culture series.

I don't think it's suited to sous vide at all, really. Kobe's supposed to be tender as hell to begin with so I'm not sure why you wouldn't just use a conventional high-heat sear to hit the outside while leaving the inside nice and rare. If it were marbled like the other faux-Kobe I've seen (faux-be?) I can see wanting the fat to render a bit but 6-8 hours isn't going to do you any favors. But the real deal is most typically served rare, rare, rare.

(The Akaushi breed doesn't get used for Kobe in Japan, btw.)

Phanatic fucked around with this message at 19:32 on Sep 26, 2014

# ¿ Sep 26, 2014 19:30

Phanatic: Mar 13, 2007; Please don't forget that I am an extremely racist idiot who also has terrible opinions about the Culture series.

Retrograde whipped potatoes?

http://www.kayahara.ca/2011/04/retrograde-redux/

# ¿ Nov 4, 2014 12:56

Phanatic: Mar 13, 2007; Please don't forget that I am an extremely racist idiot who also has terrible opinions about the Culture series.

What are your favorite things to do with boneless skinless chicken breasts?

# ¿ Dec 29, 2014 22:52

Phanatic: Mar 13, 2007; Please don't forget that I am an extremely racist idiot who also has terrible opinions about the Culture series.

Let's talk deer. Buddy of mine's got a freezer packed with doe. Doe loin, doe chops, doe steak, ground doe, you name it. Ultra-lean meat that you don't want to overcook sounds perfect for sous-vide. Anyone have any experience or recommendations?

# ¿ Jan 7, 2015 19:59

Phanatic: Mar 13, 2007; Please don't forget that I am an extremely racist idiot who also has terrible opinions about the Culture series.

mod sassinator posted:

I'm curious, why would nonstick cause overcooking?

Nonstick doesn't brown as well, so you need to let the food cook longer for a similar amount of browning. Also, you don't want to get nonstick pans as hot as you can a regular pan, so you wind up having to brown at a lower temperature.

So the bottom line is that you're leaving the food in there for a longer period of time.

# ¿ Jan 14, 2015 21:54

Phanatic: Mar 13, 2007; Please don't forget that I am an extremely racist idiot who also has terrible opinions about the Culture series.

FWIW, I just tried short ribs. According to the waiter at Ma Peche, where I've had the best ones I've ever tasted, they do them there at 143F for 36 hours.

He's a liar. Either they did them at a higher temp or for a longer cook because these came out like steak. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but I was hoping to get to the fork-tender succulence of the ones as the restaurant.

So not as successful an outcome as I wanted, but they were still damned good with a port-wine reduction and pan-roasted rosemary/garlic taters.

What I'm thinking is that further experimentation is definitely called for.

# ¿ Jan 16, 2015 00:01

Phanatic: Mar 13, 2007; Please don't forget that I am an extremely racist idiot who also has terrible opinions about the Culture series.

Has anyone done creme brulee?

I've seen some recipes that involve setting up a rack for ramekins and filling with water to come up the sides of the ramekin, just like you'd do in a conventional oven, but that seems precarious when I'm trying to do it in a big pot that needs to be filled with enough water to be above the Anova's minimum fill line. I've also seen recipes that just cook a mess of custard in a bag and then you pour that into ramekins and set them in the fridge to set:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmHuXaJhRNY

And then I've seen some that involve pouring the raw custard into ramekins and wrapping the poo poo out of them with plastic wrap before putting then in the water, which to me sounds like crazy talk.

I was thinking of using little mason jars, instead of ramekins, because the lids would seal against immersion. But that'd make it hard to torch the sugar. Also thinking about doing the one-big-bag method, but adding a bit of gelatin to help it set, as if it were a panna cotta.

Thoughts?

# ¿ Jan 23, 2015 17:33

Phanatic: Mar 13, 2007; Please don't forget that I am an extremely racist idiot who also has terrible opinions about the Culture series.

Woof! Woof! posted:

Immersion circulated the proteins in this stew.
Butter poarched lobster, cod bagged with some lemon, scallops were then wrapped with proscuitto and hit with the searzall.

That looks wonderful. Is that like a Belgian waterzooi?

