Sous Vide Mega Thread - Fine Dining for Dummies

[Swayze11]

Originally Posted by TopChed

What kind of bags are you using for a 24 hour cooking time? And did you vacuum seal it?

regular ziplocks and no. Again, another reason why I don't understand a lot of people in this thread buying rigs, buying vacuum sealers. It isn't necessary at all.

[DownhillGoat]

Originally Posted by Swayze11

regular ziplocks and no. Again, another reason why I don't understand a lot of people in this thread buying rigs, buying vacuum sealers. It isn't necessary at all.

Personally, I already had the vacuum sealer for doing dehydrated backpacking meals, and buying mass amounts of meat from Costco.

Agreed though, I wouldn't have picked one up just for the sous vide. 90% of my stuff is done in ziplocks.

[Canehdianman]

Originally Posted by kunkstyle

Personally, I already had the vacuum sealer for doing dehydrated backpacking meals, and buying mass amounts of meat from Costco.

Agreed though, I wouldn't have picked one up just for the sous vide. 90% of my stuff is done in ziplocks.

Agreed. I don't even have my sous vide element yet. But my foodsaver paid for itself many times over in keeping bulk meat from Costco fresh for months and months, and allowing me to seal bulk hops for brewing.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by Swayze11

regular ziplocks and no. Again, another reason why I don't understand a lot of people in this thread buying rigs, buying vacuum sealers. It isn't necessary at all.

Personally, I didn't have a pot that was tall enough to take on the Sous Vide. The cost of acquiring the rubbermaid container and rack were pretty close to the price of a stock pot at Winners. In total, I spent about $60 additional on that set up. Stock pot is about $40 at winners.

I don't think I'll be getting a vacuum sealer. I found ziplocs adequate when I cooked last night.

Things I noted:

- The rack inside isn't necessary, but I can already tell it will be nice to have if you will be placing more than 2 bags into a cook.

- As Corsi already noted, the Anova app is a little funky in terms of differing cook times and temps.

- Butter knife inside the freezer bags helped immensely to keep the bag from floating.

- I was lamenting at first that the lid might be unnecessary, but wrapping the top with foil or saran wrap, I found condensation dripping down the side.

- This thing doesn't really create a situation that can double up as a humidifier. Water does evaporate, but not at a pace that's noticeable IMO. (in case anyone was hoping it would be a great benefit of a sous vide during try winter times)

- Unit is super quiet. Clean up is amaze balls easy.


I am sort of lamenting not grabbing the wifi version. I had to go out during the cook for longer than anticipated and it would have been nice to use my phone to turn off the cook half an hour early. Furthermore, one of my pork chops was a bit dry. But I am wondering more if it was freezer burn or a problem with the cooking time and temp itself.

[fundmark19]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

- This thing doesn't really create a situation that can double up as a humidifier. Water does evaporate, but not at a pace that's noticeable IMO. (in case anyone was hoping it would be a great benefit of a sous vide during try winter times)

Fun fact the Anova will make a really annoying beeping sound and stop working when your water level evaporates below the low water mark line on the unit. I found this out during my chicken breast experiment when I had to rush to the hospital and left it cooking for 5 hours. My parents who were looking after my other daughter at the time couldn't figure out why the unit was beeping and thought it was broken or about to explode.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

If the bag is floating there's too much air in there.

Vacuum sealer was somethin I was contemplating anyway just so I can buy more bulk meat and easily freeze single servings since I'm usually just cooking for me. It would be nice if you could season before freezing without worry but I've now read conflicting reports.

Now I'm kind of torn because that steak turned out so well that I'm debating trying to do a rack of lamb in there, but my usual method is so damned reliable that I'm sort of hesitant... Maybe I'll do the chops first and see where that leaves me.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by fundmark19

Fun fact the Anova will make a really annoying beeping sound and stop working when your water level evaporates below the low water mark line on the unit. I found this out during my chicken breast experiment when I had to rush to the hospital and left it cooking for 5 hours. My parents who were looking after my other daughter at the time couldn't figure out why the unit was beeping and thought it was broken or about to explode.

