sous vide

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JR.
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sous vide

Post by JR. »

In connection with my adventures is slow cooking I encountered sous vide... a foo-foo cooking technique in evacuated plastic bags soaked in warm water baths.

I am not enthusiastic about cooking anything at only 130'F-140'F but I can live without the mallard reaction (browning meat... releases sugars and tastes good but generates carcinogens as a by product).

I have found from several months of slow cooking stews, chilis, and the like, the meat is remarkably tender but the fat from the meat wicks out into the vegetables and leaves the meat dry. Sometimes with a crust of fat on the top of the dish. Too much fat like that in the wrong place is not useful

I have started experimenting with putting the meat in a plastic bag for cooking to hopefully keep the moisture inside,,, so far after three experiments it seems to make a difference, while I am still woking out the bugs (not actual bugs). I bought some microwave vegetable bags hoping they would be food grade and perhaps higher temp. #1 they have a steam vent, so leak gravy, and #2 are not unusually high temperature, since my third experiment melted the bag and caused it too leak even more than the vent.

My first step is to pre-cook the meat to extract the gravy (2 hours at low temp). I pour this gravy into a fat separator and use the gravy with fat removed to cook some rice. I pour the fat back into the bag with the meat for the several hours more of slow cooking.

From research many use standard zip-lock freezer bags for sous vide, and i may pick some up. My slow cooker specs 165' F for warming mode and advises against using that for cooking, while it seems adequately hot for most foods and only borderline for chicken and ground beef that require 165' internal. I have a simmer mode that is 185' that is more than hot enough to cook all safely.

More later, but keeping the juice inside the very tender meat is nice. Separating the fat out before making rice reduces the total dish fat content without significantly diminishing flavor. At final prep I discard any fat remaining in the meat cooking bag.

Healthy, and tasty... I like. more later...

JR
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emrr
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Re: sous vide

Post by emrr »

I like it, a worthy experiment. Closest I've come is making roast beef, 4-6 pound chunk oven around 200F for many hours, chasing a fairly low internal end result. Nice having roast beef that's not pumped full of sugar and over-salted.
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Re: sous vide

Post by brianroth »

Siiiiigh...from 1992 through early 2013, Debbie took care of all those details. I was the "hunter/gatherer" (IOW..."Brian...take the list to the grocery store"...lol), and I was also Debbie's kitchen assistant...AND the Clean-up Detail.

Thanksgiving and Christmas season was almost a non-stop "orgy" of cooking and baking....and wonderful foods, aromas, etc.

Sigh again...been living on frozen TV dinners/take out/diner food since Debbie passed...'tis now kinda odd for me around the HoliDaze....

:-/ But...we just move on...

Bri
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Re: sous vide

Post by emrr »

Sorry to hear Brian.
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Doug Williams
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JR.
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Re: sous vide

Post by JR. »

brianroth wrote:Siiiiigh...from 1992 through early 2013, Debbie took care of all those details. I was the "hunter/gatherer" (IOW..."Brian...take the list to the grocery store"...lol), and I was also Debbie's kitchen assistant...AND the Clean-up Detail.

Thanksgiving and Christmas season was almost a non-stop "orgy" of cooking and baking....and wonderful foods, aromas, etc.

Sigh again...been living on frozen TV dinners/take out/diner food since Debbie passed...'tis now kinda odd for me around the HoliDaze....

:-/ But...we just move on...

Bri
Eating frozen dinners may have the slight advantage of portion control (you don't get second servings) but the down side is that processed foods are often lower nutrition and often contain more sugar and sodium. etc

Slow crock-pot style cooking is pretty easy and you can cook up a decent sized batch once a week then freeze portions to reheat during the week.

Merry Christmas, you still have your internet family. :D

JR
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Re: sous vide

Post by emrr »

We're here!
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Re: sous vide

Post by brianroth »

Hey...apologies...siigh....didn't mean to be a holiday downer! Just me being weird this time of year.

John...you give me an idea...crock pot, since I never learned to cook.

Sidebar....;ok i make Belgian Waffles via the gizmo from xmas years ago (and the recipe on the side of the Bisquik box), deep fried chicken nuggets and fries in that other gizmo, and BBQ stuff on the Weber. ;-) NOT skilled cooking, so keep up ideas for a MORON Chef named Brian!

Luv u guys,,,,glad to have friends here.!!

Oh....off to OKC next week to see Mom, step dad and brother and maybe a few old knucklehead friends!

Bri
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Re: sous vide

Post by JR. »

I can scratch up some simple crock pot recipes later.

I have been cooking since I was a kid...

Merry Christmas...

JR
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Re: sous vide

Post by JR. »

Brian... I could literally give you my old crock pot (20+ YO) but I suspect the shipping cost would be more than it is worth. New cheap manual units are $20 or less.

I would suggest picking something up during the after-christmas sale blow-outs.

I lean toward a higher capacity unit and digital control while some of the cheap digital control is pretty simple. I would look for at least 4 power levels, not just 2.

They don't seem to use temp feedback control but vary the heat power they deliver. All are pretty much designed to deliver 165' F minimum, considered safe for cooking chicken or ground meat... (my new unit specs 165'F for warming mode)

Do what I say not what I did,,, I bought a fancy top of the line unit that can brown meat, steam, and do multiple tricks, that I don't use. FWIW Browning meat taste better, but generates carcinogens that are probably best avoided. I tried it once and didn't find it worth the extra effort and time (to brown the meat before adding vegetables).

Image

I prefer pyrex freezer containers over plastic, while modern food grade plastic should be safe, There are some plasticizers and release agents associated with health issues but modern cheap plastic freezer ware should be BPA free.

I typically cook a roughly 7-serving meal once a week and freeze the extra servings for reheating during the week. I have enough frozen meals in my freezer that I can eat different meals every night, while my meals mainly differ by the meat, and spice level (chili and hot peppers). The older i get the more and hotter peppers I use.

I use a smaller pyrex freezer container for my lunch, a salmon and rice dish that I cook roughly 3 weeks worth of servings once every three weeks.

Starting out you can save time and effort using pre-cooked beans (I use dry beans), I still use canned tomatoes instead of chopping up fresh tomatoes, but I cut up fresh onions and bell peppers, etc... but only once a week so pretty time efficient.

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Re: sous vide

Post by Gold »

I am a new convert to Trader Joe's frozen foods. Everything I've had so far has tasted like food. Not heavily processed and over salted. If they have them where you are I'd check it out.
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