Sous-vide - educate me

[dragnlaw]

I don't see much difference in time when someone slow cooks, sous vide, or smokes! They all take hours and they are all different results.
As pictonguy says "To each his own" (at least I think that's what he meant)

 

[caseydog]

I understand the gradient thing and texture, but my personal preference is a good, hot and fast crust, and medium rare inside from as close to edge to edge as possible.

CD

 

[Andy M.]

OK. Here's my two cents worth.

A sous vide device will heat water to a set temperature and keep it at that temp for as long as needed. It can be done on a stove top or kitchen table. I use a cheapo SS stock pot and fill it with hot tap water. Then I mount the SV circulator and put the pot on the stove, turn on the burner to raise the temp to near the target temp then turn off the burner. This gets the cooking started faster.

Cooking times for SV are based on the food being cooked, the degree of doneness you want and if tenderizing is needed. It takes 2 hours to cook a 2"thick steak to 126ºF internal temperature. Longer if it's frozen at the start. You can cook a boneless skinless chicken breast to 149ºF (see note below) in about an hour. Any prep would be to vac seal the food and preheating the water bath.

If you want to cook a tougher piece of meat, you have to cook it longer. A lot longer. For example, a tough piece of of meat such as a bottom round roast
cooked to medium can be cooked for 18 hours to make it tenderloin tender.


Note: Chicken can be safely eaten at temperatures lower that 165ºF if the lower temperature is maintained for a longer period. You will be amazed at how much better a chicken breast cooked to 149ºF tastes and how much better the texture is. See the attached chart.

 

[skilletlicker]

Several years ago, I remember introducing myself in another cooking forum by saying I didn't know the difference between sous vide and charcuterie. It was only a slight exaggeration at the time, but despite buying and using the equipment for sous vide cooking, I never really made much progress.

"Never say never," but not likely to go down that road again.

 

[TheSoloChef]

The Instant Pot I got the other week has a sous vide setting and I like the idea that you can cook your steak to a very precise temperature to get it to just the way you like it - can you sear the steak in a pan after cooking in the sous vide or is it best to eat it as is?

 

[dragnlaw]

Sear it. Think that's the whole point of cooking a steak in a sous vide. Cooked to the point you like and then pretty it up in a pan. The sear gives flavour as well as making it eye appealing.

 

[Andy M.]

What she said. SV steak looks awful. Heat a skillet to very hot. So hot that droplets of water dance across the surface. Add enough oil to cover the surface, let that get hot, then add the dried off steak and let it sit for 1-2 minutes. Flip (not you, the steak) and repeat. The seared crust will add to the flavor of the cooked steak so it tastes like any other.

It will look something like this:

 

[TheSoloChef]

Sear it. Think that's the whole point of cooking a steak in a sous vide. Cooked to the point you like and then pretty it up in a pan. The sear gives flavour as well as making it eye appealing.

What she said. SV steak looks awful. Heat a skillet to very hot. So hot that droplets of water dance across the surface. Add enough oil to cover the surface, let that get hot, then add the dried off steak and let it sit for 1-2 minutes. Flip (not you, the steak) and repeat. The seared crust will add to the flavor of the cooked steak so it tastes like any other.

Thanks guys - until this thread, I've known nothing about SV so I will be 100% searing after SVing it.