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Sous vide thread

Pocahontas

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Share your sous vide recipes.

I got one two or so years ago, it is great for meal prep and set it and forget it. I joke and say people have no excuse to be a bad cook when you can sous vide.

Here are a few of my most used ones.

Chicken breast

Just cut up chicken breast and put in a ziplock bag with some Italian dressing, like to come about halfway up the chicken. Set sous vide for 142 for and hour and a half-2 hours. Makes the best chicken for throwing something together during the week, has enough flavor to stand by its self or blend nicely with other flavors.

Egg bites

Just egg and cottage cheese, can substitute with some cream zzcheese or sour cream if desired for a bit ritcher texture.

I usually do a whole batch of eggs generally 1 egg per 4oz container. 24 eggs 1 cup of cottage cheese 1/4 cup each of sour cream and cream cheese use stick blender to combine. From here its pretty much up to you. I do 1/2 cup a cheese per 5 eggs usually cheddar or Swiss, then a table spoon per jar or bacon, ham or sausage browned but you can add pretty much anything to these.

Make sure to use nonstick spray before hand or they are a bitch to get out of the jars, I use 4 oz canning jars.

Set sous vide to 175, drop jars in and cook for one and a half to two hours. These are great for a snack for kids or on the go, I usually have 4 in the morning pop them in the microwave for a minute and they are ready to go. These keep for two weeks in the fridge so don't be scared of making a decent sized batch once you figure out what you like.

Pulled pork

Pork shoulder 5-7 lbs

Rub
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup of paprika
5 tablespoons of kosher salt
2 tablespoons of mustard seed
2 teaspoons if fresh black pepper
5 tablespoons garlic power
2 tablespoons of oregano
2 tablespoons of coriander seed
4 tablespoons of dried red pepper flakes
2 teaspoons of cayenne pepper

Combine in a bag, usually use a one gallon bag and save whatever doesn't get used till next time. Place pulled pork in 2.5 gallon bag and dup in a cup of so of rub, roll it around till covered. Make sure to roll the tops of the bags so you don't fuck up the zippers if using zip top bags.

Set sous vide to 165 and cook for 16-24 hours.

Take it out let it rest. Then pat dry and lightly cover in rub and put it in smoker for 1-2 hours or more depending on your desired smoke flavor.

Pull apart and enjoy.
 
I do my egg bites in the instapot. 3 min and done. Use the silicon molds off Amazon.

On topic, I just started trying SV with steaks and HOLY SHIT AMAZING.

Thicker cut is best. I've done 1" to 2" with good results.

Salt/ pepper. Vacuum seal. Set SV to 129* Don't leave too long, should be done in about a hourish depending on thickness. If you leave longer than 2-3 hours it will start to affect the texture.

Turn your exhaust fan to HIGH! Mine is in the stove top and works amazing. You may need to open a window, and or turn off your smoke alarm. 😅

Get a cast iron pan, wipe with a high temp oil like canola. Turn to HOT AF. Have a generous pat of butter ready and a timer.

Drop in steak about 30-40 sec per side/edge. Drop in butter and do another 30ish on each face.

Enjoy a perfect medium rare steak!

FYI no need to rest.
 
Sous vide prime rib is awesome.

Bag up a rib, season it to your liking, seal it up and toss it into the ~130-135° bath for at least six hours.

Fish it out, slice the bag open and save the juice for the au jus. Reseason the meat if you want a good crust and toss it into the smoker or oven at about 400° until it's done to your preferred temp. Use a roasting pan with a wire rack in the bottom for best results.

Au jus:
Take all of the juice from the sous vide bag and combine it with the drippings from the roast, I usually just do it in the roasting pan. Add rosemary, thyme (fresh if you can get them), garlic, salt, pepper, and a cup or three of good red wine (pinot noir or cab is usually my jam). If you want it a bit beefier add some bouillon. If you want it thicker, toss a bit of corn starch in and hit that shit with an immersion blender. (if you don't have one you suck and deserve corn starch lumps) Just remember to fish out the rosemary and thyme sprigs if you used fresh.
 
My first sous vide attempt

Bought tenderloin. Cheaper than individual ribeyes or whatever.

Cut to 1 1/2 - 2", add salt/pepper/garlic like I use for brisket. Same 2/2/1 ratio.

Put in zip-loc bags and use water displacement to remove air.

