sous vide

[TriangleIL]

Subscribed. This thread is making me hungry.

 

[ChuckO]

Just had a leg of lamb that was in the Mash Tun for 20 hours at 136. It came off the bone very well, almost too well, as the texture was a little over done. That's what I get for using a field raised lamb instead of a commercial one.

No reason not to use a grill to brown a steak, I get steaks cooked Sous Vide when guests are coming over with a flexible time schedule. Then grill the steaks for a minute per side to put a nice finish on them.

 

[pickles]

I did 9 steaks tonight for friends and they seemed to love them. I got some mixed reaction from my wife; I think she prefers the grilled steak but won't admit it. We seared them on my kamado grill but didn't quite have it hot enough. Next time I might try the blow torch. I decided to go with a 17lb top sirloin sub-primal and cut my own steaks. I saved the coullotte steaks (from the cap) and cut the rest into 3/4" steaks. We cooked them to 131F and they were perfect med rare. I prefer a real crusty outside and I didn't achieve that tonight. A lot of articles i read said to lessen the amount of season as the process would accentuate it; I did not find this to be the case. All-in-all this experiment warrants further exploration.

 

[H-ost]

I just wanted to point out to anyone who wants to try this but doesn't have a food saver, we succeeded doing this with some pre vacuum sealed tenderloin from the store. The only issue with doing this is that you cannot add any of your own marinade or dry rub.

 

[aubiecat]

I bought a box of frozen pre vacuum packaged tilapia a few weeks back. I wonder how those would do in sous vide.

 

[jdowling]

I just wanted to point out to anyone who wants to try this but doesn't have a food saver...

I've been thinking of giving this a try and in my reading it sounded like you could use heavy duty ziplock bags vs. a vaccum sealer. You seal the bag 75% of the way, lower it into the water up to the zip-lock (water pressure forces the air out), finish sealing the bag.

It sounded like that was fine unless you wanted to take the food out, ice bath, and freeze for later use vs. eating right away.

I haven't given it a try yet (still finishing up some hardware).

 

[AZOTH99]

Hope I don't sound really dumb but, isn't this kinda almost like using a croc pot? but without the water and food saver bag? Could one maybe do this with a croc pot adding the water and food saver bag?

 

[kellzey]

Hope I don't sound really dumb but, isn't this kinda almost like using a croc pot? but without the water and food saver bag? Could one maybe do this with a croc pot adding the water and food saver bag?

Not really, because you can't precisely control the temperature on the crock pots (i.e. 139 degrees or whatever.) unless you rig up some sort of temperature controller.

You need to be able to have full control (+/-) a degree or two.

Also, the crock pots would hold maybe two steaks in plastic bags.

So possible, but not as fun as brewing in beer kettles. LOL

 

[jdowling]

Hope I don't sound really dumb but, isn't this kinda almost like using a croc pot? but without the water and food saver bag? Could one maybe do this with a croc pot adding the water and food saver bag?

A guy I know has been doing just that (crockpot + water + bag).

I didn't ask him what he was doing for temperature control. My crockpot is just on/off but I could probably rig up a controller like for the beer freezer.

Here's a guy who did this with a video: http://www.howtogeek.com/93983/hack-a-crock-pot-into-a-sous-vide-cooker/

Of course if I already have a RIMS tube + PID for my mash tun then why bother hacking up my crockpot?

 

[marzsit]

i've done the crockpot+pid controller for sous vide, it does work but it takes awhile for the temperature to stabilize at the setpoint. i have a large oval rival crockpot, i think it's an 8 quart model, and it takes about 3 hours for the temperature to stabilize before you can put the vacuum-sealed food into it.

 

[Goocher]

Reading through this thread peaked my curiosity. Just to experiment, I grabbed two rib steaks out of the freezer. Bought them on sale a long time ago. I didn't have a vacuum sealer, so I just used zip lock bags. I threw them in late Saturday morning, set the temp to 131, pulled them out around 7PM and seared them on a smoking hot griddle. Amazing. Probably the best steak I've ever eaten. No chewy gristle or fat, just melt in your mouth steak. My eherms is brand spanking new. Never thought the first thing I'd make with it would be steak. Glad I did though. It won't be the last time. That's for sure.

 

[aubiecat]

I did two steaks again last night. This time I sealed the steaks in the bags with seasoning and put them in the fridge for 24 hours.
Into the e-kettle for 1 hour and then flam kissed with a torch. This time I made sure I added a little char here and there.
Mmmmm, lovely.

 

[pickles]

I have 4 slabs of St Louis style ribs and a bag of rib tips ( for burnt ends) 3 hours into a 23 hr soak at 150F. They've been rubbed; I'll finish them on the grill with sauce for a nice crust.

 

[lschiavo]

C'mon...more pictures!

 

[kevink]

Has anyone ever sous vided a burger? How was it?

 

[pickles]

What's the easiest way to post pics? I'm fed up with image shack and the whole hosting site deal.

 

[iijakii]

I'm a fan of imgur.

 

[ChshreCat]

What's the easiest way to post pics? I'm fed up with image shack and the whole hosting site deal.

You're a premium member. You can post pics directly on here. Just use the paperclip icon.

 

[pickles]

I forgot about " advanced" reply on iPhone app.

Here are 4 slabs and tips prior to going for a dip.

 

[ChshreCat]

FYI... those of us who don't have the fancy brewing gear don't have to be left out of the fun. There's lots of ways to set up sous vide systems on the cheap: http://coldsprings.typepad.com/food/2009/01/budget.html

 

[passedpawn]

FYI... those of us who don't have the fancy brewing gear don't have to be left out of the fun. There's lots of ways to set up sous vide systems on the cheap: http://coldsprings.typepad.com/food/2009/01/budget.html

Link didn't work for me.

 

[JRems]

I'm sure you could sous vide in a cooler as well if you change out the hot water every couple hours.

 

[runningweird]

While I really enjoy rolling out the HERMS system to cook food I am considering building a smaller sous vide immersion circulator - something counter sized capable of cooking a medium sized rib roast. I already have a PID i am not using and getting a hold of the other stuff couldn't cost more than $50 - being able to run it at 120v inside current would be nice as well.

 

[pickles]

Yeah I think I'd like to make a small version as well. I've used this technique three times since last Saturday. It's so easy! I have ribs going now and my wife was gonna throw some chicken ****s in the oven to shred for buffalo chicken dip to have during UFC fight tonight. I grabbed those ****s (the chicken's ) and said "wait let me cook those". I ran to the vacuum sealer and tossed in the water for a few hours.

 

[runningweird]

I suspect power consumption would be lower as well - instead of running a pump and Heat exchange HLT it would just be a small unit.

 

[ChshreCat]

Link didn't work for me.

Bah...

Basically it was using a crock pot and a johnson controller to maintain the temperature of the water. Simple and easy.

 

[shuckit]

When I make homemade ramen I like to do '60' minute eggs and they are a pain to do on the stovetop. Now it's set the temp and walk away.

 

[stlbeer]

Bah...

Basically it was using a crock pot and a johnson controller to maintain the temperature of the water. Simple and easy.

Now that's using your Johnson.

 

[kevink]

So nobody's ever sous vided a burger? I know it sounds weird, but I think if you follow it with a charring on a smoking hot grill it might be good!

 

[KevinM]

This guy has: http://aht.seriouseats.com/archives...er-sous-vide-without-a-sous-vide-machine.html