I too was just gifted an Anova AND a FoodSaver for Christmas. At first I was super excited and started immediately looking for recipes, but then I stumbled across this article and now I’m having second thoughts. After all, I quit putting plastic in the microwave years ago, for the very reason of Hormone disruption.
http://nomnompaleo.com/post/12463202060/cooking-sous-vide-plastic-safety
Does anyone else have concerns about plastic chemicals leeching into your food during sous vide cooking?
I understand that the Sous Vide bags and even Ziplocks pose no health risk. Keep in mind that you will not be heating to high levels.
In the study they talk about boiling in the plastic but, do not provide a temperature. I would assume that they are talking about 100 Celsius which is 212 Fahrenheit. When I cook my steak it is at 129 degrees Fahrenheit.
John
Sure, but materials break down over time, and Sous Vide cooking can take 24 hours or more for some dishes. I’m thinking I should start a new thread, so as not to hijack this one, in the Show me the Science category. I debated on this in my original post and probably should have started there.
Not sure this was mentioned here before, but you can buy silicon sous vide bags on amazon. The heat transfer might take a little longer, but silicon can be surgical grade, so that may be a solution if cautious of pe/pp bags.
How did the rabbit turn out? I found one in my deep freezer while unloading to make room for a 1/2 beef. Do you have a recipe, or should I just put the naked vacuum-packed bunny in the pot?
I didn’t do it yet!! I’m planning to just throw the nekkid bunny in, unless I find a to die for recipe for the sous vide that involves having to cut it up.
I have a Joule and I love it.
If you’re doing a long soak, like a 24-72 hour roast, you should use a food saver or sous vide bag. The Ziplock bags tend to break down on longer soaks.
This fake smoked brisket recipe is mind blowingly good. I like taking a whole brisket (~15 lbs, and turning it into a week’s worth of tasty goodness)
Since I’m an engineering technician, I ordered a temperature controller to build my own. I ordered my parts from China so its going to be a while before I get them. I think that has convinced me to buy local if at all possible. I have been doing a reverse sear for my steaks. This sounds even better. I still want to sear my steaks once they are cooked to the perfect internal temperature.
If you are interested in making a home made sois vide you can order a Temperature-Controller that you could plug a manually controlled slow cooker into. The slow cooker would need to be one that you leave in one heat setting with a manual switch so it can be turned on and off via the ac plug connected to the controller.
That’s how the dork food works but it has hysteresis effect that ends up strobing the slow cooker on and off rapidly - which is not only noisy but I wouldn’t be surprised if a few devices died from the whipsaw…
@richard It probably depends on the hysteresis settings and how much power your cooker has. One thing to know is what is acceptable hysteresis in the cooking. Half a degree, 1, 2 or 5 degrees. I don’t know.
my Aldi water oven is settable to 1C but the ACTUAL temp will cycle up and down about 5C.because it’s still a convection system
my Anova circulator is settable to 0.1C, and the temp scales up and down maybe 2C because the circulator is super charging the convection.
Can’t wait until mine comes and am interested to hear about your results. How will y
ou cook it, Carl?
Do you have to weigh it down or is floating OK?
I guess I could go read all the useful tips and tricks but I don’t wanna.
Looks semi-floating to me, but the top is the only part not submerged…if the cook time is long enough, just flipping it periodically would probably suffice.