Prevention for next time:

[fundmark19]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

Prevention for next time:

That is smart! I could also just use the lid that I have for longer cooks. I was only planning to cook the chicken for an hour.

[Mccree]

Can you do multiple pieces of meat in one bag. For example If i buy bunk chicken breasts from Costco should I freeze them individually or can I pack them 3 in one bag and then cook them from frozen?

[Swayze11]

Originally Posted by Mccree

Can you do multiple pieces of meat in one bag. For example If i buy bunk chicken breasts from Costco should I freeze them individually or can I pack them 3 in one bag and then cook them from frozen?

I don't see why you couldn't.

[accord1999]

Though like with extra-thick cuts, it'll require a longer cooking time.

[DownhillGoat]

Originally Posted by accord1999

Though like with extra-thick cuts, it'll require a longer cooking time.

Or just don't layer them. I do 5 breasts per 1L zip lock, and usually cook 2 bags at a time. As long as they're not layered on top of each other (increasing thickness) they're fine.

[DoubleF]

Curious question, are there instances where the meat doesn't look completely cooked but is actually safe to consume? I've seen some pink inside my chicken which sous vided for something like 2 hours and I microwaved it to be certain. The same occurred with a pork chop going at it for something like 2.5 hours.

Granted the meat was frozen when it was first placed in the sous vide... so I might have calculated incorrectly...

[TSXCman]

depends... raw pink or blush? pork and chicken doesn't have to have all traces of pink gone.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by TSXCman

depends... raw pink or blush? pork and chicken doesn't have to have all traces of pink gone.

Blush. Mostly on bone, but a tiny bit of blush with the white colored meat. Nuking it in the microwave turned it white/brownish. So I am mainly assuming I didn't cook it long enough.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Isn't it temperature rather than length of cooking? I don't think leaving it in longer likely makes a difference after it's reached the desired temperature. You probably needed to up it a couple of degrees.

[DoubleF]

Originally Posted by CorsiHockeyLeague

Isn't it temperature rather than length of cooking? I don't think leaving it in longer likely makes a difference after it's reached the desired temperature. You probably needed to up it a couple of degrees.

Anova app was saying 150F was the temp to go with for 1:30... which I did 2:00 at that temp. Although I just noticed another recipe asking for 165F...

[GGG]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

Curious question, are there instances where the meat doesn't look completely cooked but is actually safe to consume? I've seen some pink inside my chicken which sous vided for something like 2 hours and I microwaved it to be certain. The same occurred with a pork chop going at it for something like 2.5 hours.

Granted the meat was frozen when it was first placed in the sous vide... so I might have calculated incorrectly...

At 136F it takes 63 minutes to get the same level of safety as getting chicken to 165F. At 140 F it's half an hour

http://www.amazingfoodmadeeasy.com/i...a-and-bacteria

So it isn't texture or colour with sous vide it's temperature and time.

[CorsiHockeyLeague]

Originally Posted by DoubleF

Anova app was saying 150F was the temp to go with for 1:30... which I did 2:00 at that temp. Although I just noticed another recipe asking for 165F...

Well we're about to see, because I'm doing two chicken breasts at 146.3 for an hour and a half, as there were multiple recipes stating that temperature was the way to go. The resident expert should just list temps and times for all meat types.

[DoubleF]

I am finding I need to extend the cook time over an hour for frozen meats. I've tried 30 and 45 minutes and still finding raw meat after the recommended cook time.

I've tried this with frozen chicken, beef steaks, pork chops etc. several times. I usually can "correct" this no problem when I go in to sear it (just sear it slightly longer, but it's starting to get to the point where I was wondering whether someone had a better rule of thumb for leaving the meat in the sous vide when it has been frozen. I know a few posters mentioned 30 additional minutes for thawing, but it doesn't seem like it's long enough for me (meat thickness ranging between 1-1.5 inches thick. Chicken legs up to 2 inches thick.)