SV at 135 for 3 hours.

Remove from SV, dry, add a little more SPG.

Pan sear.

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My first sous vide attempt

Bought tenderloin. Cheaper than individual ribeyes or whatever.

Cut to 1 1/2 - 2", add salt/pepper/garlic like I use for brisket. Same 2/2/1 ratio.

Put in zip-loc bags and use water displacement to remove air.

SV at 135 for 3 hours.

Remove from SV, dry, add a little more SPG.

Pan sear.

1667779578114.png


1667779594168.png


1667779607422.png
It look delicious was it ? :lmao::flipoff2:
 
I bought one, used it once so far. Don't eat a ton of red meat so it's proving a little less useful than I planned. Gonna need to find some more recipes to try it with
 
I use it on chicken and thawing out fish works well for that.

Chicken breast you just need to use some sort of fat because of how lean it is. I usually use Italian dressing because easy.
 
Since we had a forum crash, my sous vide meal prep post disappeared. I'll repost a bit here.

It all starts like my post above, but the tenderloin that didn't make it to the skillet after sous vide, just put in the fridge until you're ready to have more steak.

Take it out of the bag, leave the juice in the bag, and put the tenderloin on the smoker at 180 until it hits an IT of 110.
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Pour the juices from the sous vide bag into your skillet. Add a little butter. Season (SPG) and sear steak and sit aside. Leave steak juices in the skillet. Take whiskey/bourbon of your choice and dump some in the skillet. Light it to burn off the alcohol.
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Add heavy whipping cream to steak juices and bourbon. Heat/stir until it thickens.
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Dump over steak. Done
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I bought one, used it once so far. Don't eat a ton of red meat so it's proving a little less useful than I planned. Gonna need to find some more recipes to try it with
I think pork and chicken are where it really shines. Get some thick cut pork chops, set it at 140 for an hour or two and then sear. Nice juicy, tasty chops.
 
So… is there a way to cook a potato or side in the same bath as your protein?

Does someone have a trick to out sear lines on chicken or steak without firing up a grill?

Is cast iron the best sear?

If i don’t have cast iron, is it worth getting a piece just for this?

My goal is to drop something in the bath before I leave in the morning and have a 5 minute meal when I get home. (Whenever that is) is 8-14 hours too short of a cook time or too long?

I’ve been eating garbage way to long, i don’t believe in New Year’s resolutions, but I would like to eat a little better, am turning 50 in March and eventually the fast food meal will catch up, so I’m hoping this will help me change my lifestyle.
 
So… is there a way to cook a potato or side in the same bath as your protein?

Does someone have a trick to out sear lines on chicken or steak without firing up a grill?

Is cast iron the best sear?

If i don’t have cast iron, is it worth getting a piece just for this?

My goal is to drop something in the bath before I leave in the morning and have a 5 minute meal when I get home. (Whenever that is) is 8-14 hours too short of a cook time or too long?

I’ve been eating garbage way to long, i don’t believe in New Year’s resolutions, but I would like to eat a little better, am turning 50 in March and eventually the fast food meal will catch up, so I’m hoping this will help me change my lifestyle.

With sous vide you're just sealing stuff into a bag and putting it in water at X temp. I haven't done it, but I'd put a potato in a separate bag. Same with other items. The trick is that you'll SV a steak at like 135. No idea what would be good for a potato. Haven't done one in there.

You can't really overcook stuff in SV. You're not adding more heat, just maintaining a constant water temp. The meat or whatever is in it is going to come up to temp and stay there.

 
You can sous vide a potato, but it will be at a much significantly higher temperature than meat, so you can't exactly get a "one pot meal".

And while true that you cannot technically overcook as the above article mentions, they do caution about texture changes. You can turn the finest cut of steak into a milkshake (ie mush) by leaving it in too long. I try to stick within the recommended times for a recipe. I think some of the fancier Anova units have a delayed start feature such that you can program an on-time. I know some of them are also wifi compatible with an app so you can control it from wherever but I think the first gens were a bit flaky (don't quote me).

Sides can be done quickly in an insta-pot or crock if you want the set-it-forget it approach.

And, you don't nec need cast iron for sear. A hand-held kitchen torch works just fine.

I use mine infrequently but it really shines when I do. It's great for prepping food for camping trips as I know the steaks, omelets, shrimp, etc, are cooked and I just need to flash them in a pan to reheat.

