Sous vide or air fryer?

[Saphire]

It was in December and was the last one but they had been there for a little while. I do not see them there anymore but you could try online. Bed Bath had a sale on them last week not sure it continues. They were I think 59 and you could use the 20%

With keto there are so many recipes that call for mixing and I find the stand mixer perfect. Especially since before I got it I thought it would only be for D to use so it it probably the lowered expectations. I do not own a food processor never have, is that useful? I have a nutone from 1979 that came with the house. We have used it 4 times ever and it is a pain.

Should I get a food proessor if I have a stick blender and a Vitamix?

I like my Vitamix but I used to be on a diet with a lot of vegetable smoothies and it was better for that. I use it about once a week now to mix thngs. What do you use for that makes it so handy?

[Anniegirl9]

I mix dressings and sauces, make my Rocket Fuel Latte (version of BPC), make cauliflower rice (it’s great for that)… mostly I use it for my RFL. But I cook most my weekly meals on Wednesdays and Saturdays, and it’s not uncommon for me to use it 3-4 times preping all those meals.

I have a food processed but I haven’t taken it out in years. I thought about getting it out the other day just to see if it would be better on some things.

[halfasleepb]

If you are considering a sous vide but aren’t sure, then just try “cooler” cooking first. Kenji Alt-Lopez has recipes for meat dishes. I use and love my sous vide but used his cooler method on vacation when I had only ziplock bags, a cooler, and a thermometer and it was amazing. It works for cooking meat that doesn’t need to cook for long. A stand mixer is worth it for the whipped cream alone

[JustPeachy]

I am seriously considering this for my longer cooks. And what type of rubber gasket have you got at the opening? Does it just sit on top or does it extend into the opening itself?

[JustPeachy]

I found this earlier and thought I’d post here. It’s worth watching.
I’ll also post it in the New User Question thread of reference.

[fischersd]

Heh. Ok…posting my comments on that video over here too.

Sous Vide New User Question

Nice video, but there’s two amendments I’d make: Don’t do the water displacement method to seal your zip-lock bags in your pre-heated water bath - much easier to use either the bath before it’s heated or to fill a sink with cold water. She made it sound like starting your meat to cook when you leave for work is the only option to have it ready when you get home, producing a meat that’s been cooked too long. That’s not true - you can use an ice bath to hold your meat at temperature, then have …

[Bellyman]

The thing that bothered me about most of the air fryers out there is that they’re generally so tiny. If I were seriously wanting to do that kind of thing, I’d look into the air fryer / toaster oven type units. The only thing about them is, they take up a lot more space. I think, at least to me, they would probably be much more useful, though.

[cwstnsko]

I have a hard time getting too worked up over the cooking in plastic aspect of the sous vide for a few reasons.
#1, by the time you get your hand on a piece of meat, it has most likely already been in intimate contact with plastic for days, if not weeks. It’s not just the cellophane package at the grocery store, but even the primal cuts that the butcher receives have generally been Cryovac packaged for a couple weeks of wet aging prior to the butcher receiving them.
#2, the plastics used in vacuum bags are specifically made of BPA free food-safe plastics
#3, the process of sous vide cooking meats does not generally involve water any hotter than what comes out of your tap. Most of the stuff I sous vide never sees a temperature above 140 F. It’s nothing like the inferno that you create when you reheat something in a plastic bowl in the microwave. The temperatures involved in sous vide are barely hot enough to be uncomfortable to put your hand in. I don’t think there is much risk of the plastic breaking down.

[gabe]

I am still debating about whether an air-fryer, instant pot/pressure cooker and/or an indoor grill could possibly improve on my food prep.

My pressure cooker is so useful that I barely see the point of sous vide. I have an Anova, I’ve used it a couple of times, and frankly I don’t think the final result has been worth the time investment. Maybe I haven’t mastered using sous vide yet, but tbh an Instant Pot is the very first thing I’d recommend to anyone looking to up their kitchen equipment game!

