Time for maiden voyage

(mole person) #1

I’ve yet to use my sous vide. Today I bought a sirloin top roast beef. Help! I like my roast beef medium rare.

#2

@juice

(mole person) #3

lol…good idea!

(Running from stupidity) #4

I’m just gonna give a link :slight_smile:

Chefsteps is great for all sorts of sous vide info, and they explain things really well.

(mole person) #5

Thanks @juice. I’m looking forward to trying it. I am really confused about something. It says for a medium rare roast to cook at 140 F for 6-14 hrs. If i cook a roast in the oven the amount of time it cooks for affect how well done it is. Why is this not the case with sous viding? And how should I be deciding between these values?

(Jane) #6

Sous vide is so different from oven cooking.

The temp determines how rare or done your meat is. The time determines how tender. Really cheap, tough cuts of meat take a long time to break down to fork-tender. A good quality roast - not so long.

(mole person) #7

Thank you so much, @Janie. I figured it had to be something like that but it kind of boggles my mind a bit and I was doubting how it could be true.

(Running from stupidity) #8

It’s confusing for a while, but then it’s not and you wonder how you lived without it.

Which is probably why it’s the perfect keto tool, really…

(Raj Seth) #9

In the oven, you have the temp set much higher. Say 325dF. So the outermost layer of your roast warms up - but not to 325 immediately. This layer then conveys heat, slowly, to the next layer, which is slightly cooler, and then the next layer which is cooler still, and so on till you get to the middle, where it only reaches 125 (rare). If you leave it in the oven long enough, the entire roast will reach 325 dF eventually, and will be a charred mess.

In a sous vide set to 125dF, the water bath - is at 125dF. The most that the roast can get to is 125dF, or “rare”. It will take a long time, about 1-2 hours / inch, for the heat to permeate through the meat, but it will. So, after several hours, your entire roast will be 125dF, edge to edge. Perfect.

Now all you need is to brown the outside to get the wonderful flavors released by the browning / Maillard reaction (google it). So now you have a roast, cooked rare edge to edge, uniformly, and with yummy brown umami on the outer layer.

(mole person) #10

THANK YOU!!! It makes perfect sense now.

(mole person) #11

The instructions from this site worked perfectly. I went with rare after seeing what other people call rare, and it was puuuuuurrrrrfect. Thanks again!

(mole person) #12

Oh, I have one more question. What do you do if something is going to be finished sous viding at the wrong time. Although I happened to be awake at 4 am to start it this time that won’t always be the most convenient.

My husband: “You’re saying that wasn’t an expensive cut?”

“No, it was dirt cheap.”

My husband: “It was the best roast beef I’ve ever had! It’s like a miracle!”

I can’t believe I got the timing right, first time. It must be fairly forgiving. The instructions said 6 -14 hrs and I went for 12. I thought it might end up too tender and maybe dry, and had told my husband not to expect much the first time, but nope.

(Running from stupidity) #13

So much. I put a rump steak in the other day for dinner, but wasn’t feeling like eating then so we had it for lunch the next day.

Eggs are much more time-sensitive, but I’ve never had an issue with meat (mind you, I don’t buy expensive cuts, so I’m not sure about them.

(mole person) #14

So you just let it keep cooking for another 18 hrs and it was fine?

(Running from stupidity) #15

Yeah :slight_smile:

Done it plenty of times before, too - something like hanger steak in for 48 hours, then something happened, so we didn’t eat it until the following evening.

(Running from stupidity) #16

You can also pull it out, chill it ASAP, then put it in the fridge, and then sous vide it back up to temp for an hour or so when you’re good to go. But frankly, that seems like too much work to me…

(mole person) #17

Thanks! I see now I was over anxious about +/- 2 hours and what the effect would be. :rofl:

No more 4 am wake-ups to start the sous vide. Yay!

(Running from stupidity) #18

Well, the 6-14 hours indicates they’re not too worried about precision :slight_smile:

(Running from stupidity) #19

Also, I’ve been doing this for 5-6 years, and it STILL spins me out how good it makes cheap meat. I’d be most interested to know how many times that sous vide has paid for itself over the years, in saved meat costs…