What is a sous vide?

Zmokin

How do you use it?
What do you use it for?

nolan8v

@Zmokin,

Here are two good links that may be helpful:

http://www.thekitchn.com/high-tech-at-home-what-is-sous-152908

http://modernistcuisine.com/2013/01/why-cook-sous-vide/

Zmokin

Thanks for the links,but I did google it already.  I'm not interested in reading marketing hyperbole, of course they are going to sell it high to the moon, it's a miracle device, does everything, no home should be without one.  Well, I've lived without one for >50 years.

I want the scoop from real people.  I have a hard time feeling like I would want to boil my steak in a vacuum sealed bag, so I'm looking for real opinions from real people in how they use it and how they don't use it.

Carolina Q

You don't boil your steak, you cook it for a prolonged period of time at or near your target "done" temp. Like your steaks at 130°? Place them in a vac bag and into a 125° water bath of an hour or so. Then, remove from the bag and quickly sear it on a hot griddle. By the time the sear is done, the temp should be near your 130° target. And unless you sear it too long, you can't overcook. Before the sear, there is no way it can go above the 125° water temp. Though I've read that too long in the bath can result in texture issues. 

You can try the process using hot water, a cooler and a zip lock bag. Did this a couple of weeks ago. Awesome! 

Read and watch this video.

http://www.seriouseats.com/2013/06/video-how-to-cook-your-steak-sous-vide-in-a-cooler.html?ref=search

MontanaBBQ

Going along with what Carolina Q has already said, where sous vide really shines is in areas where other traditional techniques fall short. Delicate proteins such as fish and shellfish are a prime example. You are able to achieve perfect doneness with the risk of over cooking. That is sous vides biggest selling point, IMO. Another example is something like a 72 hour short rib. Using any other technique, you would have something about as far from edible as you can get, but when cooked at roughly 140 degrees F, you end up with short ribs that are perfect medium-rare and are unbelievably tender.

4Runner

I like the added flexible due to the wide cooking time. I can basically have my protein finished and just sitting in SV while I get the sides ready....then I just pull, pat dry, light season, sear and then ready to plate.

grege345

It's not a matter of if you buy one but when you buy one. So log in to amazon out in your cart and it will be over with. Question is which one to buy?

The Cen-Tex Smoker

http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1158217/sous-vide-resources-recipes

Skiddymarker

Precise temperature control fo meats is why we buy Thermapens, sous vide means you don't really need one for a perfect steak. If you like smoke, sous vide will not give it, but for a perfectly cooked steak it is almost foolproof. 

PS - in the above substitute tri-tip roast, pork chop, chicken breast or thighs and even veggies like brussels sprouts or carrots for steak. 

Sardonicus

None of this seems . . . well . . . "sporting" seems to be the term I'm searching for.

[-(

Cookbook_Chip

As Rita Rudner says "My husband does the grilling. Men like to cook if danger is involved." Hot water bath? Meh. FIRE!

4Runner

Fire is after the Sous Vide. Oh yea, it is bad ass. And oh yea, the sporting comes when you are hunting your dinner.

Mike_the_BBQ_Fanatic

I was skeptical. ..but it's worth it...and not just for meats..A vac bag with a little garlic and butter is my favorite was to cook brussel sprouts

Skiddymarker

Mike_the_BBQ_Fanatic said:

I was skeptical. ..but it's worth it...and not just for meats..A vac bag with a little garlic and butter is my favorite was to cook brussel sprouts

Try them with some bacon fat, sprinkle with bacon bits after the cook....nom-nom. 

BYS1981

Skiddymarker said:

Mike_the_BBQ_Fanatic said:

I was skeptical. ..but it's worth it...and not just for meats..A vac bag with a little garlic and butter is my favorite was to cook brussel sprouts

Try them with some bacon fat, sprinkle with bacon bits after the cook....nom-nom. 

Try dicing bacon into 1/4" pieces, fry it, remove when crispy - saute a chopped onion and Brussels sprouts in the fat. Add the cooked bacon at the end.

horseflesh

I use my SV rig almost as often as my BGE now, no joke. 

It's an incredibly convenient way to cook some things, too. I can spend an hour bagging and freezing a variety of meats... then to cook them, I drop them in the water bath right from the freezer, and sear on the BGE. Super fast weeknight dinners! 

SV is also great for things like custard where temperature control is important. 

It's also an ideal way to reheat meat leftovers. You carefully cooked that tri tip to 135F, do you want to nuke it to 200F when you reheat it? Nope. How about reheating it to exactly the optimum temperature, with almost no effort?

I can cook a giant piece of meat and restore leftovers to damn near as good as the day I made it with my vac sealer and SV rig. I'm wasting less food, and eating more of the good stuff I make. 

Canugghead

+1 on everything @horseflesh said. Have a dumb question though ... do you reheat pulled pork in 200F SV?  

horseflesh

If I am reheating a couple servings of fully cooked pulled pork, I'll usually nuke it--it is much more resilient than beef. If I am reheating a lot of it, I try to plan ahead and use the crock pot, it's just easier to fire and forget. 

Canugghead

I nuke or steam occasionally but usually simmer in water.  

BOWHUNR

Mike_the_BBQ_Fanatic said:

I was skeptical. ..but it's worth it...and not just for meats..A vac bag with a little garlic and butter is my favorite was to cook brussel sprouts

Right on.  Don't forget baby carrots cooked in butter and their own juices.  Delicious!

Mike

Deckhand

You don't have to have a Sous Vide Supreme or an immersion circulator to do Sous Vide.  Two years ago, I prepared moinks for an Eggfest by vacuum packing 20 lbs. of home made meatballs (one layer to each bag), filling a 70 qt. cooler half way with 155° water and layering the bags in the cooler. I placed small bowls between the layers of bags to allow circulation.  After an hour, the water temp. had dropped significantly so I adde water from the kettle to bring it back up to 155° and closed the lid for the night.  Next morning the temp was still near 150°.  The bags went into the freezer... Let them thaw the night before the 'fest.  Wapped them in bacon and browned on the Egg.  

Zmokin

grege345 said:

It's not a matter of if you buy one but when you buy one. So log in to amazon out in your cart and it will be over with. Question is which one to buy?

awfully presumptuous of you to think I will get one.  My wife recently suggested I try making omelets in ziploc bags and then boil them.  It had the advantage of making 3 different omelets simultaneously, but in the end, I still prefer folding my omelet in a frying pan.  I have no plans to try the ziploc omelet again, it just wasn't the same as frying one.

Carolina Q said:

You don't boil your steak, you cook it for a prolonged period of time at or near your target "done" temp. Like your steaks at 130°? Place them in a vac bag and into a 125° water bath of an hour or so. Then, remove from the bag and quickly sear it on a hot griddle. By the time the sear is done, the temp should be near your 130° target. And unless you sear it too long, you can't overcook. Before the sear, there is no way it can go above the 125° water temp. Though I've read that too long in the bath can result in texture issues. 

You can try the process using hot water, a cooler and a zip lock bag. Did this a couple of weeks ago. Awesome! 

Read and watch this video.

http://www.seriouseats.com/2013/06/video-how-to-cook-your-steak-sous-vide-in-a-cooler.html?ref=search

I may give that a try.

Now for another question, does the Sous Vide come with it's own vacuum sealer, or is that another item I would need to purchase to properly use the SV?