Sous Vide - Veal and Beef Short Ribs

nolaegghead

I threw some veal and beef short ribs in a couple foodsaver bags, added some seasoning, cooked in the sous vide bath for 70 hours at 140.  I seared on the egg after dusting with some of Mickey's coffee rub. 

We ate the veal tonight and it was absolutely delicious.  Still pink and a nice crusty sear.  Fall apart tender.  Since it was cooked at a relatively low temp, the meat was very moist. 

I poured the juice from the bags into a pot and made a gravy with wine (pictured), a little balsamic, dash of worchestershire sauce and some gravy thickener.  I skimmed most of the fat and scum off the top.  The gravy was off the hook (trying not to slip into Guy Fieri).

The pics are the of the veal.  The spinach is an Indian spiced fresh baby leaf.  Mashed some red potatoes.

I'll post an update after we eat some of the beef short ribs.

nolaegghead

Couple of other notes - last batch of short ribs I did at 135 for 60 or so hours.  I bumped the temp and time up.  I think it worked.  The sear looks like it's burned (it's a coffee rub) but it didn't taste burned - it worked.

Fred19Flintstone

Wow!  Outstanding cook!

U_tarded

looks great.  i don't like cooked spinach but hide it on a plate like that and i'm in

nolaegghead

Thanks me-tarded.   Miss B made the spinach and mashed taters.  She's a master with spices and really pulled off a good Indian twist on the spinach.

nolaegghead

Kids, stay tuned in the next couple of weeks for "EXTREME SOUS VIDE".  I plan on doing a picnic and a brisket. It may be completely awful, but you'll at least learn what not to do through my misfortune.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Atta boy. It's nice to see someone else put their life at risk with xtreme SV cooking! Looks awesome Nola.

nolaegghead

Thanks C-T.  I know what you mean, about risking my life with this extreme SV mad science.  A couple of weeks ago, I reached into the 40 QT cooler I was running at 135F to grab a bag - barehanded (I know, Darwin award stupid).  I felt extreme mild discomfort.  It lasted about 10 seconds.  Then I drank another bourbon and went back to watch the game.  Oh the humanity!

Griffin

Shut the front door. Off the chain. You are on a one way track to flavor town. Just couldn't help with the Fieri sayings when you brought it up. Man that looks good. Almost enough to make me want to start looking into one of dem SV things. (I still think they wouldn't notice if I swiped a water bath from work, but no amount of cleaning could ever convince me it was clean enough to use for food I was gonna eat.

nolaegghead

Hahaha - I know what you mean about that "used lab equipment" - yuck.  Who knows what kind of filthy sewage baked through it.

Thanks for the kind words.  I wish I had you guys and gals as neighbors - my best friend neighbors are vegetarians. :(

MikeP624

Does cooking for 70hrs verses 10hrs make a difference?.  Once the meat and water temp equalize is there any point in continuing to cook it?

nolaegghead

Yes.  The lower the temp, the slower the breakdown of connective tissue - collagen to gelatin conversion.  At lower temperatures, the proteins in the meat don't denature as much so they hold more moisture.  Also, there's no moisture loss through evaporation since the food is sealed via vacuum in a bag.  End result is a very moist, juicy meat that is tender like it was low-n-slow cooked, or braised.  The flavor profile, texture and color is also different.

Little Steven

Looks awesome man! How much fat rendered?

nolaegghead

More than I thought would.  Enough where I needed to skim it from the gravy pot.  There was still plenty of fat (most of it) in the meat.  It's kinda cool - you can see exactly how much fat and water comes outta the meat when you open and dump the bags.

I'm thinking about throwing a picnic in tonight, see what happens.  What I really want to try is pastrami, I just need to pick up a brisket.

cazzy

Looks fabulous Nola! Very jealous that I still don't have a sous vide machine.

Bullibe

Looks like it came out great ! Don't know if I can afford a sous vide so I may have to think about building one......you have all the cool toys !

nolaegghead

Bullibe said:

Looks like it came out great ! Don't know if I can afford a sous vide so I may have to think about building one......you have all the cool toys !