ETA: you can googs for a ton of recipes.... They can be annoying because they are "content creators" but you can get the gist pretty quick. I highly recommend a vacuum bagger to accompany a sous-vide vs using displacement methods & ziplocks

 
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I've made some great pulled pork and briskets. Cut into whatever size chunks makes sense for you.

Season and smoke for 3 or so hours.

Bag it up and put in Sous Vide 24 hours at 150 degrees.

Eat then or put straight in the freezer. Pull from freezer, 1 hour at 150 and ready to go.
 
It shines best for prepping you can cook a hole week or two worth of food in a day while not paying attention to it. I have only used it for meats never potatoes. I’ve only used it for pork/eggs/chicken/beef. As mentioned Google what you are cooking and follow the recipe. You can’t really overcook in souis vide unless you leave something in for 6 to 10 times longer than recommended.

For chicken I usually just trim the breast then put it in a bag with some Italian dressing 2-4hours at 142 degrees.

Steak pad of butter and 135 for 1.5-2.5 hours.

Pork 165 for 24-72 hours depending on size of cut

Brisket 155 for 24-72 hours again depending on size of cut.

The big thing after your protein is cooked then all you have to do is make a side then heat the protein and dinner is ready. In my experience it cuts meal prep down to 5-15 minutes from 20-35 without.
 
I’ve poo-pooed sous vide pretty much since I first heard of it. Same as I did/do poo-poo reverse searing steaks under about 2-1/2lbs. I felt it’s a crutch for people that can’t cook steaks.

That said, I got a wild hair today and finally decided to get one to try. Not wanting to risk my first attempt with a $100+ steak, I went for $10 worth of pork chops. I think the machine is great. It held temp within .1 degree of what my Thermopen read. I did the 1”+ thick pork chops at 140’ for 1 hour 7 min. Then I seared them over some hot Kingsford.

My opinion? Meh. Wasn’t bad. Wasn’t amazing. I could have achieved the same, or better going straight to the grill. That pretty much reaffirmed what I thought about thinner cuts of protein. On my sample of one cook, I didn’t see a flavor, texture, doneness, or time saving benefit over straight to the heat.

I am on a mission this weekend to find a 3lb+ prime porterhouse at a real meat market. I am hesitant to sous vide it. Maybe I will. Maybe I’ll reverse sear it starting in the oven and finishing over coals, or maybe I’ll go Bistecca style.

If someone has some sort of cook that will change my mind about sous vide, I’d love to hear it. Seriously.
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I just did some pulled pork and brisket for our Rubicon trip coming up.

Pork always comes out awesome. I cut to 2-3 lb chunks, season and smoke on my Traeger for around 4 hours. Then vacuum pack and Sous Vide at 155 for 24 hours then freeze. When ready to eat throw in Sous Vide for an hour then "pull" it by squishing while still in the bag.

With the brisket I just use Montreal Steak seasoning. Trim some fat and cut into chunks. This time I ended up smoking it over 8 hours. It was at about 140 when I vacuum packed it and put in the Sous Vide for 36 hours at 155. I think this is my best one. I'll smoke longer from now on.

It's just too easy and I have never had anything but stellar results. Keep it in stock in the freezer until you have a hankering.
 
If someone has some sort of cook that will change my mind about sous vide, I’d love to hear it. Seriously.

I don’t think it will ever give you better results than a standard grill/smoker but it may give you more consistent results and will save you time.

All of my chicken and pork go in the souis vide, biggest thing I’ve noticed is on the grill or smoker you will get a few pieces that are a little too firm or have too much connective tissue. With the souis vide it breaks all of that down and everything is pretty much perfect consistency wise but the process doesn’t add any flavor.

Where it excels the most is meal prep and cleanup, you can cook ten meals worth of protein, all different kinds, in an afternoon without “cooking” all afternoon. Then during the week pull out whatever protein and sides and you have dinner in ten minutes.

It also does great when you are cooking a lot of food at once and reheating/keeping things warm without drying them out.

From what you have posted you seem to be a pretty phenomenal cook, so I’m not sure you will see the benefits because you’ve already perfected the harder but more flavorful ways of cooking.

For me it comes down to convenience, consistency and ease of cleanup. Is everything as good as a perfectly done cut no but for 1/4 of the effort as opposed to normal cooking and 90% of the taste of a perfect cook I’ll take it.
 
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