Sous-Vide method of cooking
 

Does anyone do this? I just learned about it and thought I might give it a try this summer.

It's slow cooking in water kept at the goal temperature. The food is vacuum sealed.

For a start (and to save money), I thought I'd try it by using the "beer cooler" method.

Here's a link for doing steak.

Pat

This is a classical method of cooking, very popular in the 50-70's, now in vogue; what makes this method so attractive is the three methods of execution:
1. Advance preparation - total control over variables, seasons, finish temps, etc
2. Storage, endless possibilities.
3. Cryrovacing, hold in statis.
4. Cryroing becomes the technique in 160F^ water temperature circulation finish tempertures to presentation.

I'll try it next week. :munchin

I've done a whole lot of reading and research on the subject. Bought a book written by Thomas Keller, "Under Pressure" it's all about sous vide.

One extremely important issue with sous vide is "safety". Sous vide can go terribly wrong if you do not have a full understanding of food safety. Sous vide can be a perfect technique to breed deadly bacteria. Before you start I would suggest you do your due diligence first.

What do you intend to use as a immersion heater/circulator?

http://www.cuisinetechnology.com/sou...circulator.php

That's why I was going to try it later this year; I need to study more. I thought I might use one of our crock pots with a PID.

Pat

Sheesh, $42 for that book, cheapest. Thanks for the warning, I'm looking into the food safety aspects. I'm going to try the beer cooler method, it looks like if you start with a large enough cooler the water temp remains remarkably stable.

What's your opinion on browning the meat first vs last? I'm seeing these commercial device sites recommending that you brown first, then vacuum seal, then ice bath to get the temp back down, then sous vide. Other places say forget that, just go from fridge to pouch to sous vide and then sear the meat right before you serve it. The latter seems a lot less work.

If the beer cooler method pans out I'll cobble something together. A cooler, adressable thermocouple to measure temp, a remote AC switch to control an immersion heater, a salt water aquarium pump, and a laptop to control the whole mess and I think I can replicate one of fancy shmancy units for under $75. I'd start the thing off with the water close to the correct temp, my guess is the commercial immersion pumps are sized to bring cold water up to temp and cope with the addition of cold meat periodically, neither of which I need.

Searing before or after, all depends on what you are doing. A steak should be seared after. Braised short ribs, lamb shanks etc. seared before. But I would experiment anyway!

I would also go the cooler route and maybe a laying a sheet of styrofoam on top to keep in the heat.

I did try the SV method for a soft boiled egg, yesterday morning, that I think is also described on the site I linked. It didn't work, but I'm pretty sure that the eggs probably were not room temperature when I started. I turned them into "poached" eggs instead. Still good! ;)

Basically, the whites harden at 155* and the yolk at 158*. In theory, if the temp is held at 155* the time shouldn't really matter, though the guy in the food lab deminstrated that it does after 6 minutes.

Found the link:
http://www.seriouseats.com/2012/03/t...iled-eggs.html

ETA: After re-reading his test, he was using a much higher temperature.

Pat

I prefer sous-Weber.

Reminds me of putting water in LRRP chill con carne and sticking the pack in the leg pocket of my field pants. Took about 2 clicks to make it edible.

Unfortunately, don't have $1100+ for a hot water heater with precision thermostat and recirculate function. I'll look into it further. Maybe a converted Parkerizing tank set-up.

Will have to suffer this weekend with non-precision antique BBQ grill with mesquite, hickory and cherry wood and fingertip method and pedestrian T-bones ( very, very slow-cooked then quick seared ) in the back yard if the rain stops.

Season liberally ( not the steak ) with local neighborhood home-brewed beer.

Blue collar, but works for us. ( Le col un petit peu bleu, il travaille pour nous. ) :)

Damn, you're making me hungry......

