Sous Vide

[bomb]

I doubt I'd ever be away from home and needing to set the thing away 'remotely'. I'll be using mine manually.

[Merp]

Im sure ive seen the answer here somewhere before, is it possible to sousvide in the vacpacs that the meat is provided in?
Most supermarket meat in sainsburys now is vac packed, and gammon for instance is always sold like this.

Albeit, your just cooking a chunk of meat with no prior preparation.

[Type R Tom]

Merp said:

Im sure ive seen the answer here somewhere before, is it possible to sousvide in the vacpacs that the meat is provided in?
Most supermarket meat in sainsburys now is vac packed, and gammon for instance is always sold like this.

Albeit, your just cooking a chunk of meat with no prior preparation.

I cooked Waitrose beef ribs at the weekend in the vacuum pack they were sold in, they were in for 24h. The packaging warped a bit but didn't leak. As our plans changed and we didn't eat them I chucked them in a sink of ice water to chill instantly then put them in the fridge. Ate them 4 days later, absolutely fine! The only down side of that method is you can't season them before you cook them.

[Merp]

Type R Tom said:

Merp said:

Im sure ive seen the answer here somewhere before, is it possible to sousvide in the vacpacs that the meat is provided in?
Most supermarket meat in sainsburys now is vac packed, and gammon for instance is always sold like this.

Albeit, your just cooking a chunk of meat with no prior preparation.

I cooked Waitrose beef ribs at the weekend in the vacuum pack they were sold in, they were in for 24h. The packaging warped a bit but didn't leak. As our plans changed and we didn't eat them I chucked them in a sink of ice water to chill instantly then put them in the fridge. Ate them 4 days later, absolutely fine! The only down side of that method is you can't season them before you cook them.

Good to hear, my thoughts were with chicken breasts to flash in the pan after, or larger cuts of meat which i would cover in a glaze/rub and roast a crust afterwards.

[21TonyK]

If you are cooking below 75 then I would expect all to be okay, where you get the problem is with meats that will loose a lot of moisture (ham in particular) which can cause bags to expand and split.

[hairyben]

Merp said:

Type R Tom said:

Merp said:

Im sure ive seen the answer here somewhere before, is it possible to sousvide in the vacpacs that the meat is provided in?
Most supermarket meat in sainsburys now is vac packed, and gammon for instance is always sold like this.

Albeit, your just cooking a chunk of meat with no prior preparation.

I cooked Waitrose beef ribs at the weekend in the vacuum pack they were sold in, they were in for 24h. The packaging warped a bit but didn't leak. As our plans changed and we didn't eat them I chucked them in a sink of ice water to chill instantly then put them in the fridge. Ate them 4 days later, absolutely fine! The only down side of that method is you can't season them before you cook them.

Good to hear, my thoughts were with chicken breasts to flash in the pan after, or larger cuts of meat which i would cover in a glaze/rub and roast a crust afterwards.

With chicken breasts the general advice is to brine them first, I always do but haven't tried not doing it so can't really comment of its effectiveness... that said I wonder if my farm-shop chicken really needs brining?

[bomb]

My new Sous Vide machine and polycarbonate water bath have now arrived. Let the Vide-ing begin !

[Pferdestarke]

What kit did you order??

[bomb]

I have the Anova (Wifi & Bluetooth), and a 10 Litre polycarbonate water bath.

My first go is steak, this evening. Pics will be posted later.

Edited by bomb on Saturday 12th November 18:24

[21TonyK]

bomb said:

I have the Anova (Wifi & Bluetooth), and a 10 Litre polycarbonate water bath.

My first go is steak, this evening. Pics will be posted later.

Edited by bomb on Saturday 12th November 18:24

Get a lid on it, even if its just a few layers of tin foil and a towel. It will help maintain the temp properly.

[bomb]

used some cling film to cover it whilst cooking to retain heat.



Following the pan sear, it looked like this :-



And then I cut into it.....



(excuse the vapour steaming up the lens !)



Overall - perfectly cooked ( to my liking), and very juicy / tender. Very pleased with my new toy.

[Pferdestarke]

Good buy. Where did you get the pc container from?

I got a plastic one from staples and it warps at anything over 70c.

Oh, and get it set to Celsius! ;-)

[bomb]

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/201339657224?_trksid=p20...

Polycarbonate good until 99 degrees C.

Was delivered in two days.

I haven't converted to Degrees C. Not worked that bit out yet !

