Low Temp/Sous Vide

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FrankZ

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For Christmas I got the Anova Immersion Circulator.

I have already tried some Italian sausage (about 3.5 hours at 155F) and it was good. I liked the straight from the freezer in the food saver bag to pot and let it cook. I browned it with a torch.

Today I have goose leg quarters in apple juice (with some nutmeg and clove). I have the temp set at 165F and 4 hours on the timer. Can't wait to try it.

My friend that hunts called me and asked if I wanted to smoke a whole goose and if I could do 2 at the same time (one for him and one for me). I agreed to do so, but when we went to pick it up I mentioned the new cooker and he was intrigued. He thought it best if we experiment on the quarters first so I got a bag of those. :)

Not sure if I can vacuum pack a whole goose or not but we shall see what happens.
 
Frank
How did your leg quarters come out? I don't know how you
would get a whole goose in a vacum bag. I did a turkey breast
a couple weeks ago It was awesome. This is the site I use
Turkey Coldcuts | PolyScience – Innovative Culinary Technology
I have the Poly Science Pro Souis Vide I do veggies from the garden Carrots,
Potatoes and green beans. Stevan loves chicken breast cooked in it.

Josie
 
The leg quarters were very nice. I finished them with a torch. Nice hint of apple with the meat. A little tougher than I would have thought, but it might have been an old goose... :)

Looking at the two whole geese I might be able to vacuum pack the smaller. It is hard to say. I should look at those expandable bags (I think I am off to amazon in a minute).

It might be I have to use large ziplock bags and the water trick.

I might still just do them in the smoker.
 
Congrats! I got one for Christmas also.

Cooked a few steaks on New Years, hope to try some more stuff out this weekend.
 
The goose had the best flavor. I'm not sure whether it was an old goose or not, but the flavor was great. I wish it had been more tender.
 
The leg quarters were very nice. I finished them with a torch. Nice hint of apple with the meat. A little tougher than I would have thought, but it might have been an old goose......... :)

Frank, I've been working with sous vide cooking for a while now, and I've learned a few things by trial & error.

Tender cuts of meat (steaks & chops, etc) only need to be left in the bath until they reach temp all the way through. For 1 inch thick cuts, that often means 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Tougher cuts of meat (like your thighs) not only need to reach temp, but they need to spend an amount of time at that temp to dissolve the cartilage and fat and break down to the tenderness we expect from a braise. I do duck legs at 165F for 10-12 hours. I've never done goose, but instinct tells me it will probably need longer. I found the whole time/temp thing to be quite a learning experience.

If you like the science stuff behind cooking, the concept is similar to pasteurization. High temp/short time. Low temp/long time. Since sous vide is by its very nature low temp, you need the longer times to tenderize tough cuts of meat. At one extreme is a corned beef - 36 hours at 160F is perfect.
 
For those that have been cooking this way for awhile, what are some things you have cooked that have turned out the best or that you would not want to cook another way again?
 
Frank, I've been working with sous vide cooking for a while now, and I've learned a few things by trial & error.

Tender cuts of meat (steaks & chops, etc) only need to be left in the bath until they reach temp all the way through. For 1 inch thick cuts, that often means 30 minutes to 1 hour.

Tougher cuts of meat (like your thighs) not only need to reach temp, but they need to spend an amount of time at that temp to dissolve the cartilage and fat and break down to the tenderness we expect from a braise. I do duck legs at 165F for 10-12 hours. I've never done goose, but instinct tells me it will probably need longer. I found the whole time/temp thing to be quite a learning experience.

If you like the science stuff behind cooking, the concept is similar to pasteurization. High temp/short time. Low temp/long time. Since sous vide is by its very nature low temp, you need the longer times to tenderize tough cuts of meat. At one extreme is a corned beef - 36 hours at 160F is perfect.

I picked the 4 hours based on the book. I do wonder how things would have been different at 8 or 12 hours.

I have a package that has two small octopus in it. Not sure yet what I am going to put in there but do you have advice on cooking time/temp?


Thank you for the response.
 
