Sous Vide

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thatjonguy

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Considering adding an immersion circulator to our kitchen.

Currently leaning towards an Anova Wi-Fi.

Wife is excited at the prospect of vac-packed meals she just has to toss in a water bath.

Anyone have any words of wisdom?
 
I've done it a lot with steaks and I have to admit that I don't care for the texture.

I could see it working well for chicken or seafood or veggies but I haven't tried those.

Before you spend a lot of money, try it at home the old fashioned way. vac-pac a steak and get your largest pot full of water at the desired temp, and go.
 
Love my PolyScience circulator. Great for long slow cooking (beef/lamb shanks, pork belly) or for precision temperature cooking (ribeye, eggs). Probably use it every other week
 
I have an Anova one and I really like it. I've done chicken, pork tenderloin and several varieties of steak. It works awesome for steak, you really can get the entire cut completely rare then sear the crap out of the outsides on a hot skillet. Crispy edges but otherwise completely rare.

I've also been really pleased with chicken done for two hours at 145F. It makes for a very different texture, much juicer and less string-y than other cooking styles. Pork tenderloin also for 3-4 hours at 140F with a generous helping of garlic salt, then seared sliced and served with some new potatoes.

You can successfully pack your own recipes using good ziploc bags, or you can use a vacuum sealer. I have tried both as I already have the sealer for breaking down packs of hops and overall the vacuum sealer is easier and if you buy the bags on rolls then theres not much in the price.

I don't find the wireless thing to be very useful, it's much more of a set it and forget it thing IME than something which needs much tending to. However, the Anova app does have a lot of good recipes so is still worth downloading and skimming through.
 
Try a slow cooker set on high and regulate the temperature using a Johnson A419 that you probably already have lying around.

IMO the key to good steaks is to not cook them too long. I've found the texture to get too tender at anything over 2 hours. I've found sous vide filets (cooked for an hour at 135 then seared in a really hot skillet for 30 seconds a side) to be the best steaks I've ever had, period.
 
Considering adding an immersion circulator to our kitchen.

Currently leaning towards an Anova Wi-Fi.

Wife is excited at the prospect of vac-packed meals she just has to toss in a water bath.

Anyone have any words of wisdom?

Why mess with an Anova at all? This is the perfect opportunity to talk the wife into letting you build a RIMS or HERMS! I actually use my RIMS mash tun to sous vide more than I use it to make beer.
 
We have the Anova Bluetooth and love it. We use it once or twice a week. Steaks are great, chuck roasts are fantastic for pulled beef, pork anything is great, chicken works fine. I dont really like sea food, so I havent done anything like that with it. I havent made a bad dish with it, and I have probably made 45 meals or so.
 
Why mess with an Anova at all? This is the perfect opportunity to talk the wife into letting you build a RIMS or HERMS! I actually use my RIMS mash tun to sous vide more than I use it to make beer.


Yep, I have an eHERMS and I use it for sous vide more than I use it for beer.

IMHO the very best application for sous vide is really thick pork tenderloin chops. So hard to cook them all the way through in a skillet or on a grill without way overdoing everything besides the center. But with sous vide you can get them done exactly the way you want from the edge to the center and then just do a quick sear.

Steak is awesome, too. Chicken is awesome.

I haven't liked my results with tilapia filet or lobster. Scallops were really good, but they were pretty much the same as just cooking them in a skillet.
 
Why mess with an Anova at all? This is the perfect opportunity to talk the wife into letting you build a RIMS or HERMS! I actually use my RIMS mash tun to sous vide more than I use it to make beer.

Because I don't want her playing with the brewing toys when I'm not around. Trying to make life easier for her, not more complicated.
 
I use my HLT for sous vide too. Just made a bunch of stuff in there 2 days ago.

I looked at the Anova for the kitchen, but I don't care at all about wifi and bluetooth in order to set the temperature. Seems kinda useless. I'd get the Gourmia one. Much cheaper, much less to go wrong.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B017HX1FTC/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20
 
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In the end product, probably not adding a lot but from a sanitation standpoint it can't hurt, this was my first roast. I certainly wouldn't do it to a piece of chicken;)
 
I've done it a lot with steaks and I have to admit that I don't care for the texture.

I could see it working well for chicken or seafood or veggies but I haven't tried those.

I also prefer steak on the grill. I think sous vide would work well for strip or filet, but for ribeye, my favorite steak, the fat doesn't render enough without the high heat.

But I've really enjoyed other things sous vide. Including other beef, like short ribs. I haven't gotten around to it, but I'll do a brisket at some point too. Most "slow-cooked" proteins need to go past well done to be tender with traditional cooking methods. But with sous vide, you can get them tender a medium doneness.
 
Salmon (wild sockeye) in the sous vide is by far my favorite right now....

20151230_191135-1.jpg
 
Anyone use something like this with their Anova? (It's 4.75 gallons)

Other than being able to stack and store that style container, an advantage in a commercial setting i would think that would be horribly inefficient.
My makeshift setup uses a cooler and when I pick up a premade unit I plan on a standard pot and probably pick up another cooler for larger cooks and cut a hole in the lid.
 
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