Tried the eggs again this morning. Eggs out of the fridge and into cold water. I put the pot on one of the simmer burners on low. I let the temp get to 160* then added tap water to bring it down to 155*. Held it between 155* and 157* for 30 minutes. I cracked them open and...had poached eggs again. :D

I think it will take at least an hour, probably more, to get them perfect. Next time I'll do room temperature eggs, water at 157*, and use a beer cooler (I need a new one anyway). I'd like to find the minimum time, so I'll put several in and take one out after 1 hour, then one every half hour until I'm happy, or my wife gets tired of eating poached eggs. ;)

Pat

Now we're cookin

precision water bath with circ pump. Take your pick.

http://www.ebay.com/sch/Healthcare-L...nkw=water+bath

Ah so. :D

If anyone has the contributing sources you do; we're still waiting for "Cooking with Claymores" - a title too good to waste.
:D

here is a site which is focused on Sous-Vide and everything attached to Modern Cuisine.
http://modernistcuisine.com/2012/02/...uisine+Blog%29

Click on buy for the cook books.

Chef Michael Mina, at the Mandalay Bay in LV, uses 120°F clarified butter:

Found at Amazing Ribs

Pat

Sounds more like a steak "confit" than Sous-Vide.

Clarified butter is close but is not ghee.

I'm definitely trying this. :lifter

Hmmmm,

I'm liking this setup: http://54deg.com/

EDIT: This one looks even better: http://www.exasperatedcalculator.com...vide-week-one/

Another controller: http://www.auberins.com/index.php?ma...roducts_id=183

It does. But, it's CB and not rendered fat. I guess he bastardized the two methods. ;) Still sounds tasty, though!

Pat

After reading up on sous vide, I've decided to bite the bullet and order one. I contemplated the cooler method, but TS made some good points on food borne illness. Will let you know how things turn out.

So, have you used it yet, booker?

Pat

Depended on the ambient temp vs weight of ruck and time to tgt... you needed to add 15% layup/cooking(time?) for the spaghetti or beef/chicken with rice...

Oh, have I mentioned you make me sound old:mad::p

Pat, we use the supreme sous vide, its within a degree on the digital temp. The best book, imo is Kellers "Under Pressure", but you must have a cryorvac machine, and a good one, if you want the best results.

Pat,

I worked briefly for Chef Michael Mina in his Bourbon Steak Restaurant in Scottsdale:

http://www.fairmont.com/scottsdale/dining/bourbonsteak/

I can tell you we Sous-Vide the items on the menu, and they were not confit.

A very great Chef to work with, as he was humble, not arrogant about his status, and wanting to throw it around, as some Chefs do. He demanded great product consistently, which was a pleasure to suffer under...;)

A great Chef.

Hope your ventures in to this form of cooking turn out well, as it seems to be evolving from its traditional nature.

Holly

We are well pleased with ours. Like any new tool, it takes a little bit to figure it out.

Sorry Holly but you've no idea what you're talking about in reference to sous vide. The technique that I discussed before and the way Chef Michael Mina prepares his steaks has nothing to do with sous vide.

Confit = Meat (usually goose, duck, or pork) that has been gently cooked and preserved in its own fat. If you leave out the preserved part then Chef Michael Mina is actually employing a sort of confit method of preparing his steak.

Slow poached in butter, is the method Chef Michael Mina is employing and it even states it on his own website, the very one you posted.

When talking meats Sous vide is a dry cooking method that employs "vacuum sealing", gentle cooking over a "long" period of time to break down collagen. There is nothing chef Michael Mina is doing that even closely resembles sous vide.
Sous vide cooking is a technique that if not done right can produce food borne illnesses. Chef Michael Mina is warming the meat to the proper internal temperature and then grilling it all within an hour. The meats he talks about cooking here is not sous vide. His cooking method would not produce the food borne illnesses associated with improper sous vide cooking as it's all done within the hour.

Please feel free to define confit and sous vide. And once you've read Chef Thomas Kellers book, "Under Pressure" come back and tell me chef Michael Mina is doing sous vide.

TS

You are absolutely right TS, I do not know what I am talking about, only what I have learned from the Chef's I have worked with, thus far. Sorry. :-(

In Mina's kitchen, it does say on the menu, slow poached in butter. In the kitchen, we used the Sous Vide machine on individual portions of vegetables, (at my station,) that included butter and herbs. They were then put in to a re-hydration machine at time of servie, for fresh presentation.

Using this machine during my time working in His kitchen led me to my conclusion that we Sous Vide. If this is in any way in-correct information that I was disseminating, my sincerest appologies.

Like many, I am always trying to learn when I am in the kitchen cooking something, or preparing it with a certain cooking method.