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I have a package that has two small octopus in it. Not sure yet what I am going to put in there but do you have advice on cooking time/temp?

I haven't done octopus, but I have Keller's book, Myrhrvold's book, and a couple of others. Based on what I see in those, I'd try 170F for about 6-7 hours. There's the option to crank it up a bit to 180F for about 5 hours, but I don't see the 2 hours as a time savings. It's just inactive time, so I'd go for the lower & slower.


For anyone unfamiliar with those chefs:
Thomas Keller of The French Laundry wrote Under Pressure: Cooking Sous Vide.
Nathan Myrhvold of Modernist Cuisine fame also wrote Modernist Cuisine at Home, which is the one I have. (In my dreams I own the original Modernist Cuisine.)


NAchef

For those that have been cooking this way for awhile, what are some things you have cooked that have turned out the best or that you would not want to cook another way again?

Seafood...........I have never had better seafood by any method than sous vide. I don't think I'll ever cook any fish or shellfish any other way again.

Beef................Absolutely perfect every time. Just have a screaming hot cast iron skillet or a good torch ready. Even hamburgers can't get better than this. If anyone wants to try burgers, I'll let you in on my trick for the picture perfect burger. I haven't cooked beef any other way in months (except for summertime grilling).

Vegetables........The flavors are fantastic. No water-logged or diluted flavors. Carrots taste like the essence of a carrot.

Chicken...duck...pork...I can go on and on. I probably cook sous vide 3-4 times per week. I go out once or twice a week. That just leaves a time or two for more traditional methods. My style of cooking for 40 years has been primarily sear - saute - deglaze - sauce. Now my go-to is sous vide.
 
I haven't done octopus, but I have Keller's book, Myrhrvold's book, and a couple of others. Based on what I see in those, I'd try 170F for about 6-7 hours. There's the option to crank it up a bit to 180F for about 5 hours, but I don't see the 2 hours as a time savings. It's just inactive time, so I'd go for the lower & slower.

That's the numbers I was looking at. These aren't very big, two came in the package and I will bag them separately. I might even do different preparations on them. Mayhaps one spicy and one not.
 
For those that have been cooking this way for awhile, what are some things you have cooked that have turned out the best or that you would not want to cook another way again?

Best was a 1/2 pound hamburger made with grass feed beef. You would not belive how good good a hamburger can be. Just do not vacuum seal them or you will smash it.
 
What a wonderful gift Frank! After reading all these responses I'm very interested. I've been interested in this method before now, but resisted spending the big bucks, not to mention counter space for a machine.
This looks great!
 
Hi Silver,
The corned beef 160 x 36. Would you share with us?
Did you buy the corned beef at the gro or did you make it
your self, What was the texture like? and did it shrink as
much as they normally do.

Thanks
Josie
 
What a wonderful gift Frank! After reading all these responses I'm very interested. I've been interested in this method before now, but resisted spending the big bucks, not to mention counter space for a machine.
This looks great!

Kayelle,
The one that Frank has and the one that I have, Clips on a pot or a plastic tub. You don't have to have a big machine in your way. This is one of the reasons why I bought the Poly Science one. I am not saying that one is better than the other, Just a feature that I wanted.

Josie
 
I have two packages set up with octopus ready for the pot. The water is heating right now.

EVOO, lemon and Herbs de Provence
30377-albums851-picture5798.jpg


EVOO, lemon, crushed red pepper, paprika (smoked and sweet), garlic
30377-albums851-picture5797.jpg


I plan on 170F for 7 hours.
 
I just wanted to follow up with this.

We ate the Herbs de Provence one already. It was flavorful and very tender. Extremely tender, but not falling apart mushy.

The other one is in the fridge and I will likely put it on a salad tomorrow.
 
Must one have a vacuum sealer to use this method? I too am very interested in this.

My culinary journeys of late are just repeats and far from exciting. I need something new and fresh to try.
Not to mention it looks like a very healthy way to prepare food.

Can multiple foods be prepared/cooked at once? Lets say meat and vegetable for dinner. Can I do both at the same time?
 
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