[cwstnsko]

I’d like to better understand the instant pot, but everything I’ve seen indicates that it is not capable of cooking a beef roast edge to edge perfectly medium rare.
I don’t care for my meat to be cooked beyond medium rare. I get the impression that the instant pot I kind of like a fast crock pot and all the meat tends to be tender, but very well done +

[gabe]

It’s hard for me to speak to this, because although I like my steak done medium, when I braise meat in the Instant Pot I honestly couldn’t tell you how well done it is by the end of it. It’s tender and delicious, and it saves me loads of time and effort, so I don’t care enough to be a connoisseur of meat cooking temperatures.

So you may be right – but maybe try cooking some brisket or ribs in a friend’s pressure cooker one day and see how you like it. The other thing that’s interesting is how quickly it cooks up… I often put my meat in for 50 mins or so, but I’m tempted to try play with my cook time and see what happens. It’s a bit of a black box once it pressurizes, though I’m sure someone here knows a lot more about it than I do!

p.s. pasture raised beef ribs are INSANE out of the Instant Pot. Best ribs I’ve ever had, braised in red wine and chicken stock and a bunch of turmeric.

[LeCheffre]

everything I’ve seen indicates that it is not capable of cooking a beef roast edge to edge perfectly medium rare.

It’s not. And that’s not the point. It’s a fast braising device, that has a lot of side uses, some of which aren’t great in keto. It makes chili in about 45 minutes, inclusive of building pressure. It’s a soup and stew wizard. Does fun things to poultry, assuming you like it braised.

What it does better than a crock is that it keeps volatile flavor compounds in the pot, because it’s sealed. So, you make better stocks in the P-cooker than you make a crock pot, slow cooker, or dutch oven with cracked lid in the oven.

So, recapping: Stews, sauces, stocks, ragus, and speed of braise. As noted, brisket in the sous vide is a long project, while in the P-cooker is <1hr.

@gabe Beef ribs are great in the P-cooker, but they are transformational at 133*Fx72 hours. Like pure luxury, and then can be seared and eaten like steak or sauced or processed into something like a stroganoff.

Sous vide is my preference for processing a lot of things, due to the precision. But when you gotta get it done in under an hour, the P-cooker is the way to go. Also, if you want to build and infuse flavors, P-cooker.

[LeCheffre]

Anything cooked in the P-cooker, by definition, will be beyond well done.

[Baytowvin]

That’s not even a fair fight

SOUS VIDE by a lap. Sous vide will raise the way your food comes out to a new delicious level

The air fryer is junk. Even in the bad old low fat calorie counting days I didn’t really like the stuff it made. Now, on keto, I can deep fry - so why air fry?

THIS - @Rajseth has it 100% correct. Sous vide is AWESOME, and why buy an appliance that’s sole mission is to eliminate healthy delicious fat?

[OldDoug]

I had never even heard of an air fryer before this thread appeared. The world is passing me by.

[LeCheffre]

It’s a counter top convection oven. Sales point is that it fries foods with very little oil. For Keto, maybe you don’t get as much Omega-6 and degraded oil, but maybe just ease of use and clean up. For my money, a nice toaster oven with a convection feature would be better… but still low on my list.

[gabe]

Will def try a 72 hour rib sous vide. How’s brisket sous vide? Honestly, I don’t know how much better than the pressure cooker these can get…!

[lowCarbWitch]

I’d choose the air fryer. Not because less fat but less oil means less expense lol. Also not heating up the house in the summer, any tool that can help with that? I’m for it.

[LeCheffre]

Different.
You can make it fall apart like the p-cooker with something like 155x12-24H, but you can also use SV in concert with a smoker to produce a medium rare snoked brisket with something like 133x72h. (Impossible by other means) Or something like medium rare brisket steak that cuts like NY strip at 131x48.

[JustPeachy]

I just did a corned beef brisket 170f/48h (my longest cook to date) and it was PHENOMENAL!!!