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Sous Vide

So SWMBO is reading a book that is recommending boiled or poaching meats... My first thought was you are friggin crazy if its meat it's getting egged. Now after thinking about it I am wandering if Sous Vide would class as poaching and I could use this book to my advantage and purchase a Sous Vide device... Thoughts from the SV experts?
Lynnwood WA
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Comments

  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
    Just show her this video.  And there are a few sous vide apps out there that give you temperature/time/safety guidelines.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=csqrLEkNGLU
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  • Little Steven
    Little Steven Posts: 28,817
    Santa is gonna bring me one of those Nola. I know this cause I am Santa

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
    Meeeee to.  I'm gonna probably get that one.
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  • double
    double Posts: 1,214
    Oh she knows what it is. Hotel School graduate worked at the Ritz in Paris and a total foodie...
    Lynnwood WA
  • Little Steven
    Little Steven Posts: 28,817
    Santa is gonna bring me one of those Nola. I know this cause I am Santa
    My problem is that we already buy polyscience stuff and if I get the predecessor I can buy it throgh the company as a tool

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

  • paqman
    paqman Posts: 4,660
    I have the circulator shown in the video. It is being sold for roughly 1000$. They now have a new less expensive version sold for roughly 500$. The new version seems like a great value for home users.

    ____________________
    Entrepreneurs are simply those who understand that there is little difference between obstacle and opportunity and are able to turn both to their advantage. •Niccolo Machiavelli
  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
    paqman said:
    I have the circulator shown in the video. It is being sold for roughly 1000$. They now have a new less expensive version sold for roughly 500$. The new version seems like a great value for home users.
    There's a "buy-it-now", new, no box of the professional (shown on line) for $540 or so on ebay right now.
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  • paqman
    paqman Posts: 4,660
    Forgot to mention. If i had to do the purchase now, I would buy two units @ 500$ instead of the one @ 1000$. That way I could cook items that require different cooking temperature simultaneously. It is possible to do it with 1 unit but it requires more planning...

    ____________________
    Entrepreneurs are simply those who understand that there is little difference between obstacle and opportunity and are able to turn both to their advantage. •Niccolo Machiavelli
  • paqman
    paqman Posts: 4,660


    paqman said:

    I have the circulator shown in the video. It is being sold for roughly 1000$. They now have a new less expensive version sold for roughly 500$. The new version seems like a great value for home users.

    There's a "buy-it-now", new, no box of the professional (shown on line) for $540 or so on ebay right now.


    Buy it now! :)

    ____________________
    Entrepreneurs are simply those who understand that there is little difference between obstacle and opportunity and are able to turn both to their advantage. •Niccolo Machiavelli
  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
    That $1000 unit now retails for $799 on the polyscience store and everywhere else.  The other one is $499.  So you like it? Good quality?  I've used a bunch of polyscience stuff at work and it seems pretty commercial quality.  I know this stuff is a slight notch below, but way better than most of the junk out there.

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  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
    I'm all into the commercial quality durable goods.
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  • Skiddymarker
    Skiddymarker Posts: 8,522
    Thanks to some advice from Nola, steaks are now cooked at <225, indirect with a touch of smoke. Takes 30 to 45 minutes with a 1-1/2" steak, if I can get the egg to stay low enough. Once the interior is up to 120, remove the steak, open the lower vent and remove the daisy to heat the lump and sear the steak - kinda poor man's sous vide, and I save water. 

    I have been looking at these for veggies and desserts. Like to know if the home version works.  
    Delta B.C. - Whiskey and steak, because no good story ever started with someone having a salad!
  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
    @skiddymarker - cool man.  I took Steven's advice and did the poor man's hot tub in a foodsaver bag and save me some lump!  (stove top/thermapen/human thermostat method in water)
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  • paqman
    paqman Posts: 4,660

    That $1000 unit now retails for $799 on the polyscience store and everywhere else.  The other one is $499.  So you like it? Good quality?  I've used a bunch of polyscience stuff at work and it seems pretty commercial quality.  I know this stuff is a slight notch below, but way better than most of the junk out there.

    No regrets, great quality. Heats quickly and holds the temperature steady.


