Anybody Sous Vide?

[Philbert]

I am new to Sous Vide cooking, so interested to hear others’ thoughts and experiences with it.

I found some comments scattered around in a few different threads, and wanted to pull them into a single thread.

I bought an ANOVA Precision Cooker 3.0, 1100 watt, model over the holidays.


I appreciate some of the Bluetooth and Wi-Fi features, but did not want to be dependent on them, or an App, to operate it.

Surprised, and disappointed, how little information came with the unit. Bought a couple of books, that really helped:

‘Sous Vide for Everbody’, by America’ Test Kitchen, is a good, basic, book, that should have come with the cooking unit!

‘Sous Vide for the Home Cook’, by Douglas Baldwin, is a good, book, with lots of time-and-temperature tables, to keep things safe.

Each book has lots of recipes, and each were available, used, on eBay, at very reasonable prices.

Philbert

 

[Philbert]

For anyone not familiar with Sous Vide (pronounced ‘Soo-Vee’, or ‘Soo-Veed’), French for ‘under vacuum’, it is a cooking method where food, sealed in plastc pouches, is cooked at very precise temperatures, in a carefully controlled water bath.



Potential advantages include:

• precise level of doneness (can’t overcook the food);
• uniform doneness throughout the food (e.g., not just ‘pink in the center’);
• flexible cooking time, especially, for large numbers of people (cateting, events, large parties, etc.);
• ability to safely cook food at lower temperatures, keeping food moister, without the risk of pathogens (salmonella, e-coli, etc.).

Philbert

 

[Philbert]

Tried a few things, so far:

A previously frozen, ribeye steak, at 138°F for about an hour. Pretty good for a first attempt.

A chuck roast, at 140°F for about 46 (!) hours, then seared in a cast iron skillet. Very tender, and uniform. Very good.


An eye of round roast, at 138°F for about 44 hours, then, similarly seared. OK texture, but not a lot of flavor without sauces.


A few frozen chicken breasts, at 140°F for 3 hours, then pan seared, and seasoned with just salt and pepper. These worked out so well that we ate a lot of them just ‘sampling’!


They were supposed to be for the next night’s tacos: had to make some more!

I need to try some pre-seasoning / brining, and figure out which foods this works with, or are worthwhile for me, compared to other cooking methods.

Also want to try some fish.

Philbert