Thanks - hey, enjoyed meeting you guys last weekend.  I'll give ya a ring next time I'm in your neck of the woods....hope your party recovered from, well, the party on Friday!

dlk7

nolaegghead said:

Bullibe said:

Looks like it came out great ! Don't know if I can afford a sous vide so I may have to think about building one......you have all the cool toys !

Thanks - hey, enjoyed meeting you guys last weekend.  I'll give ya a ring next time I'm in your neck of the woods....hope your party recovered from, well, the party on Friday

Nola - your cooks are fantastic!!  I did the short ribs for 72 hours at 135 and they were very good but way too much fat for SWMBO though.  At 140 will the fat render out more?  I have a flank steak in the sous vide for tomorrow night - I just used the canadian steak seasoning packet that came with the machine so I'm not sure what to expect.

How do you plan to do the brisket and have you tried baby backs sous vide yet?

nolaegghead

thanks dlk7!  I haven't done baby backs yet, but I did pork spare ribs - I think 10 hours at 178.  Then threw on the egg with some coffee rub - they were fantastic!

The veal ribs came out most excellent - the beef were kind of tough.  Different from the previous beef short ribs I cooked at 135....just goes to show you the meat quality can vary tremendously.  We cut the meat up and made a beef stew tonight.

Yes, more fat does render out at 140.  I think I'm going to look for more of those veal short ribs - and be very picky about the cut - I find some cuts can be very lean, others 50% fat and bone (or more).  The thin short ribs I'm going to avoid - that's what these were, even though they were fairly lean, they still came out too tough.  I think they would have been fine if I jacked up the temp.

I'm going to try a Montreal cure on the brisket, then I might cold smoke, then sous vide - temp and time yet to be determined.  Then put a crust on via egg. 

dlk7

nolaegghead said:

thanks dlk7!  I haven't done baby backs yet, but I did pork spare ribs - I think 10 hours at 178.  Then threw on the egg with some coffee rub - they were fantastic!

The veal ribs came out most excellent - the beef were kind of tough.  Different from the previous beef short ribs I cooked at 135....just goes to show you the meat quality can vary tremendously.  We cut the meat up and made a beef stew tonight.

Yes, more fat does render out at 140.  I think I'm going to look for more of those veal short ribs - and be very picky about the cut - I find some cuts can be very lean, others 50% fat and bone (or more).  The thin short ribs I'm going to avoid - that's what these were, even though they were fairly lean, they still came out too tough.  I think they would have been fine if I jacked up the temp.

I'm going to try a Montreal cure on the brisket, then I might cold smoke, then sous vide - temp and time yet to be determined.  Then put a crust on via egg. 

Thanks for posting your sous vide methods and cooks.  I find it is a lot of trial and error - like the first burgers I did came out a little mushy - 6 hours was way too long.  I really appreciate the sous vide pioneers like you and Centex making things easier for us newbies.

nolaegghead

No problem....unfortunately, we're still learning as we go.  Half the info you get is going to be "what not to do".  Fortunately, I'm a good researcher.  I'll read 10 different ways to cook something and filter out the absolute worst ways to cook (at least I like to think so).  So far, I've been lucky with everything except the last beef ribs.

billyray

Used my Polyscience Profess. for some bone in pork chops last night. The book said 140 for 2 to 4 hours. Got delayed and had them on for 5 hours. They still had some nice pink color before the sear, but were kind of dry tasting. I'm thinking the 5 hours was the problem not the temp. When it gives the range of 2 to 4 hours, what's the difference in taste and texture between the extremes? I'm thinking of cooking 3 more and pull to sear 1 @ 2 hrs., 1 @ 3 hrs. and 1 @ 4 hrs. Your thoughts.

nolaegghead

Could be the time - how thick were they?  I'd probably go 135 to 137F for 4 hours, time really depends on thickness.  Little trick I've been doing - it's panned out so far but take it for what it's worth - I'm no expert.  I pull them out of the sous vide, then cool the outside off by dunking just for 20 seconds or so in cold water before opening the bag and searing.  Theory is I'm cooking just the outside - the same part that's about to get blasted with energy.  Nothing to do with the dryness, but just thought I'd mention it.

billyray

There were 1-1/4 to1-1/2 thick.

nolaegghead

I'd try 137 for 2-3 hours.  Chops are already tender.