Bought the above named unit and received it today.
Found this thread, but most of it was from 2004, so thought I’d start a new one.Sous Vide
Added water and a vacuum sealed Food Saver bag holding a salmon fillet with some seasoning and two thin slices of lemon. Cooked for about 50 minutes at 140 degrees.
Turned out perfect. Done all the way through and nice and flaky. No need to watch the grill or oven. Very convenient.
Tomorrow I’m going to do a rib eye steak and sear it with my MAPP torch after it comes out of the bag. Then maybe on Friday some lamb or pork chops.
Does this unit churn the water as it cooks, or is it still? I’m interested in exploring this technique, but cannot justify, or even store, another appliance. So I’m looking at the modify a crock pot with a thermocouple approach.
The water stays still other than natural convection currents.
I have had mine for about a year, and absolutely love it.
Make the scallops, with artichoke hearts and baby potatoes. [I know it might be heretical, but I always rinse the excess salt off under extremely hot running water … and add garlic to the butter.]
Dude, that thread’s from 2010. You made me do a double-take for a minute!
And I’m still sous-viding away. Do I use it for everything? No. But I do use it several times a month, and I’d really miss it if I didn’t have a sous-vide setup. And since the above thread, I have dropped the $$ for a chamber vacuum sealer. Expensive? Yup. But I use that thing more than I’d ever think I would (both for sous-vide and a whole lot of other stuff).
Here’s what I do the most:
Glazed carrots. I do several pounds at once, in 1/2 pound packets, and put 'em in the freezer. I’ve converted people who say they don’t like cooked carrots with the sous-vide glazed carrots I make. Pretty much this recipe.
Steaks. You really can’t beat sous-vide steaks, especially in the winter when the grill isn’t an option.
Baby back ribs. 155 degrees for 24-30 hours, sealed with a spice rub. These are so good that I had one very well-travelled and -eaten friend tell me they were the best ribs he’d ever had. This is another recipe that does really well cooked & frozen, ready to pull out of the freezer at a moment’s notice.
Well yeah, the latest posts are from 2010, but the OP was made in 2004 so I kind of started over. Opps, my error all the posts are from 2010:smack:
I bought the unit from COSTCO and it included the sealer and bags for $349 delivered. Available unit only for about $299 elsewhere, but I figured that ease of return if required as well as the sealer and bags made it a better deal.
As mentioned by aruvqan there’s no circulation, though an aquarium bubbler could be a cheap addition. Not sure if the larger unit has a circulator or not.
I do plan to try scallops as I really like them, but when preparing in a pan stove top, my wife hates the spatter, so this might be a good option. I see I’ll still need to sear them, but if I’m quick it might be OK. Wife doesn’t like scallops, so it makes it more of an issue than usual.
I always wondered how they made a steak that was medium rare all the way through. I guess now I know. I’m kind of a gadget guy, as well as a steak lover, so I think it’s a good match.
I’d like to try chuck roast, but we do such a great job in a dutch oven with potatoes, carrots and onions that it would be hard to beat. We do have a recipe that calls for marinating and then grilling to medium. That might be a good match for the sousvide unit.
I’ve got lots of pork, lamb, and beef in the freezer. Time to clean it out!
My grill is right outside my garage doors, but it’s seldom used in winter. I think for tonight’s rib eye I’ll try the MAPP torch. Maybe I need a spare for the kitchen?
That carrot recipe Athena linked to is really great. I also do pearl onions that way.
I do lots of skinless boneless chicken breasts. In the bag, they will keep for three weeks in the fridge, some might go in the freezer. Very handy to have on hand for risotto, chicken salad, throw on the grill, whatever. I just reheat them in a pot of hot (not boiling) water.
Ribs are great and 72 hour short ribs are well worth the time. Pulled pork (I put a few drops of Liquid Smoke in the bag) is one of my favorites. And I really like to do eggs but the texture of the white is a bit unsettling for some people.
I don’t have the Sous Vide Supreme. I rigged up a SousVideMagic controller to my rice cooker and / or crock pot. They are both pretty small so I bought a bucket heater and use it in a big stock pot to do big batches. I also use a small aquarium air pump to keep the water moving. People say my setup looks like a meth lab.
I was going to say, the grill is always as option. I don’t live in the Yoop, so I know our winters are not as brutal, but I’ve been up at 6 in the morning in 0F (not taking windchill into account) weather to get a smoker started for an evening barbecue. Smoker or grill, winter or summer, it’s always an option.
Well, I’m quite happy with my first Rib Eye. It had cooked at 134 degrees for about 5 hours. That’s much longer than required but I needed to be someplace else, so put it in before leaving.
Came home and fixed my side dish, then pulled the steak. I dried it off as suggested and toasted each side with the torch. Perfectly done top to bottom!
It’s not the snow, which is just about always cleared, grilling or not. Our homeowner’s policy doesn’t cover “deck collapsing under too much snow.” Seriously.
It’s the cold. Though we have a pretty good grill, it’s gas, and I’ve found that below 20 degrees or so, it simply doesn’t hold the heat well. Yet another reason I need a Big Green Egg.
I plan to get into this with my crock pot, but I need to find a cheap temperature control. I’ve seen plenty at above $100, but that is a little rich for my blood. Any good sources?
I don’t know that such a thing exists for less than $100. Kind of the whole point of sous-vide is precise temperature control; you can attempt it with an insta-read thermometer and adjusting the temp yourself, but the results will be spotty. Also hard to do long-term cooking that way (you can’t really make sure the water is at 155 degrees for 48 hours straight manually, unless you’re a masochist.)
I have something like this. Haven’t burned the house down yet.
Truly, though, a frying pan works as good if not better. I rarely use the torch except for oddly-shaped items (like poultry). Steaks crisp up just fine in a hot cast iron frying pan.
When I first researched this stuff last year I did my first try with a big stock pot full of water on the stove and a digital thermometer. I just kept checking the temp and turning the gas stove up and down to stay within a degree or two.
I’ve seen a few other DIY sous vide projects around the web, too.
You can save money on the vacuum sealer with this: Ziploc® Brand Vacuum Freezer System
I found it in my (very) small town grocery store for about $4. Works great.
I do this all the time at home. It works pretty well for anything that needs less than 1.5hours or so to cook. Fish is great because it takes all of 20 minutes or so to reach perfection. Steaks are no problem. Roasts or other thick/dense food won’t work unless you are willing to monitor the temperature of the water every hour or so. For sealing I use Ziploc bags. I find the best way to get the air out of them is to seal them about 3/4 of the way, and then dip them in the hot water. This pushes the air out of the top allowing you to seal it and drop it in.
The beer cooler sous-vide is a great way to “try it out” for <$20 before shelling out a lot more or building your own.
The torch I used last night is similar to the one in the link Athena posted.
I have three lamb chops in the cooker right now and will probably use a skillet to finish them off. An advantage of the torch is that there’s no pan to clean, and no grease spatter on the stove!
