I know it's been discussed in a few threads, but I wanted to discuss sous vide in a dedicated thread. After first hearing about sous vide cooking in the favorite food thread, I researched and got myself an Anova 900w Sous Vide. What a great investment. I still consider myself a novice, but am really trying to learn. I have the 12 quart Rubbermaid container, the corner and side lid, a rack, and recently purchased the Coleman 24 can Stacker cooler and drilled the 2 3/8 hole to use for larger amounts of food. I haven't used that yet though. I also have a Blue Flame 9xTL torch and a cast iron skillet from Bass Pro Shops. I seal my foods with a foodsaver that I had prior to ever hearing of sous vide. So far, I have prepared Ribeye(1 hr @ 129), boneless chicken breasts(1 hr @ 160), and fajitas(8 hrs @ 135). I feel like the ribeye doesn't really benefit from the sous vide since the rendering of the fat is where so much of that great flavor comes from...even with the finishing by torch. Maybe finish it on the cast iron griddle next time. The fajitas were delicious. The seasoning flavor was infused throughout the fajitas and after finishing on the grill, none of the fajita was chewy or tough. This was from a $30 packer style bulk skirt steak from wal mart. My favorite has been the chicken breast. Always juicy and firm. I don't torch or grill the breast since it is skinless, but I might give that a go. I want to try a sirloin steak, spare ribs, dino ribs, and brisket. Of course, all those will get finished on the grill or in the smoker. Come to think of it, I have some leftover chicken quarters in the freezer that I didn't grill this weekend. Maybe I'll try those out as well.
Chef brother o' mine made what he swears were the best thai/asian style pork ribs he's ever had with his. I've been meaning to get the particulars now that I have one too, thanks for the reminder. Need to try fajitas, what kind of marinade do you like?
I just dry rubbed Chupacabras seasoning on the fajitas. Make sure to share those particulars when you get them.
Dry rub makes sense, and I've seen that product but never used it. I usually splurge for better meat and use a wet marinade and then hot grill, but I can definitely see how sous vide would make the average tougher cut get tender as heck. Sold. I've only played around with mine a few times, I'll ask the brother specifics on what all he's mastered, he's had his for a couple of years.
I love my Anova and mainly use it for fish and steak. You can get perfectly-cooked salmon very quickly with a sous vide machine.
Don't get me wrong. I love to fire up the pit, but i want to be able to get some of those tough meats a little more tender. Like I said, I love it for the boneless chicken breast. I just picked up some chuck ribs and round steak and want to see what this thing can do for that. I'm also going to mix up a Texas Roadhouse copycat seasoning and see how that works out.
Did some whole trout the other night- salt, pepper, thyme, olive oil- sous vide at 113 degrees for about 45 minutes, took out, patted dry and a quick flash fry on the pan. Came out excellent, meat was soft and flavorful, skin was crispy. Was really happy with it.
I've been doing sous vide for about 8 years. The best thing about it is I can be really lazy. I can stick a vacuum packed frozen steak straight into the bath and a couple of hours later, I will have perfect steak.
Really confusing. This thing doesn't save on time and it sounds like you are still finishing with pots/pans/grills which you'll have to clean up. I'm guessing you now have to buy these plastic bags too. What's the main benefit of this thing?
If you like Pappasito's fajitas, their marinade is half soy sauce, half pineapple juice with a couple of limes squeezed in. Marinate over night in fridge.
For one, while the meat is cooking, you have time to prepare your sides. Two, you the immersion cooking allows for forgiveness in getting the exact level of cooking. Yes, you have to finish the steak, but that's the fun part. I finish my meat either with a torch or on a griddle on my outside burner so i don't have to worry about the spatter. You can use ziplock baggies. I already have the vacuum sealer and bags for my fishing hauls, so that's a non issue for me. It's just a new and different way to cook. I'd like to get really good at it too add it to my cooking repertoire. I got home and salted a few round steaks and short ribs just to experiment. The entire prep to immersion was 20 minutes tops.
You can actually go 145 on the chicken breasts, it comes out amazing. If you do this right (145 F at 1 HR 10min for fresh, or 2 HR 10min frozen). I usually do a quick sear on each side after on a cast iron (minimal sear though, since I'm using skinless), any leftover breasts can be turned into fajita for the next night. This chicken at 145 will come out non-stringy and you can reheat in pan the next day for leftovers and it'll still be the same or better than any chicken you've had at insanely expensive restaurants. The texture comes out non-stringy and can be cut with a fork. I know this goes against the rules but here's a ton of data and . Gov charts to back this up. https://www.seriouseats.com/2015/07/the-food-lab-complete-guide-to-sous-vide-chicken-breast.html depending on calibration 140-150 is the best because the protein doesn't break down into stringy mess. I'm sure it was good at 160, but definitely read that guide, it has a graph regarding pasteurized chicken and to be on safe side add the hour just as it states (so 1hr 10min fresh etc.) Also, go cheap on the steak, so sirloin or NY Strip from butcher, you're absolutely right on the ribeye, the fat doesn't come out right on a ribeye in the sous vide. But if you do it right.... You can make sirloin/strip come out like a damn filet mignon (without having to pay that price). If you do it to your preference and sear it correctly comes out insane. I usually go 125 F on the steaks, but again this is because of wanting to go medium rare/rare etc. Also check out that guide I linked on the chicken, it'll explain why you don't want to cook the chicken for too high or too long because of the degradation of meat/losing juices etc. Anyway, once you try chicken like this, you'll wonder why you waited.... I know I did
That's my base for all wet fajita or texmex chicken marinades when I'm grilling, I usually add some garlic and onion and hot stuff in too. Wet marinade won't work with a vacuum sealer though.
On steaks I haven't tried torch yet, but take cast iron and place them on the grill, get an insane sear... But yeah... cheap steaks seem to perform best, if you're using rib eye or better it's probably better to just grill it. I mean if it isn't a leaner cut, just can't get marbling correct, at least in my experience.
What I've found is interesting... Is on sous vide chicken you can turn leftovers into quality fajitas, I typically prep onions/bell peppers/jalapeño /. Seasoning etc (I've actually found minimal seasoning is even needed at this point) in skillet ahead of time and then reheat leftover sous vide chicken in there at the end. Obviously going full fajita plan would be a lot better like you mentioned, but I've been amazed at what was essentially thrown together where the chicken was still super tender. Like if I tried that with non sous vide chicken it'd probably be chewy and not desirable. This came out like I had been marinating the chicken for a day I also add a touch of some insane hot sauce .. I prefer hotter/more flavorable type fajitas etc