    ____________________
    Entrepreneurs are simply those who understand that there is little difference between obstacle and opportunity and are able to turn both to their advantage. •Niccolo Machiavelli
  • Little Steven
    Little Steven Posts: 28,817
    @skiddymarker - cool man.  I took Steven's advice and did the poor man's hot tub in a foodsaver bag and save me some lump!  (stove top/thermapen/human thermostat method in water)
    Aw, you always say the sweetest things.
    :\">

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
    awwwwwww shucks :)
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  • Little Steven
    Little Steven Posts: 28,817
    Hey man, I have three likes and four agrees...How you makin out?, Nice to be nice...just sayin :D

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
    4 disagrees, 16 agrees and 14 likeys.  I'm trying to get my disagrees up without having to change my password every other day.  I love a challenge.  ;)
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  • Little Steven
    Little Steven Posts: 28,817
    Way funny! I bet Cen-Tex has some flags already

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

  • Way funny! I bet Cen-Tex has some flags already
    If you ain't getting flagged, you ain't tryin hard enough!




    Keepin' It Weird in The ATX FBTX
  • I highly recommend any Sous Vide set up that works for you. I love mine and use it all the time. You'll never eat chicken breast any other way again
    Keepin' It Weird in The ATX FBTX
  • Little Steven
    Little Steven Posts: 28,817
    Hahaha

    Steve 

    Caledon, ON

     

  • BOWHUNR
    BOWHUNR Posts: 1,487
    I want one!!

    Mike

    I'm ashamed what I did for a Klondike Bar!!

    Omaha, NE
  • lwrehm
    lwrehm Posts: 381
    I want one, but not a $700 want.   I will continue with building my own for about $60, maybe I will add a circulation pump if needed.
  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
    I built one using a small aquarium with a built in pump. 



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  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
    edited October 2012
    forgot the pictures
    imageimage
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  • Can't you get the same results on the egg by cooking the steak at 225 and searing after the steak has reached temperature?  I learned this way and was told it is called a "reverse sear."  I thought by cooking on the egg you would wind up with a better tasting steak.

    Your thoughts?

    XLBGE, Weber, and Barbeques Galore Gasser
  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102

    Wildcoach said:

    Can't you get the same results on the egg by cooking the steak at 225 and searing after the steak has reached temperature?  I learned this way and was told it is called a "reverse sear."  I thought by cooking on the egg you would wind up with a better tasting steak.

    Your thoughts?

    No, there's a big difference. With sous vide, you cook at your internal end point temp.  So it's cooked extremely evenly.  Also, your food is hermetically sealed, so you don't lose anything that you started with, nor add anything (think smoke) that you didn't start with.   

    It's really a complicated bit of chemistry.  Typically, you use sous vide to cook something as one step of the process. You can stop there, or you can crank it up a notch and add a sear (maillard reaction if you're into technical cooking) before or after the sous vide process. 

    You can't lose moisture through evaporation in sous vide - because there is no evaporation. It's different, and it's not always the best way, but you can't replicate it outside the "hot tub" method.
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  • Deckhand
    Deckhand Posts: 318
    This is my stove top Sous Vide cooker... Set at 135° (2 square chopsticks under lid).  2 small skewers = 140°  I use the warming "burner" on high.  For larger cooks ( like the 170  meatballs for the Ozark Mountain Eggfest)  I fill a good  cooler with water heated on the stove in big pots like the one in the picture.  Once the meat is at target temperature, the cooler will hold it there 24 hrs. with virtually no drop in temperature.  A quart of hot water from the kettle quickly brings it back to temp. I had planned to buy a Sous Vide Supreme but lost the battle for counter space.  At the moment, Sunday's tri-tip is cruising at 140°... to be browned (not seared) on the Egg.   
  • nolaegghead
    nolaegghead Posts: 42,102
    Deckhand said:
    This is my stove top Sous Vide cooker... Set at 135° (2 square chopsticks under lid).  2 small skewers = 140°  I use the warming "burner" on high.  For larger cooks ( like the 170  meatballs for the Ozark Mountain Eggfest)  I fill a good  cooler with water heated on the stove in big pots like the one in the picture.  Once the meat is at target temperature, the cooler will hold it there 24 hrs. with virtually no drop in temperature.  A quart of hot water from the kettle quickly brings it back to temp. I had planned to buy a Sous Vide Supreme but lost the battle for counter space.  At the moment, Sunday's tri-tip is cruising at 140°... to be browned (not seared) on the Egg.   
    Abso-effin'-lutely.  If you find a state of equilibrium of a water bath....POOF... sous vide.

    The fancy stuff isn't going to make anything taste better given the formula is constant temperature.
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