sous vide lobster - any proven success stories?

RRP

Saturday night I'm planning on filets and a shared 12 oz lobster tail. Initially I was thinking I would vacuum them separately and swim them in the pot. Then I decided I'd rather cook the filets my usual way. The sous vide method for the lobster is still in the works. Trouble is my handy dandy cookbook suggests 140º for 15 to 40 min for medium and it bothers me the time range is so wide! Conventional thinking then a lobster cooked for 40 minutes will be shoe leather when 15 minutes might be enough. Also I was wondering if it wouldn't be best to remove the meat from the shell while raw and cook it that way. Any ideas??? 

Simcan

Sorry, no proven success but from what I have seen online from quite a bit of rooting around (I have been planning this too) the "right" answer is to drop the tail in boiling water for 30 seconds, then into ice water...this blanches it and makes it easy to remove from the shell.  Do so, and then SV at 138 for 15/20 minutes with some butter.  However you end up doing it, let us know how it works out. I agree with you that 40 minutes is not necessary, but an extra five minutes won't hurt it and I would be reluctant to do the minimum.

RRP

Simcan said:

Sorry, no proven success but from what I have seen online from quite a bit of rooting around (I have been planning this too) the "right" answer is to drop the tail in boiling water for 30 seconds, then into ice water...this blanches it and makes it easy to remove from the shell.  Do so, and then SV at 138 for 15/20 minutes with some butter.  However you end up doing it, let us know how it works out. I agree with you that 40 minutes is not necessary, but an extra five minutes won't hurt it and I would be reluctant to do the minimum.

Sounds like a good plan to me! Thanks! 

Photo Egg

Ron,
I made this with a friend a few months ago.
The saffron butter sauce was amazing...
Do not cook the lobster any longer than instructed...it will be over cooked.
If I do again I would cook at a lower temp.
Again...the sauce is the best...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnIBCWAAoGo

RRP

Photo Egg said:

Ron,
I made this with a friend a few months ago.
The saffron butter sauce was amazing...
Do not cook the lobster any longer than instructed...it will be over cooked.
If I do again I would cook at a lower temp.
Again...the sauce is the best...

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ZnIBCWAAoGo

WOWSER!!! I don't have any saffron so I'll have to put this on my to do list> Thanks for the link and advice though!

Theophan

Photo Egg said:

Ron,
I made this with a friend a few months ago.
The saffron butter sauce was amazing...

Watched that video -- WOW!!!  That looked amazing and wonderful!  I may break down and try sous vide, one of these days.

I never heard of putting cream in a beurre blanc before, but looking around, I see lots of people do it as a sort of stabilizer.  Sounds to me as though it would cut some of the pure deliciousness of the butter, but I think this might be the first time in my life I thought heavy cream might actually make something worse -- love that stuff!  

This recipe sounds amazing.  Thanks for sharing!

caliking

I tried SV lobster tails a while back. The lobster oil was tremendous. I don't cook lobster that much, so haven't hit on a perfect method yet. 

http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1160992/sv-lobster-tail-with-oil

Lobster oil. (Adapted from Tom Aikens)

Thyme sprig, fresh  1 piece

Rosemary sprig, fresh   1 piece

 Fennel bulb  1 piece

 Shallots, chopped  2 pieces

 Garlic cloves, smashed   3 pieces

 Olive oil 700ml

 Star anise 6 pieces

 Black peppercorn 12 pieces

 Fennel seeds 1 tsp

 Tomato paste 1 TBSP

 Small bunch of tarragon 1 piece

 Carrots 2 pieces

 Salt 3g

 Pepper a/n

 

Heat 200 ml of olive oil, add in the lobster shells and sauté for 4 minutes.

Add the carrots and cook for a further 4 minutes, then add the shallots, fennel and garlic and continue cooking for 4 minutes.

Add the salt, the thyme and rosemary, star anise, peppercorn and fennel seeds, cook for 3 minutes and add the tomato paste.

After 3 more minutes finally add 400 ml of olive oil. Bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes. off the heat add the stalks of tarragon to the oil (reserve the leave for later) and leave to cool to room temperature then chill for 12 hours. Pass the oil through a fine sieve and reserve.

caliking

From the video posted by Photo Egg, I would probably go with 140°F x 25 mins. The time will likely depend on the size of tails you are cooking. I think that's why times are all over the place in different recipes on the internet. 

Photo Egg

caliking said:

I tried SV lobster tails a while back. The lobster oil was tremendous. I don't cook lobster that much, so haven't hit on a perfect method yet. 

http://eggheadforum.com/discussion/1160992/sv-lobster-tail-with-oil

Lobster oil. (Adapted from Tom Aikens)

Thyme sprig, fresh  1 piece

Rosemary sprig, fresh   1 piece

 Fennel bulb  1 piece

 Shallots, chopped  2 pieces

 Garlic cloves, smashed   3 pieces

 Olive oil 700ml

 Star anise 6 pieces

 Black peppercorn 12 pieces

 Fennel seeds 1 tsp

 Tomato paste 1 TBSP

 Small bunch of tarragon 1 piece

 Carrots 2 pieces

 Salt 3g

 Pepper a/n

 

Heat 200 ml of olive oil, add in the lobster shells and sauté for 4 minutes.

Add the carrots and cook for a further 4 minutes, then add the shallots, fennel and garlic and continue cooking for 4 minutes.

Add the salt, the thyme and rosemary, star anise, peppercorn and fennel seeds, cook for 3 minutes and add the tomato paste.

After 3 more minutes finally add 400 ml of olive oil. Bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes. off the heat add the stalks of tarragon to the oil (reserve the leave for later) and leave to cool to room temperature then chill for 12 hours. Pass the oil through a fine sieve and reserve.

I missed this post the first time...your photo was beautiful...

RRP

taking a little bit from this and a little bit from that. Plan is 138º for 20 minutes sous vide with pats of butter and slices of lemon on the naked lobster before the vacuumed swimming lesson!. I''l report back later!

caliking

Photo Egg said:

I missed this post the first time...your photo was beautiful...

Thanks for the compliment, Darian. Would you believe that's a cellphone pic (with simulated bokeh)?

caliking

@RRP - looking forward to your results!

paqman

@caliking I missed that one but it looks awesome!  SWMBO would have been in paradise

RRP

caliking said:

@RRP - looking forward to your results!

138º for 20 minutes left it rare at best in the center. Next time I'm going 140º for 30 minutes and hope for better results.

Sundown

That looks great!

Theophan

RRP said:

138º for 20 minutes left it rare at best in the center. Next time I'm going 140º for 30 minutes and hope for better results.

I'm still learning about sous vide, and still haven't tried it, yet, but I'm starting to think I will, one of these days.

But I thought part of the way sous vide works was that it gets the entire piece of meat to whatever the target temp is (in this case 138°), and then KEEPS it there for a significant period of time, potentially hours.  During most of the cook, then, the entire piece of meat, from edges to center is all exactly at the same temperature all the way through, and it stays there long enough to cook or at least pasteurize the food.

I've been supposing, then, that the sous vide machine comes with a book or something that tells you how to make that happen, precisely so you don't have to guess like this: "Well, I guess 20 minutes at 138º wasn't long enough, guess I'll try 30 next time."  Something like, "seafood, 1" thick: ___ amount of time at this ___ temp.  Seafood, 2" thick: ___ amount of time at this ___ temp," etc..

All you sous vide mavens out there, am I completely misunderstanding something?