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Anyone cook Sous Vide?

Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2014 9:54 pm
by seeahill
Or are you such imbeciles that you are totally ignorant of this technique? As I was until a few days ago.

If you have tried it, did it work. And if you have tried it and liked it, which device(s) work best?

Re: Anyone cook Sous Vide?

Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2014 10:05 pm
by syaigh
Did you overdose on test in an effort to stop feeling like a pussy and start hallucinating that you could cook as well as write? Don't burn the cabin down, winter is coming.

Re: Anyone cook Sous Vide?

Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2014 10:08 pm
by Grandpa's Spells
Pretty good place to start:
http://thesweethome.com/reviews/best-ch ... vide-gear/

Anova is doing a kickstarter to get a still cheaper device that can be controlled via smartphone. For other cooking thermostats, this is useful, so I imagine it would be here as well.

Haven't cooked sous vide but have eaten it a fair amount. Makes a superior steak & chicken. If you're going to actually use it, it's pretty cool. Until now, it's been a pretty niche thing because last-generation devices were bulky and expensive.

Re: Anyone cook Sous Vide?

Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2014 10:17 pm
by seeahill
A guy I knew in college stopped by to visit. He's a big sous vide fan. I will visit him in Maine this fall. He tells me that while steak is wonderful in sous vide, the fresh seafood he gets is superb. I'll watch how he does it and see if I like the food. It seems like it could be another technique, like sauteing or grilling or braising or baking.

Re: Anyone cook Sous Vide?

Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2014 10:24 pm
by syaigh
Jeez. I take my first shot at being a dick to you and its just totally ignored. I'm going back to nurturing hand-wringer. You guys suck.

Re: Anyone cook Sous Vide?

Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2014 10:26 pm
by seeahill
So your answer to my question is: "no, I'm an imbecile who is totally ignorant of this technique." Also, I whine.

How was that?

Re: Anyone cook Sous Vide?

Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2014 10:30 pm
by seeahill
Also, we're having severe thunderstorms here even as I write. I could be struck by lightning at any time. But do I get any sympathy here? Even from nurturing hand wringers. Huh? Huh?

Re: Anyone cook Sous Vide?

Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2014 10:30 pm
by syaigh
Better.

And I am worried for your general well-being.

But, I looked it up. And I'm not sure I'd want a semi-raw steak that wasn't charred on the outside. What's the appeal? You need mushier food in your dotage?

Seriously. I'm wondering how this differs from steaming/smoking/slow roasting, etc. Which can get you similar textures and I would think more flavor.

Re: Anyone cook Sous Vide?

Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2014 10:39 pm
by seeahill
What they say is something like this: You can put your steak in the vacuum bag, put the circulating water bath to 130 or so for rare and it can sit there for a couple of hours. The steak will not go above 130 because it can't. None of the juices go anywhere. The garlic and butter and sprigs of rosemary and thyme permeate the meat. The meat will be rare all the way through, at the proper temp and, since it is vacuum packed it won't be steamed or poached. Tougher but tasty cuts of meat can cook longer and will get tender.

Take it out of the bag at your leisure and slap it on the grill or a hot pan for maybe 45 seconds a side to get your Maillard reaction (browning) and you're golden. My pal says it works great. Thomas Keller, the owner of the French Laundry, a 3 star Michelin restaurant in Napa is a big believer and wrote a book about it. Most top restaurants --- they say --- cook some things sous vide (under pressure). You and I have probably eaten a sous vide cooked steak and not known it.

Re: Anyone cook Sous Vide?

Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2014 10:43 pm
by syaigh
Hmmmm. Very interesting. I guess it would actually make for a good way to cook a whole lot of steak in a short period of time (well not really, it would just seem that way).

Re: Anyone cook Sous Vide?

Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2014 2:00 am
by milosz
I've got an Anova. Works great, off by one degree but I just compensate rather than go through the recalibration screen. The current Sansaire gets good reviews and the interface is a little less finicky. Both seem to work fine.