Thanky you for pointing out my mistake, and I will try in the future not to make any. And thank you for the recomendation of Under Pressure, I had not heard of it, but will start my research.

To put it more clearly, I was wrong!!! We Sous Vide Vegetables only, not meat, not anything having to do with meat, I was wrong! I know that TS knows what he is talking about when it comes to Culinary, and I was wrong to state anything contradictory to what he stated.

Holly

This thread was a discussion of sous vide. I pointed out the method PSM posted in post #18 was not a sous vide technique. It is in fact what Chef Michael Mina calls "butter poaching". And I would highly recommend that method for home cooks. Making the clarified butter might be the most difficult for first timers. Also keeping the butter at the correct temp while poaching would be another difficult task. I'd also make sure you pat dry the steak before throwing it on the grill....
I'm sure Chef Michael Mina sous vides his veggies, an absolutely outstanding method of cooking veggies, but that not what we were discussing.

No chef has taught me to cook using the sous vide method, I read Thomas Keller's book "Under Pressure" again and again until I understood what he was doing, how he was doing it and why.

Another great resource is a book called "The Science of Good Food" by Joachim and Schloss with A. Philip Handel, Ph.D
This book explains in great detail what happens to foods as they are being prepared. It also goes into detail about cooking methods. I highly recommend it to all cooks.

TS

Learned about the cryovac the hard way. The thermo had some issues, sent it back, waited a couple of weeks, then just had them send me a refund. Time did not make the heart fonder...

While it is a nice method of cooking, the amount of PITA it caused me wasn't worth it. Keller's book is amazing (all of them are). I'm going to go with an Orion cooker in the spring, maybe I'll revisit the sous vide after the memories fade.

Here are two different approaches/technique to fish cooking. The Salmon was Sous Vide @ 113^F for 12 minutes, remove for the (Zip Lock Bag) placed on Paper Towels, seasoned, wonder flour, Then quickly Sauteed-for color only.
The Snapper was Sauteed, the Veg was Sous Vide. If you are using the skin, you have to make it crisp, the only way is direct heat, so Sous Vide method is a no go with skin on.

Zip LOCK BAGS
We stopped using the Cryovac Machine for fish & meat. 1. Time consuming process. 2. Results were the same.
You remove 95% of the air by folding the bag over the protein, then sealing the strip. We use the double seal bags.

Edit to add: tonight I'll take some other pictures of setting the fish up for service.

Anyone tried using the propane torch method for things like getting a char on steaks and crisping fish skin post sous vide?

Fish Sous Vide
L>R This id the Halibut both in and out of the Bag after being cooked Sous Vide
2. Halibut Skin side up before removal from the bag.
3. Sous Vide Halibut & Salmon before being seared.
If you can zoom in, you'll notice how the albumen is just set, cooked perfectly.

So I got the new (to me) sous vide water oven (sous vide supreme) and wanted to see if I would get the same results I've seen at some restaurants. Here's a 1.5" thick ribeye cooked sous vide for ~two hours at 136 F (for a final core temp of 134) followed by a quick sear in a very hot pan. I have to say I'm very impressed with the way that the entire steak came out medium rare as advertised rather than having the thick overcooked ring around the outside edge. There will definitely be a lot more of this style of cooking going on here in the future. BTW, I didn't take the picture until after I had eaten most of the meal so presentation isn't there...

On a side note, I got the book(s) Modernist Cuisine that Penn posted about quite a while ago and again earlier in this thread. There's some really good information in there although, as Penn mentioned, some of the equipment they use is out of reach for non-commercial cooks. I don't see a combi or vapor oven in my kitchen any time soon ($10k-$30k each) The photography in the books is amazing and the set came with several of the pictures sized for framing. They'll be hanging in the kitchen soon.

I was going to post this in "Who's Cooking What Today?" but this thread seemed more appropriate even though it was older.

Thanks for the report. This keeps slipping down my to-do list but I'm still eager to master it.

Pat

You will.:

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134 degrees??? The whole idea is not to have the proteins seize up! ;)

It was my first time cooking this way and I was concerned about the safety side. As I get more comfortable, I'll adapt.

I personally don't like beef too fleshy so this was only slightly more done than I would want it anyhow. I might go as low as 130, but no lower for my own dinner.