[Pferdestarke]

Thanks.

[Du1point8]

The more I see this thread the more I miss my sous vide machine that is currently in storage whilst I am out of the country.

[AshBurrows]

Used mine for the first time yesterday. Cooked some flank in an asian glaze.

Used this recipe: http://recipes.anovaculinary.com/recipe/sous-vide-...

Upped the cooking time to 3 hours but was still disappointed with the tenderness. Next time will do for 12 hours or so I think. Anyone have any flank recipes they enjoy? Bought 2kg from costco and didn't really enjoy this recipe lol.

One of my pals who is a chef (not sure how good he is mind) reckons suis vide is only good for cheap cuts and that the vacuum draws moisture OUT of stuff like fillet and it ends up worse. Doesn't seem right to me but what do you guys reckon?

Need to pick up a perspex pot now. Is that one linked previously the best?

[Type R Tom]

AshBurrows said:

Used mine for the first time yesterday. Cooked some flank in an asian glaze.

Used this recipe: http://recipes.anovaculinary.com/recipe/sous-vide-...

Upped the cooking time to 3 hours but was still disappointed with the tenderness. Next time will do for 12 hours or so I think. Anyone have any flank recipes they enjoy? Bought 2kg from costco and didn't really enjoy this recipe lol.

One of my pals who is a chef (not sure how good he is mind) reckons suis vide is only good for cheap cuts and that the vacuum draws moisture OUT of stuff like fillet and it ends up worse. Doesn't seem right to me but what do you guys reckon?

Need to pick up a perspex pot now. Is that one linked previously the best?

Try using a sandwich bag and a straw to suck some of the air out so it sinks or weigh it down.

No recipes for flank I'm afraid but I did Ox cheeks for 20ish hours yesterday and they were great.

[AshBurrows]

Type R Tom said:

Try using a sandwich bag and a straw to suck some of the air out so it sinks or weigh it down.

No recipes for flank I'm afraid but I did Ox cheeks for 20ish hours yesterday and they were great.

i have a vacuum sealing machine. It sank fine

Nice!

[Type R Tom]

AshBurrows said:

Type R Tom said:

Try using a sandwich bag and a straw to suck some of the air out so it sinks or weigh it down.

No recipes for flank I'm afraid but I did Ox cheeks for 20ish hours yesterday and they were great.

i have a vacuum sealing machine. It sank fine

Nice!

No, my point is if your chef friend claims using a vacuum suck out the moisture (I'm not convinced!) try it without

[FurtiveFreddy]

AshBurrows said:

Used mine for the first time yesterday. Cooked some flank in an asian glaze.

Used this recipe: http://recipes.anovaculinary.com/recipe/sous-vide-...

Upped the cooking time to 3 hours but was still disappointed with the tenderness. Next time will do for 12 hours or so I think. Anyone have any flank recipes they enjoy? Bought 2kg from costco and didn't really enjoy this recipe lol.

One of my pals who is a chef (not sure how good he is mind) reckons suis vide is only good for cheap cuts and that the vacuum draws moisture OUT of stuff like fillet and it ends up worse. Doesn't seem right to me but what do you guys reckon?

He obviously doesn't understand the process. Any cooking using heat draws moisture out of meat. The vacuum itself isn't going to make a noticeable difference to that. If you've got a dry piece of meat after SV'ing it then it's most probably been at too high a temperature for too long, exactly the same as if it was in a pan or in the oven.

With SV, the same principles of normal cooking apply to a certain extent - you can cook a cheap piece of meat at a low temperature for a long time to make it more tender, but if you use it for something like fillet, you're really just aiming to get the internal temperature to the correct point, as it will be tender enough to begin with.

The SV process might not always give you the texture you are looking for. If you want the same result as you'd get by putting braising steak in a casserole for 6 hours then you're better off not using SV. If you want to try and make skirt or flank as tender as sirloin, then it can be done but you will need careful temperature control as 1 degree difference can have a significant effect on the final result.

SV recipes for meat vary quite a bit in terms of recommended temperatures and times, so have a look around at other recipes and do some experimenting. Bag up several small portions of the same meat and try cooking at different temperatures/times and that will give you a feel for how your set up works and the sort of result you like.

I usually don't bother using SV for sirloin or fillet these days. It's great for a busy restaurant kitchen, but if you're cooking for two it won't necessarily give you a better result than using a pan/BBQ alone. However, I always SV a cut like flat iron because it transforms it.