For Valentine's Day dinner I sous-vided everything. First the chefsteps 104-degree salmon with horseradish cream, watercress puree, and pickled onions:

Then the Serious Eats glazed carrots and some dry-aged ribeyes with shallots:

And then chefsteps again, creme brulee for desert:

Holy poo poo, that salmon. I mean, everything turned out great but that salmon is something special.

# ¿ Feb 15, 2015 20:20

Phanatic: Mar 13, 2007; Please don't forget that I am an extremely racist idiot who also has terrible opinions about the Culture series.

Maybe by 'tender' he means 'all the collagen has hydrolyzed' and the meat just falls apart.

If you want that to happen, you need higher temperatures. Collagen really starts to denature at 160. It'll shrink up and begin to break down at 140 but if you're thinking of the kind of brisket where you just poke it and the fibers separate from each other, that's going to take the higher temps to break down the collagen in the connective tissues that hold the muscle fibers together.

Doing this with filet would be a crime. It's tender in the first place because there's not that much connective tissue to begin with, cooking it to well-done temperatures until it falls apart is a total waste.

# ¿ Feb 18, 2015 17:52

Phanatic: Mar 13, 2007; Please don't forget that I am an extremely racist idiot who also has terrible opinions about the Culture series.

Knifegrab posted:

I must just be getting poo poo cuts then, my filet is normally not very tender.

How are you cooking it? For a cut with actual marbling like ribeye you want to cook it to medium so the fat renders, but with filet there's no fat to render in the first place so you're better off with rare. If you're cooking it to medium or beyond you're just making it tougher.

# ¿ Feb 18, 2015 22:04

Phanatic: Mar 13, 2007; Please don't forget that I am an extremely racist idiot who also has terrible opinions about the Culture series.

Steve Yun posted:

You don't need a searzall, but:
- it lets you see how much it's being seared, in case you want a little more control
- you can do touchups in case part of your steak wasn't seared enough
- you can sear round or oddly shaped objects that wouldn't do well in a skillet or broiler
- you can sear steaks with bones in them, which would normally lift off the skillet
- you can sear delicate things that might fall apart in a skillet
- also, it's loving fun

Seriously, I considered a Searzall when the Kickstarter was going, but having seen videos of it in use I'm not sure which of those things you list can't be done just as well just be a regular torch head. Has anyone used both who can chime in on whether it's worth it?

# ¿ Feb 18, 2015 22:27

Phanatic: Mar 13, 2007; Please don't forget that I am an extremely racist idiot who also has terrible opinions about the Culture series.

Because I want my cat to associate its toys with my cooking food.

# ¿ Feb 23, 2015 15:27

Phanatic: Mar 13, 2007; Please don't forget that I am an extremely racist idiot who also has terrible opinions about the Culture series.

The Grapist posted:

Wouldn't the meat be pasteurized if it had spent enough (any) time at 184f?

See above: Killing the bacteria doesn't mean you're killing the bacterial enterotoxins which are what cause some forms of food poisoning. The thing shut off during the night, at some random point during the cook, so you have no way to tell (a) how hot the inside got or (b) how long it stayed that hot for. It's reasonably possible the thing's safe to eat. It's also reasonably possible that it's not.

# ¿ Feb 23, 2015 20:25

Phanatic: Mar 13, 2007; Please don't forget that I am an extremely racist idiot who also has terrible opinions about the Culture series.

The Grapist posted:

Holding it at the danger zone after the bacteria is killed would've been fine since it was pasteurized. I happened to me one on of my first cooks, but since I was also cooking at a relatively high temperature for a long cook, I plugged in the numbers (weight, thickness, volume of water and final temp, etc) and realized that the meat was pasteurized before I went to sleep, which was hours before the shutoff.

No. Pasteurized doesn't mean that *everything* is dead. Pasteurization isn't the same thing as sterilization; the FDA-recommended temperatures for pasteurization are specified to achieve a 5-log reduction in bacterial populations; which means for everyone 100,000 bacteria you used to have, now you have 1. If you let the food sit in the danger zone, the remaining bacteria will start multiplying again. In addition, sporulating bacteria can sit there and survive the high temp, and if you let them sit in the danger zone they will also come out of spore form and become active again.

And sitting at 94 degrees is pretty much worst-possible case. It's not just danger-zone, it's like right in the heart of the growth curve. E. Coli's going to double every 18 minutes or so at that temp. C. perfringen will double in under 10 minutes.

