Sous Vide

Noggin1980

I know we have lots of budding chefs here, has anyone tried cooking Sous Vide?

I know there will probably be alot of people who are against it on principle as, put a steak in a plastic bag and heat it in warm water sounds dreadful but I've been lucky enough to go to a few fancy restaurants over the past year where the food has been amazing and it's my impression almost all the protein was cooked sous vide.

Now it's available at a price for home cooks, we thought we'd give it a try and backed the sensaire on kickstarter and it will hopefully arrive this week. I think the first week we'll go with a thick ribeye to compare with how we normally cook it, next day some eggs and then perhaps pork chops after that which are something we always fail at cooking well.

anyone else given/giving it a try?

THE_FORCE

That Sansaire looks a neat bit of kit, and for something that for many might only get used occasionally, it appears to be a compact solution that can be stored easily, as opposed to having a water bath permanently taking up room on your kitchen work surface.

As for the cooking method itself - perfect for chefs and restaurants where consistency is key, but obviously results will differ depending on what you're cooking(temperature and duration dependent): fish being one form that generally shows a less than favourable texture!

SteakAndCake

I'm a fan of the technique but not for steak.  

Most of a steak's flavour comes from the malliard reaction which happens only at high temperature where fat oxidises and creates umami flavour.  This happens in the searing process.

Now you can post sear Sous Vide steak but what's the point?  You can get the same super tender pink interior by slow cooking the steak in the oven prior to searing and this requires no expensive equipment.  

A purely Sous Vide steak tastes really really wrong, unnaturally soft and absent of flavour like a bit of unseasoned veal.    I paid a lot of money once for a Sous Vide Chateaubriand and to be honest, I'd rather have eaten a Weatherspoons Zebu Rump.

Noggin1980

Yeah, I'd thought about it in the past but couldn't justify the SVS waterbath price and wouldn't want it permanently on the kitchen work surface. The Sansaire does look like it will be a nice bit of kit, fingers crossed it will be.

There is the annova one too that is aparantly just as good, Anova Sous Vide Immersion Circulators same price and you can actually buy it now rather than it just shipping to kickstarter backers like the sansaire.

No idea how much will we use it to be honest, I think we'll give most proteins ago in it and some vegies and once tried once decide weather to do it again or use more standard cooking methods. I feel like I'm going to use it alot but don't we all think that when we buy something new. Then a few months later its stuck in the cupboard.

IronGiant

I think a lot of the sear would wash off into the bag, the meat tends to generate a fair bit of juice. Best give it a quick flash in a very hot pan after the sous vide step.  I got one of these for my Birthday and so far am pretty impressed with it.  Giles & Posner Sous Vide and Slow Cooker

Noggin1980

we will be searing afterwards, purely sous vide steak looks really unappealing as you say less flavour with no crust, we are already pretty good at steak and beef joints etc but there isn't isn't quite the consistency I'm hoping I'll be able to get with sous vide.

we cooked a rib roast last weekend at 110c in the oven and it was awesome, though I'll try 100C next time, we preseard and I've seen read post searing is better, but it still wasn't completely uniform color throughout the meat and it's still tough to hit your exact temperature even with a probe because it carries on cooking after you take it out. We take this into account but of course different size joints raise different amounts with carry on cooking and we are normally at least a couple of degrees off the temperature we aimed for. At christmas we cooked a 3kg rib roast and took it out at 38c and it hit 59c by the time we served it, people were raving about how good it was but inside I felt we should have done better.

SteakAndCake

Rib Roast is easy once you get a digital meat thermometer.    Pre-sear in a red hot pan then into the oven on the lowest temp it will hold until the internal meat temperature is 120f (49C).  Remove and rest for 45mins.  Carve against grain. Perfect every time.   Pink all the way through, tasty crust, minimal if any nasty dry grey band.

Noggin1980

Thanks, yeah thats my plan for the vast majority of protein, sous vide and post sear in as hot as I can get it cast iron pan, alot of people swear by blow torching it but I don't think the mrs will go for that and I've heard if you get it wrong you can taste the torch.

That looks good, less than we paid for the sensaire, anything you tried that you've been particularly impressed/unimpressed with?

SteakAndCake

Taste the meat, not the heat

Noggin1980

Thanks, that is very similar to what we do, though we cooked at 110c and I think we should have gone with 90 or 100c. we do beef very well since we got the thermometer a few years back but there is still some guess work involved due to carry on cooking, we take the carry on cooking into account but it's so different based on weather you are cooking for 3 when the father in law comes round or 12 for the big family get together that we don't nail it quite the way I would like. maybe sous vide will be worth it for that maybe it won't.