Considering a Sous Vide machine

(Marianne) #1

Being that it’s Cyber Monday, I was wondering if I should invest in a sous vide machine. Besides the water heater, do you need to purchase a vacuum sealer, or can I just put meat in a freezer ziplock baggie in a large water bath? Can you get away with just the water heater? Amazon also has them on sale today.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #2

As long as the seal is air-tight, it should be fine.

(Bob M) #3

I recommend a complete kit, at some point. A plastic container with a lid and cutout for the sous vide are what we use mostly. We’ve also modified a cooler for long soaks.

(Marianne) #4

Thank you. How often do you use yours? Do you have a vacuum sealer?

(Marianne) #5

I’m going to drive everyone nuts here, but what about a sous vide slow cooker? Seems like it would work the same but be a lot less cumbersome.

(Bob M) #6

I use mine all the time. Currently, putting a brisket through 24-36 hours at 135; will add steaks for tonight’s dinner.

We do have a vacuum sealer, and these are in those bags. We have used “regular” freezer bags, though, and my wife got me some fancy re-sealable bags. I use the latter when I can, but the brisket went from freezer to bath, and the other three were easier to put in vacuum bags, as I had the sealer out already.

I’m not familiar with sous vide slow cookers.

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #7

I bought this at my local Canadian Tire store: Master Chef. I paid $20 more! without the pot!

My bucket

Cooker and bucket mated

I already had a FoodSaver vacuum sealer from years ago. So I use it.

Kit in use

I find it super easy to use. Excellent results.

(Laurie) #8

Regarding the bags: I’ve never used a sous vide bag. But I have long experience with freezer bags (both Ziploc and Glad). After their time in the freezer, they tend to get tiny leaks in the corners. So although they may be fine for both freezer and sous vide, I wouldn’t use the same “freezer bag” to go direct from freezer to sous vide.

(Marianne) #9

So, you hooked this up yourself using a Walmart bucket? I’m sure my husband could do that. He’s pretty handy. Only thing I don’t have besides the immersion tool is the vacuum sealer.

Do you take meat right out of the freezer and put it in? How do you know how long to leave it in the water (if frozen)?

(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #10

Yes, the 2 1/2 gallon bucket is just the right size for the length of the sous vide cooker.

You can purchase a usable vacuum sealer for under $100 and a good quality machine for under $200. You can certainly use it for other things in addition to sous vide. I originally purchased my FoodSaver (this one) when I built my recumbent bicycle. I built the bike frame from 1/64 strips of Finnish Birch ply, using the vacuum sealer for gluing. Got a lot of use over the course of the better part of a year and is still vacuuming fine 15 years later! It cost me about $150-160 Cad then and I see it’s still the same price on Amazon.

I have only sealed unfrozen meat so far.

(Doug) #11

Ziplock bags (even the non-zipper type) work perfectly for me.

Meat doesn’t have to get as hot as vegetables, which makes a difference. I figure meat is most of what we’re talking about, but some people do go the veggie route, and then it’s like 190°F or 90°C. Those bags get pretty wimpy at the higher temperatures. But for meat and the usual 130°F/55°C to 150/65 range they are great.

My stepmon uses a big pan, a stockpot. She did get a dedicated sous vide immersion heater.

I agree with @ctviggen Bob that the purpose-made sous vide tank and lid are the way to go in the long run.

(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #12

Forgive an ignorant question, but what is the difference between sous vide, instapot, and air fryer, all of which are mentioned quite frequently on these forums?

Also, what would people say is their monthly cost for sous vide bags? And I’m presuming they are not recyclable?

#13

Don’t spend too much.

I personally don’t have the time for such devices. 20mins in the oven while I do dishes and tidy the house then 6mins on the cast iron and my steak is how I like it. If the steaks not too thick then I can skip the oven entirely.

An air fryer is a convection oven with the shape engineered in such a way the fan can circulate hot air most evenly and efficiently coming as close to frying something in a deep pan of oil with far far less oil. It’s not very useful for most meat cooking. It shines for veggies potatoes, or frozen in a bag things like breaded chicken strips, fish sticks, dumplings, etc.

