You'd be amazed what Thomas Keller's restaurants use it for. The only reason I know this is because I know the guys that did it at Bouchon. I know, it made me sad to hear it. One of the best meals I've ever had was at French Laundry. Do I care what they did to cook it? No. Great post.
Im sure it was an amazing meal, he is an amazing chef and the French Laundry is a place I would love to eat at. I was just stating my opinion no reason to be surly about it.
the first time I ever saw a sous vide was when I was working for a food service company and was meeting with Chris Shepherd at Underbelly in 2012. Hes doin alright with the cooking game. As for smoking, I agree with you on traditional v electric pellet smokers. But pellet smokers or some other technology may end up surpassing the quality of my bullet smokers in the near future.
I'm liking the torch more than the hot skillet. The hot skillet seems to burn off the seasoning too much. I know a good steak only needs Kosher salt and fresh pepper, but I love the Roadhouse copycat seasoning I've been using.
I understand what you're saying. It does take away from firing up the firebox, but workdays are exhausting and weekends are valuable, and who doesn't like to yield a searing torch?! Honeslty, I really see it as a compromise. I understand you can sous vide a brisket and finish it on the smoker for about 3 hours to get a decent smoke ring and bark. That's on my list to try. If you're a chicken breast guy, the sous vide is invaluable.
I picked up some more chicken breast and double the packs of ribs this weekend. I also grabbed some sirloin and pork steak. At this point, I'm still experimenting, but damn if it's not some tasty, tender experimenting...Except for that round steak. I'm gonna have to leave that in the sous vide a little longer.....like 6 months.
I got the Anova with wifi for Christmas, and have used it several times already. Steak, pork, chicken.. Without a doubt, the best results so far have been with chicken breasts. The main thing I notice is that when cooking chicken breasts the conventional way, in the oven or in a skillet, they shrink down to what seems like about half their size. Not so with sous vide! If anything, they come out slightly larger than when they went in, although that could just be my mind playing tricks. I know they pump this meat full of water, and cooking in an over will cause all that moisture to leach out, thus making the meat shrink. But it just doesn't happen in sous vide. And the chicken is always tender and perfectly done. A couple minutes in a skillet after they come out, to give them that nice browning effect, and it's perfect. I have tried a few low-quality cuts of beef, and let them sit in the sous vide for a long time, but the results were meh. Better than they would have been on the grill or in a skillet, but not something you will confuse with filet mignon either. Now I will say, I am still using the 'zip-lock bag' method, as I do not have a vacuum sealer, and so my results are probably a little wonky as well. All in all, we have been very happy with it so far.
OK, sounds like chicken breasts are my next experiment. What time and temp do yall use? FT, those chuck ribs look great. Time and temp on those?
Wonky on the flavor or texture? The texture should be the same for with the ziplock and vacuum seal if I understand corrtectly. I can see the seasoning being more infused with the vacuum sealer though. I'm really loving the chicken breast on this, as is my GF. That beef chuck ribs I prepared were falling apart. It was a 48 hour bath and the rib meat was almost like barbacoa. I do like a little more firmness to my ribs, so I may have to continue to test out these ribs until I get them where I want them. I'm thinking a 36 hour bath and a 24 hour bath.
I don't know if you saw my link on page one but it has an insane breakdown of what to expect and timing, with that said, fresh/frozen chicken breast 145 F (this can vary on calibration, so 140-150, guide details way more and also why you can get away with the lower temp). 1 HR 10 min for fresh, 2 HR 10 min for frozen. After, just a light pan sear. Regardless of brand, Costco/Sam's/HEB etc, comes out non-stringy and only need a fork to cut it. I was sceptical because of all the stories about poultry needing to be certain temp, but after reading that guide and charts attached, and personally trying it, it's basically the only way I prep chicken now.
I agree with Falcons, but how long are you doing the steak for and what temp? Also, how low, like a sirloin or something else? On a side note, I only vacuum close ziplock bag (water dip method), no issues, but I can see where a vacuum sealer could be cool.
on the breasts,I did one hour at 160*@ 1 hour , finishing with a torch. I seasoned it with one part knorrs chicken boullion powder to 2 parts chapacabras seasoning before bagging it. The one in the picture was nuked in the vaccum bag and torched after reheating. I think it sucked up more flavor. The ribs were @160 for 48 hrs. I was going to to 160 @ 24 hours but was too lazy to pull them, so I just went the 48. Salt and pepper seasoned with a roadhouse copycat seasoning before the torching.
This is the one I got. It has three interchangeable tips and it fun to use. Pro tip...don't try to torch on foil....it will burn holes in it when you get the edge.
Absolutely great for roasting peppers too: torch until skin is black, sweat in a ziploc for a bit, rub skin off with paper towels, voila.
OOOooohhh....Jalapenos toreoados!!! Slice them open, devein and deseed, and sprinkle lime juice on them. No thanks needed!
Summertime is pepper season for me. I end up with a TON of them of various varieties and eat them just about every way you can. They do freeze really well (either roasted or just diced) in a vacuum bag.
Im doing what @CCity Zero is doing with the water dip technique. It doesnt get all the air out but its an excellent alternative- stick your meat in a ziploc bag, fill a pot of water, put the bag of meat in the water with a small corner unzipped, let the water push out the air with is displacement and then just zip the small corner up.
Yeah that's what I do, and yes it gets most of the air out, but inevitably there will still be some air in there, and I just am guessing that it is going to work even better with an actual vacuum seal. As for the beef, I don't remember the settings off the top of my head. My wife loves very rare steak, (and I like medium rare at best, so of course I looked up a recipe for rare, and we had rare.. lol), so whatever recipe I found, I used that. I don't remember the cut, but it was super cheap.. but I did that on purpose, and I do remember it was in for 24 hours. Don't know the temp though.