I cook thick ribeyes at either 131 and blowtorch sear or ~126 and sear in a cast iron pan, either works great. Thinner cuts require some more experimentation - they've been good but not great. Salmon at 105F has an incredible texture, tuna cooks a lot like steak but to a lower temp. Haven't stepped into the 24-72 hour realm (short ribs, etc.) yet.

Sous vide 'boiled' eggs (75C for 13 minutes) are the easiest thing you can do and they're fantastic.

Check out chefsteps.com - online modernist cooking classes, lots of sous vide stuff.

Re: Anyone cook Sous Vide?

Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2014 2:08 am
by seeahill
Thanks Milosz

Re: Anyone cook Sous Vide?

Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2014 3:28 am
by Sangoma
There is only one right way to make a beef steak: an open flame. All other ways are legalized waste of cow's life. Lamb chops, chicken, eggs, even pastries - ok to boil, simmer, irradiate or microwave. Not beef steak.

Re: Anyone cook Sous Vide?

Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2014 3:25 pm
by TerryB
Anyone cook Sous Vide?
Yes. If "sous vide" means wearing nothing but an apron.

Re: Anyone cook Sous Vide?

Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2014 3:39 pm
by kreator
Yeah I prefer not to have my steak cooked in plastic.

Re: Anyone cook Sous Vide?

Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2014 3:46 pm
by ccrow
syaigh wrote:Did you overdose on test in an effort to stop feeling like a pussy and start hallucinating that you could cook as well as write? Don't burn the cabin down, winter is coming.
Asking about French cooking is definitely, definitely not a side effect of too much test.

If you find yourself googling about soos whatthefuckever, you'd be better off googling "aromatization."

Re: Anyone cook Sous Vide?

Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2014 4:02 pm
by TerryB
:snigger

Re: Anyone cook Sous Vide?

Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2014 4:13 pm
by nafod
I ate a Bison that fell in a Yellowstone hot spring

Re: Anyone cook Sous Vide?

Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2014 4:16 pm
by TerryB
Shouldn't you put quotes around "Bison" and "hot spring"?

Re: Anyone cook Sous Vide?

Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2014 4:41 pm
by nafod
T>1200 wrote:Shouldn't you put quotes around "Bison" and "hot spring"?
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Re: Anyone cook Sous Vide?

Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2014 6:25 pm
by Andy83
Jesus fucck, seeahill! Why are you always trying to be such a snobbish cunt with all your fancy named aspirations? The only way to prepare beef is ground up, flattened and on a bun with plenty of seasonings, herbs, spices and vegetables. Beef is tasteless bullshit by itself.

Re: Anyone cook Sous Vide?

Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2014 6:38 pm
by nafod
I think the NEXT BIG THING is to cook it from the inside-out. Jam a cylinder of meat on an oversized soldering iron-like thing and cook it until the outside is the right color. Pretty damn clever, eh?

Re: Anyone cook Sous Vide?

Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2014 7:19 pm
by Bud Charniga's grape ape
nafod wrote:I think the NEXT BIG THING is to cook it from the inside-out. Jam a cylinder of meat on an oversized soldering iron-like thing and cook it until the outside is the right color. Pretty damn clever, eh?
You mean shawarma?

Re: Anyone cook Sous Vide?

Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2014 7:26 pm
by Andy83
nafod wrote:I think the NEXT BIG THING is to cook it from the inside-out. Jam a cylinder of meat on an oversized soldering iron-like thing and cook it until the outside is the right color. Pretty damn clever, eh?
We did that in 7th grade shop class. 2 16d nails attached to the + and - ends of a 110 v wire and stuck into each end of a hotdog. Inside out cooking about 70 years ago.

Re: Anyone cook Sous Vide?

Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2014 8:24 pm
by seeahill
Mongolian Marmot: Kill a marmot. Gut it. Put hot stones from the fire into the cavity and toss the marmot on the coals. Eat with wild onions.

I've done this, in Mongolia, and it wasn't terrible. I had no desire to do it again.