Insta pot is a “high tech” pressure cooker.

sous vide is cooking your food plastic bag in a water bath then finishing with w.e searing device you choose.

(UsedToBeT2D) #14

I have the Instant Pot , i.e. slow cooker, with a Sous Vide function. l love it. However, you are limited on the size of meat cut that you can fit into the crock.
I get best results with the vacuum bags, and don’t worry about leaks that sometimes come with zip bags.

(Bob M) #15

@Iskandar You might rethink that. Things like brisket, chuck, turkey breast, lamb chops, pork chops, shrimp, all come out better in the sous vide. Can you cook a perfect lamb chop in the oven? I’m sure you can. Is it much easier to cook lamb chops in the sous vide, then sear them, and will they come out perfect every single time? They will.

Also, I often take meat from the freezer, put into the sous vide, and have lunches for the entire week after 10 or so hours. I take a hunk of beef like top round, buy them on sale/in bulk, freeze them. Take them out Sunday morning, put them in the sous vide, take them out after dinner, plunge them into ice. Lunches for the week.

Could you do that in an oven? Sure, just take it out of the freezer 1-3 days in advance (multiple pounds of meat), put a temperature probe in it, hit it with high heat for a while in the oven, then cook low and slow until a thermometer hits say 120. Take out. It will carryover at least 7 degrees.

But then you have to be there when the alarm goes off. With sous vide, if you leave it in there an extra hour, it doesn’t matter. With the oven, you forget about it, and you have leather.

I cooked one of our Thanksgiving turkeys in the sous vide. We use the sous vide more than any other cooking device except maybe the stove top.

(FRANK) #16

First, there is no easier or simpler way to cook meat super tender. It’s all about temperature and how long it soaks. You can go from freezer to sous vide directly. Clean up is simple as dump out the water in the container.
I vacuum seal my meats but what I do is season the meats and pre freeze on a sheet pan prior to sealing. in bags. Reduces the moisture that can get drawn out during sealing and being already seasoned its ready for the hot tub.
I sous vide everything. Best to google “sous vide” and get familiar with the process and the various times and temps. You won’t regret the purchase.

(Bob M) #17

Interesting. I have never done that, or even heard of it.

What I have wanted to do is test seasoning (usually just with salt) one chunk of meat prior to freezing and not seasoning another, cooking both, and seeing if I could tell the difference. One day, I’ll do this.

(FRANK) #18

Bob, I pre freeze everything, even brined chicken or pork. Got the idea of pre seasoning from how I do turkeys. I brine turkeys for 12 hours, remove and pat dry with paper towel, then rest overnight uncovered in the fridge before baking. Supposedly, sitting in the fridge allows the brine to work its way through the meat. Turns the cheapest supermarket turkey into a moist tender delight. Brine is 2 cups kosher salt, one cup brown sugar.

(Doug) #19

With personal preference and some cuts of beef, I think there’s a lot of room here. I do the same thing, often - just fry in a pan, 3 or 4 minutes one side, then the same for the other side; ready to eat. If we don’t need or want more, then fine.

For brisket, chuck roasts, etc., then sous vide is a whole different world. The last brisket I did cooked for 54 hours at ~145 °F / 63 °C. The way the fat rendered but stayed in place (in-between the muscle fibers) was amazing. Testing chuck roast in the past, both my wife and I prefer longer cooks versus shorter - among 24, 48, and 72 hours, the 72 was our favorite.

For thicker and more expensive cuts - tenderloin, ribeyes, etc., then while sous vide certainly takes more time, it can be worth it and more than worth it. Many is the high-end restaurant that does it this way. That’s how you get the perfectly done steak. Broiling or a torch (‘portable blowtorch’ in England?) work well for a quick sear. It’s something to cut into a steak and see that uniform doneness all the way through, with a thin char on the outside.

For pork and poultry, sous vide makes even more difference. In the past many of us have tended to overcook chicken, for example, rather than risk erring on the side of under-cooking. The first time I did chicken breasts in the sous vide, my wife and I did double-takes; it was SO juicy, like a different meat. That was 140 °F/60 °C. We settled on 150/65 after that - more like what we were used to, even if drier and more ‘stringy.’

(Marianne) #20

I have wondered this myself. Following.