The issue wasn't the crust it was the inside of the rib being a bit too wet. Basically raw texture. Although safe was just weird to eat as the whole time I was thinking "gonna get sick, gonna get sick, this is really good, but gonna get sick"
and I didn't but I think beef is much better as I am used to a rare steak.
Of course you could just not overcook your chicken using any of the old fashioned methods, an instant read thermometer does the job fine and gets you a nice crust flavoured with garlic, herbs and a little butter.
My apologies if it feels like we're piling on here, but this is a very common argument I've heard friends use (before they try it, of course).
The issue with "just not overcooking your chicken", is that it's quite hard to keep a chicken breast at 140 degrees for the length of time needed for it to be safe. You can do it, but the difficulty in keeping it there without overheating is far too high. A chicken breast cooked to 140 will destroy traditional chicken breast for you forever.
Like kunkstyle, I've been doing this for a year as well. We've been using it about 3x per week that entire time, and the only thing we've gotten was the best damn meat we've ever had. It's not difficult in any way as long as you can read a chart and take it as gospel. It's no different than following other health guidelines in the kitchen... there are rules and you follow them.
This year I'm doing an entire turkey sous vide. The main benefit here is that dark meat and white meat require differing temperatures because the dark meat needs to get to 165 to break down, while the white meat will be destroyed at that heat. You can spatchcock your turkey to allow for a more even surface area, but it still doesn't fix the problem completely. The turkey can go 24 hours, so I'm going to butcher the turkey first, cook the dark sections for 12 hours at 165, then drop the water temperature down and do the white sections for 12 hours (with the dark thrown in to keep them warm). To top it off, you end up with an empty oven for whatever else you need.
The issue wasn't the crust it was the inside of the rib being a bit too wet. Basically raw texture. Although safe was just weird to eat as the whole time I was thinking "gonna get sick, gonna get sick, this is really good, but gonna get sick"
and I didn't but I think beef is much better as I am used to a rare steak.
My guess is you cooked it for too long causing the connective tissues in the meat to break down. Also, did you use any marinades or rubs on your ribs? I've read that using lots of salt for longer cooks can turn the meat into a weird texture.
Try a higher temperature and shorter cook time. Serious eats has a good rib recipe.
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I'm a big fan of sous vide, though thus far I've only used it for steak.
I'm a terrible griller, ending up with either blue rare or ultra well-done and nothing in between, but here's a ribeye I did last summer sous vide then seared on a grill:
Spoiler!
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I'm a big fan of sous vide, though thus far I've only used it for steak.
I'm a terrible griller, ending up with either blue rare or ultra well-done and nothing in between, but here's a ribeye I did last summer sous vide then seared on a grill:
Spoiler!
Salmon was my white whale. I'm a fairly competent cook, but as much as I tried I always found new and unique ways to botch a $30 salmon. It infuriated me every time and was my gateway drug to sous vide.
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I too started cooking Sous Vide because of this thread (or another cooking-related thread on CP) and I rarely use my propane BBQ any more as a result (mostly just for the rotisserie).
I bought a square polycarbonate vessel and an Anova but if I were to do it over again (and had a little more counter space) I would have spent more money and gone full water oven.
Salmon was my white whale. I'm a fairly competent cook, but as much as I tried I always found new and unique ways to botch a $30 salmon. It infuriated me every time and was my gateway drug to sous vide.
I bake my salmon. Usually I can figure out if it's done when the white fats start to begin congealing on the surface of the meat. I do it with lemon, salt, pepper, celery leaves and syrup.
I guess I can experiment with sous vide~ing it and then tossing it into the oven...
Dang, now I'm excited and impatient to receive my Anova.
So there hasn't been a real discussion of what people do in terms of shrink wrapping (or just using ziplocs). Interested to hear if people think the shrink wrap thing is a "must", "should" or "meh".
__________________ "The great promise of the Internet was that more information would automatically yield better decisions. The great disappointment is that more information actually yields more possibilities to confirm what you already believed anyway." - Brian Eno
So there hasn't been a real discussion of what people do in terms of shrink wrapping (or just using ziplocs). Interested to hear if people think the shrink wrap thing is a "must", "should" or "meh".
I posted something in the Black Friday thread. From everything that I've read, for most meats (steak, pork chops, fish, chicken) for cook times at around 1 -3 hrs, at temperatures less than 175F, a ziploc freezer bag that uses polyethylene, using the water displacement method, should be good enough. Be sure to clip the bag to the pot/container to prevent floating around. I've also read putting a spoon at the bottom of the bag will help from floating, but I haven't tried this.
Vacuum bags would help with longer cook times at higher temps.
At temps higher than 175F, non freezer ziploc bags will start to fail at the seams. You could always just buy the vacuum bags and skip the vacuum sealing and just do the water displacement method if you're worried about the safety of cooking plastics at higher temps because these bags have a polyethylene mesh on the inside of the bag so you won't have to worry about any plastics leeching onto the meat.
Would something like this plus clips work for most typical sous vide~ing? I was also thinking I'd put the freezer bag inside one of these (reused) typically as a back up for seam failure. The water pushes out the air, so it's really just double bagging.
$35 seems a bit pricey though, but those are good sized bags.
I bought a square polycarbonate vessel and an Anova but if I were to do it over again (and had a little more counter space) I would have spent more money and gone full water oven.
So there hasn't been a real discussion of what people do in terms of shrink wrapping (or just using ziplocs). Interested to hear if people think the shrink wrap thing is a "must", "should" or "meh".
Vacu-seal is ideal, but I generally get by by putting a steak in a sturdy ziplock bag, sealing it 80% of the way, submerging the steak & bag into the pot of water until only the unsealed opening is above the water (the water pressure against the outside of the bag will force the air out), then sealing the bag the rest of the way.
You end up with an effectively vacu-sealed end product, as long as you're careful.
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Hard to say. No customer reviews that I could see. It's dirt cheap (less than a tank and Anova combination) so you could try it without much risk but it's probably a get what you pay for purchase at the end of the day. The Sous Vide Supreme products have really good reviews and they look like they have high build quality. The Anova has good build quality too and has the feel of something that will last for several years. Plus it has an app and you can control it with your phone or tablet, look up recipes and cook times, etc. Probably aren't getting that with the water ovens regardless of brand.
Didn't know that Anova also made a rectal probe but if you wanted to warm things up and swish them around up there you could try that. It would probably be easier than with the water oven.
EDIT: Hilariously, the Gourmia rig is on Amazon.ca for $341! Go Walmart!
