anyone here do cooking with a sous vide machine/cooker?

[purbeast0]

i had never heard about this and was just talking to a coworker at work about this and it seems amazing and effortless.

he has one similar to this:

http://www.amazon.com/Anova-Culinary-Bluetooth-Precision-Cooker/dp/B00UKPBXM4

and just vacuum seals all his food on sunday then takes 2 minutes of effort to actually cook it later on for dinner each night. it sounds so simple and effortless.

just curious if people here do it and their experiences with it. i'm contemplating getting one and a vacuum sealer now.

 

[Kaido]

Yup, big discussion thread here:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2360863

 

[purbeast0]

Yup, big discussion thread here:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2360863

oh snap thanks, i'll check that out.

 

[Kaido]

and just vacuum seals all his food on sunday then takes 2 minutes of effort to actually cook it later on for dinner each night. it sounds so simple and effortless.

So, sous vide at home is pretty new. The Anova is the most common device. I have the Bluetooth model & a Wifi model is coming out (or maybe already out, according to Amazon), but I don't use any of that stuff because most recipes are so simple you don't need to - just set the temp on the device & set a timer on your phone. It is fairly easy to use, but there are a few things you should know:

1. It takes planning ahead. I think my average cook takes maybe 2 hours. The nice thing is, once you get a recipe down, it's more or less the same every time (give or take a few minutes depending on the exact cut of meat or quantity of veggies or whatever), so you can time the sides & stuff pretty easily.

2. You'll want three accessories:

a) You'll need a food-safe tub, filled with water, plus the sous vide machine of your choice (Anova is the most popular).

b) You'll also need a vacuum-seal system (FoodSaver is the best consumer system, just buy commercial bags for less money on eBay), although there are some tricks to using Ziploc bags that work just fine. I have a FoodSaver & I mostly use Ziplocs out of convenience. Sous vide is not a good system if you have a fear of plastics & food.

c) You'll also want a way to sear food...Searzall is cool (basically a food blowtorch), Baking Steel is nice (albeit price), but I've found that a simple, cheap cast-iron pan works great (especially for steak). I have all three & use all three (just used the Searzall for melting cheese on my chili dogs, so awesome), but a simple Lodge skillet is mostly what I use. $10 or $15 at Cabella's if you have one near you, or $30 or so on Amazon (plus they are good for cooking other stuff, and literally last forever).

3. The food quality is different. It requires a lot of experimentation to find out what you like. For example, you can cook a steak ultra-soft, but it comes out gray & weird on the outside, so you have to sear it. But because it's so juicy, you get a very minimal crust because it's so wet still, so you don't get a nice thick crust like you do with the regular method of cooking it. With chicken, it's SO moist that I've had a really hard time getting any kind of crust on it. But it's ridiculously tender & way more difficult to dry out than traditional methods of cooking chicken.

I used my Anova a lot when I first got it, not as much anymore. When I'm in an experimental mood, I'll dig up a new recipe to try. I use my other devices a lot more, like my Instant Pot electric pressure cooker. So one thing to think about is how much you'll use it, given that the Anova is $175 to $200, given that it can take several hours to cook something, you need a big tub of water, some way to seal the food in plastic, and optionally a searing method. For $120, you can get a 6-quart Instant Pot & do a lot more stuff with it. Some discussion on that here:

http://forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2442549

I'm a kitchen gadget hobbyist & have all kinds of weird stuff. I probably use the Instant Pot & my cast-iron pan the most out of anything right now. The Anova is really cool if you like to play in the kitchen, and also if you want really, really consistent results. Chicken, turkey, steak, veggies, etc. are all super-easy to do in the Anova. Lots of recipes & sous vide info on Serious Eats if you want to dig into it a big more first:

http://www.seriouseats.com/tags/sous vide

 

[dullard]

This sous vide method can make food somewhat easy to cook, and more importantly it can help prevent the major flaw of overcooking meat (far too many cooks without sous vide end up with dry leather-like slabs of meat rather than tender juicy meat). You end up with exactly the doneness of meat that you want, every time, consistently. Steak for example, will be the right color of pink/red/brown that you want over the entire thickness of the steak.

But, you only gain the benefit of tender juicy meat if you actually use the right temperature. If you are still married to the idea that meat must be nuked from above before you eat it, you'll still end up with crap meat whether you sous vide it or not.

Also, you lose the outer texture and outer flavors of grilling, searing, etc. Sous vide meat alone may taste great, but often looks very VERY unappetizing. To do it right, you'll have to sear it somehow (quick sear on a hot pan, broil for a bit, or even use a blow torch, etc.) That brings back the texture and taste but eliminates a lot of the work savings. And this secondary sear tends to overcook the meat leading back to the original problem of leather slabs.

Basically, the sous vide method solves problems but then creates its own problems. I prefer just to cook things right and avoid it myself. My in-laws love it though and I regularly eat sous vide "steak" meals that have the look and feel of the brownish grey slime that drips out of grills.

