Considering a Sous Vide machine


(Marianne) #21

Wow, I’m thinking this is the way to go for meat eaters. How do you know how long to cook things - by internal temperature or time (or both)?


(Doug) #22

For the degree of doneness, as with beef - Medium Rare, Medium, etc. - it’s just the temperature. Once it gets to a given temperature, it’s never going to get “more” done as far as that, unless the temperature is increased.

What does change over time is the tenderness of the meat. Longer cooks break down muscle fiber and the meat gets more like a ‘roast’ than a ‘steak.’ It shreds easier and tends toward “terry cloth” in appearance. It can go too far and one can find one’s sweet spot for cook time.

A tender cut like filet mignon/beef tenderloin doesn’t need long cooking time (in the opinion of most people). 45 minutes or an hour - that way it’s all up to your desired temperature and doneness. Its texture can suffer by going 3 or 4 hours - which is a common time with other steaks. And for tough stuff like chuck roast, chuck shoulder, etc., multiple days may be one’s favored way.

The juiciness of the meat - you can see how higher temperatures really increase the water lost. Going from ‘Rare’ to ‘Medium Rare,’ some more juice is lost but not much. ‘Medium’ is meaningfully more, and it continues increasing substantially through ‘Medium Well’ to ‘Well.’ “Well done” means 10 or 15 times as much juice lost as at Rare or even Medium Rare. BUT - if one likes beef truly 'Well Done" then there’s little reason to use sous vide cooking; might as well just do it in a pan then. The way higher temperatures affect the fat makes up for water loss, to an extent - more fatty cuts like ribeye can handle ‘Medium’ or ‘Medium Well’ better than lean strips, for example.

The juiciness of the meat - IMO where sous vide truly shines is with stuff like pork chops and chicken breasts; it’s a whole new world, a very good one.

The time it takes - that most cuts of meat don’t require a precise cooking period with sous vide helps. You can take the meat out and sear it whenever you’re ready. Many of the immersion heaters have Bluetooth, etc. - you can turn it on at lunchtime (for example) remotely, if you want, and you’ll have 4 or 5 or 6 hours of cooking time done in the late afternoon or evening.

The time it takes - once it’s cooked enough, it’s fast to take it out, dry it (don’t want water on it for searing), sear it and serve it. Literally just a couple minutes. I use a stainless steel frying pan, put the dried-off meat in there, nothing else in the pan (it’s just to keep the meat from touching the counter, stove, etc. 15 or 20 seconds per side with a torch, a bit of melted butter to make the spices stick, salt and pepper. (Pepper burns, so especially there I think it’s best to wait until after searing.)

Beef Bottom Round, nice thin sear.


(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #23

I’m a cooking minimalist. In my opinion sous vide is the ultimate ‘set it and forget it’ device/method.

@Iskandar ‘20 minutes in the oven… then 6mins on the cast iron…’ is way too much time and effort for me. As noted by @ctviggen and others you have virtually infinite control over the output of sous vide with virtually zero effort. That’s why high-end restaurants use sous vide. You can’t even come close with your oven and cast iron skillet even if you hover over it the whole time. Try it and you’ll discover why those who do - do.


#24

Gasps*

This is a keto forum you savage!

If you have the time it’s nice to salt steaks and put them back in the fridge and cook 1 - 24 hours later. The salt does some special stuff and makes it tender and juicy.

Maybe you read what I said too fast and confused what I said about air fryers with sous vide?


(Marianne) #25

Oh, that roast is beautiful! Made bottom round for TGiving and it was delicious but moderately tough (didn’t help that I forgot to add water to the casserole dish).


(Marianne) #26

How do you make meals every night in it unless you are cooking like a roast which lasts for several days?


#27

I have a toaster oven next to my frying pan. It takes more effort to poop, if that’s too much I don’t know how you get out of bed every day.

Examples of only using a cast iron. A water bath might be 5% better cooked than this but who was diminishing returns?

https://i.imgur.com/ql6CwhT.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/XVOy8FX.jpg
https://i.imgur.com/YYzHzNn.jpg

If I’m reading your post correctly you actually find filling up a tub of water, plugging in your machine, attaching it to the tub, vacuum sealing your meat and putting it in the tub less work then we can just agree to disagree.

I follow a time restricted eating protocol so for me it makes no difference how I cook I can easily time the food to be finished for exactly when I want to eat it.

The only way I see myself using a souv vide would be if I was cooking many steaks for a large group of people. Having them all in a water bath at the same time would be convenient.


(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #28

Wow! Never was so much inferred from so little. All I said was I’m not into food prep and cooking - and sous vide fits the bill quite well. By the way I also use a 6” cast iron skillet and a casserole bowl to prep/cook my beef patties. There are other things I’d rather spend my time and energy doing.


#29

There is more than one way to skin a cat, there is no right or wrong way of cooking. Cook however you like to cook.

I’m simply disagreeing with 2 things you said.

The idea sous vide is less time and effort then a toaster oven + pan or just a pan alone.

The idea that you “can’t come close” to sous vide with a pan or oven + pan.


(UsedToBeT2D) #30

I too, hesitated at first, thinking it was not worth the hassle of prep, vacuum sealing, cook time. But I gave in and bought a vacuum sealer for $15. After a few “cooks”, I quickly conceded, that it is a time saver, and I’ve never been disappointed with the results.


(UsedToBeT2D) #31

Pork shoulder roast 30 hours 139 F


(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #32

My only problem with the whole concept is that I am not organised enough to plan a meal 15-96 hours before I want to eat it.


(Laurie) #33

Some hunter you’d make.


(UsedToBeT2D) #34

There is in between meals.


(Bacon is a many-splendoured thing) #35

You’d better believe it, my dear! :rofl::rofl::rofl: Hunting in the fridge for leftovers is just about my speed. :grin:


(Michael - When reality fails to meet expectations, the problem is not reality.) #36

Excellent question! I’m sure others who sous vide have ideas/methods about this. If you’re off to work each day, my suggestion would be to use an inline timer (assuming there isn’t one built into the sous vide cooker - which would definitely be preferable) to start the cooker at the appropriate time to get the required cook time so it’s ready by eating time. I’ve been doing this for years to start my Bunn coffee heater a couple of hours before my breakfast time. This might/would require a sous vide cooker that can retain its settings with power off and/or have a power on standby feature to set the start time.


(ALISON PICKERING) #37

I use a sous-vide stick with a soup pot and ziploc bags, and some binder clips to keep them from submerging. Works great. I have a lot of pots and pans already and not enough storage for more big equipment. The stick is already pretty big, plus the part that goes in the water and keeps it heated and circulating. Less is more in my opinion.


(Marianne) #38

Wow, where did you find this?


(Marianne) #39

Made pork chops last night in our cast iron skillet, as I always do. Sometimes they come out great and other times, like last night, very dry. Way overcooked them. Such a bummer for our favorite meat. Definitely makes the argument for a sous vide machine.


(Marianne) #40

Agreed; that is one of my main hesitations. And what do you do in the meantime - cook in the cast iron skillet?