# ¿ Feb 23, 2015 22:13

Phanatic: Mar 13, 2007; Please don't forget that I am an extremely racist idiot who also has terrible opinions about the Culture series.

Flash Gordon Ramsay posted:

Is BPA really an issue since the food is bagged?

BPA's not really an issue, period, outside of Food Babe worshippers.

# ¿ Mar 10, 2015 21:42

Phanatic: Mar 13, 2007; Please don't forget that I am an extremely racist idiot who also has terrible opinions about the Culture series.

Steve Yun posted:

HERE COMES A NEW CHALLENGER!

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/paragon-induction-cooktop

This is an apparently new model of sous vide: an induction cooktop with PID built in, which uses a wireless thermometer to check your water's temperature. So no circulation, probably uses more electricity, requires ferrous cookware. Pros: No moving parts other than the cooktop's fan, probably faster than a PID+crockpot setup, you can use the induction cooktop to sear your meats after cooking them sous vide.

You could also use other things than water since you don't have to worry about gunking up your circulator pump. You could do Thomas Keller's butter-poached lobster, for example.

# ¿ Mar 13, 2015 14:43

Phanatic: Mar 13, 2007; Please don't forget that I am an extremely racist idiot who also has terrible opinions about the Culture series.

Getting some water scale buildup on the heating element and impeller of my Anova. What should I use to clean it off?

# ¿ Mar 17, 2015 19:51

Phanatic: Mar 13, 2007; Please don't forget that I am an extremely racist idiot who also has terrible opinions about the Culture series.

No Wave posted:

You rest it then give it a sear afterwards, just like your sv method, but there's far less moisture because it's had dry heat applied to it for hours...

MC page attached - cook lamb to core, as it's a tender meat.

What does it mean to cook to a "hotter-than-core" temperature?

# ¿ Mar 27, 2015 18:44

Phanatic: Mar 13, 2007; Please don't forget that I am an extremely racist idiot who also has terrible opinions about the Culture series.

gently caress, looks like my Anova (1st generation) is broke-dick.

Threw short ribs in at 170 last night, came down this morning to take 'em out. Pump's still running, but the screen says it's only reading 143, but it's still set at 170. Hrm. Well, okay, 143's still cooked, I'll put them in an ice bath and figure this out later. But then when I go to take them out, the water's room temperature.

Okay, so scratch one set of short ribs. I power-cycle the unit, and hit 'start.' The pump starts up, but the display says that the water temperature is 32 degrees, then it says SYSTEM ERROR and the pump shuts down.

Any ideas?

# ¿ Apr 8, 2015 15:37

Phanatic: Mar 13, 2007; Please don't forget that I am an extremely racist idiot who also has terrible opinions about the Culture series.

It was out of warranty but they decided to replace it anyway, I just need to send them the old one back and they'll ship me a replacement.

So good job, Anova.

# ¿ Apr 8, 2015 17:35

Phanatic: Mar 13, 2007; Please don't forget that I am an extremely racist idiot who also has terrible opinions about the Culture series.

Sounds texturally horrific. But a restaurant I was at last weekend had a veal tartare on the menu so what do I know?

# ¿ Apr 23, 2015 03:29

Phanatic: Mar 13, 2007; Please don't forget that I am an extremely racist idiot who also has terrible opinions about the Culture series.

AndrewP posted:

I just bought a Dorkfood temp controller and am gonna try some sous vide steaks tonight!

I have a smallish crock pot and my question - as long as the steaks actually fit into the crock and water covers them, does it matter how big the crock actually is / how much water is used?

e: thinking about it I can't imagine why it would as long as it can heat the meat to a certain temperature.

More water is more thermal mass. It'll take longer to get to a particular temperature, but once it gets there it'll stay there and the heater won't have to kick on and off as frequently. So basically, yeah, no difference in the final result.

# ¿ Apr 27, 2015 04:01

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# ¿ Apr 26, 2024 04:30

Phanatic: Mar 13, 2007; Please don't forget that I am an extremely racist idiot who also has terrible opinions about the Culture series.

What is the benefit to cooking rice sous-vide?

# ¿ May 29, 2015 15:14

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