 

[drebo]

I wonder how long it'd take to sous vide a brisket and if it'd come out at all decent.

I think I'll keep my smoker for that stuff.

That Instant Pot, though...I may have to get one of them.

 

[purbeast0]

thanks for those long winded posts.

most of what i would be using it for would be for chicken breasts and then some veggies maybe, like steamed veggies or something (haven't really looked into the veggie aspect of it). but i'm starting to go on my "clean" food diet and plan on eating a ton of chicken. i'll probably be eating chicken breasts 4 out of 5 days during the week.

since it's cold outside i don't really enjoy grilling as much as i used to, and i would definitely overcook chicken on the grill sometimes. but i do love the crisp flavor that coats my food on the grill, especially when i cook pork on there.

i also already have this really big pot that my wife uses to make tacuitos in so i have a huge container i can already use to cook with.

 

[smackababy]

They are fairly good. The cook times are much longer than most anticipate, but if you're pre cooking food for the week, that doesn't matter. And, why you can do, is sous vide until the internal meat is cooked and then finish it on a grill / pan and sear the outside.

 

[Kaido]

I wonder how long it'd take to sous vide a brisket and if it'd come out at all decent.

I think I'll keep my smoker for that stuff.

That Instant Pot, though...I may have to get one of them.

I really like mine. The first recipe I tell everyone to make is Kalua Pig: (basically really soft pulled pork)

http://nomnompaleo.com/post/111934821818/pressure-cooker-kalua-pig

You can optionally add liquid smoke if you like the smoke flavor; the recipe is also good as a taco filling using soft naan bread :thumbsup:

 

[Kaido]

thanks for those long winded posts.

most of what i would be using it for would be for chicken breasts and then some veggies maybe, like steamed veggies or something (haven't really looked into the veggie aspect of it). but i'm starting to go on my "clean" food diet and plan on eating a ton of chicken. i'll probably be eating chicken breasts 4 out of 5 days during the week.

since it's cold outside i don't really enjoy grilling as much as i used to, and i would definitely overcook chicken on the grill sometimes. but i do love the crisp flavor that coats my food on the grill, especially when i cook pork on there.

i also already have this really big pot that my wife uses to make tacuitos in so i have a huge container i can already use to cook with.

This is a good article to read if you have the patience for it: (really detailed explanation of the sous vide process & its effect on chicken)

http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/07/the-food-lab-complete-guide-to-sous-vide-chicken-breast.html

Near the end, he shows how to give the chicken a crispy skin. If you like moist chicken, you'll love the Anova. I use boneless, skinless chicken breast almost exclusively for all of my chicken dishes & that comes out really good. Sous vide gives chicken a moistness that I haven't been able to replicate with baking, boiling, grilling, etc. No more Struggle Chicken!

 

[purbeast0]

This is a good article to read if you have the patience for it: (really detailed explanation of the sous vide process & its effect on chicken)

http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/07/the-food-lab-complete-guide-to-sous-vide-chicken-breast.html

Near the end, he shows how to give the chicken a crispy skin. If you like moist chicken, you'll love the Anova. I use boneless, skinless chicken breast almost exclusively for all of my chicken dishes & that comes out really good. Sous vide gives chicken a moistness that I haven't been able to replicate with baking, boiling, grilling, etc. No more Struggle Chicken!

cool i'll check it out. and yes, it would be for making boneless skinless chicken breasts probably 80% or more of the time.

 

[slag]

didn't add to the conversation so i removed the text

 

[DrPizza]

cool i'll check it out. and yes, it would be for making boneless skinless chicken breasts probably 80% or more of the time.

With boneless, skinless chicken breast, I've never felt a need to sear it when it's done in the Anova. But, in regard to some of the things above in the thread - before searing anything, when you take it out of the bag, you really need to dry the outside well.

Also, someone mentioned that you should cook in a food-safe container. I question, why? Why, if the food is in a zip-lock, else shrunk wrapped, why does the bigger container necessarily have to be food safe? The water used to cook with will never come into contact with your food. This concept led to the use of a decent sized storage tote so I could do 16 t-bones at the same time. Also, while I have 3 shrink wrappers, freezer zip-lock bags work just fine. It's very simple to get the majority of the air out of them, and a tiny amount of remaining air is actually beneficial - it helps keep the meat suspended, off the bottom of the cooking container (so long as all of the meat is below the water level).

It's also great for perfect hard-boiled eggs.

And, if you get one, make sure you check out the recipes for brisket & flank steaks. It's the simplest way possible to cook a brisket for 48 straight hours, at a controlled temperature, and get incredibly tender meat when it's done. With a little liquid smoke, I'd bet that most people would have a difficult time telling the difference between a brisket done that way, and a brisket that was slowly cooked in a smoker.