Btron said:

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For best results is it ok to season before the water bath with my rubs, or is it better to place the rub on before the sear step?

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Season before bath to give time for seasoning to get into the meat. Don't get hung up on the salt and pepper seasoning if you see a lot of them. You can season things the same way for the sous vide you would normally.

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Ok to cook with marinades? I'm assuming so based on the pork tenderloin examples above.

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Absolutely

If Anyone has an echo or some other way to access alexa, I think you can still get the Anova deal. Just tell alexa to order a sous vide. You also get a 10 dollar gift card this way.

My new favorite is bacon.
The family loves that it isn't crispy as a cracker now. (Wife always cooked it in the microwave).
We also really like pork tenderloin in it.
I need to experiment more with beef, but we don't eat a lot of beef.

Ag_07 said:

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When cooking how do you determine the temp and time?

And if I'm marinating meat say pork chops...I usually marinate them for a couple hours in Italain dressing and grill. Do I need to marinate them with SV or can I just pour meat and dressing in a bag and go?

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The temp you should use is based on the doneness that you want the food. I wouldn't dip below 130, as it will invite bacteria growth.

For timing, you have a lot of leeway. For most things, you only have to keep the food in long enough for it to get to the target temp. Some foods will benefit from being in longer to break down collagen etc. You can't overcook food in the traditional sense, but it can become mushy if left in for too long. I wouldn't leave a steak in longer than 4 hours, for instance.

For the pork chops, you can just throw the marinade and chops in a bag then into the bath for a couple hours. No need to marinade beforehand.

Cool. Thanks for the help

That was one thing I was confused about is that a bunch of recipes say for instance 2-4 hours. That seems like a big range and I was worried that if 2 could get it there 4 would be too much. Just used to seeing something like 45 mins @ 375

My Prime Day Anova will be here today and I'll be taking it for a spin for dinner tomorrow.

For most normal cuts you only need 45 mins to an hour to reach temp. Up to four hours is for flexibility. If you go over that, the texture of the meat starts to change and you can get stringy, chewy meat. Kenji goes in to some of that on some of his sous vide articles.

FYI for those who missed the Amazon Prime Day deal, the Anova 800W (bluetooth, no wi-fi) is on sale again right now at Best Buy (and, at the moment, on Amazon) for $99:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/promo/sol8649-precision-cookers

https://www.amazon.com/Anova-Culinary-Bluetooth-Precision-Cooker/dp/B00UKPBXM4

just picked the 900 watt anova wifi/bluetooth version yesterday. First test was with 2"prime ny strips since my butcher had them on sale....very solid first showing. Kiddos were going back for seconds and i though the tenderness was great. looking forward to trying longer cooks (short ribs, etc) but so far so good

I've used my Anova to cook:

A TON of steaks
pork tenderloin
pork chops
a bunch of chicken
Shrimp

What else should I be trying??

Eggs

You can pasteurize them and eat them at very precisely cooked points. Eggs benedict is a good example.

Eggs. 63* or 64* soft poached and 75* scrambled. The scrambled are world class.

Butter poached lobster.

mathguy86 said:

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Eggs. 63* or 64* soft poached and 75* scrambled. The scrambled are world class.

Butter poached lobster.

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Do you parboil to remove the shell before sous vide?

Nope. I just squeeze the shell longways and crack it down the spine and it comes right out.

Is there a guide to sous vide cooked but frozen food?
Ex: last night we sous vide salmon and have some leftovers. I vacuum sealed what's left and froze it. At what temp and for how long to get it to eat able temp?
Other meats would be pork chops, steaks, chicken breasts etc.
I have a joule also.

According to this site, general rule is 1.5X the time for non-frozen:
https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/you-can-cook-frozen-food-sous-vide-without-defrosting-here-s-how

Nm

Time depends on thickness but a word of caution I received from my buddy that's the executive chef at dallas national...do not freeze food cooked sous vide in the same bag you cook it in (i.e. From the water bath straight to the freezer). Take it out of the bag and freeze it in a fresh one.

Of course! Once I've used a bag its done

What is the thinking behind that rule?

I am interested in a scientific explanation for this.

I always fridge thaw my frozen meats. Dr. Savell (A&M meat science chair) said if you thaw it out too quickly you'll lose the cellular membrane structure and cause the cells to burst, thus a mushier food. This is the case for flash frozen foods, anyways. I'm not sure about meat just thrown in the freezer at home.

Whoop04 said:

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I am interested in a scientific explanation for this.

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I can't remember his exact explanation but it had to do with potential bacteria growth. Something to do with the additional juice created once it's cooked and then freezing it in that juice (he specifically warned me about freezing cooked fish because I remember telling him I was doing that with salmon). His advice was to season and freeze and then cook it later.

I could be completely misremembering the reason but I know he told me NOT to do that and was pretty serious about it. And he's been cooking this way for a LONG time. I'll ask him to clarify again.

IIRC, the temperatures for fish aren't high enough to kill bacteria, which is why you don't go as long as with other meats.

Not sure how changing the bag helps, though.

So far I've done steaks, pork chops, shrimp, and eggs. Everything but the scrambled eggs has turned out awesome. Poached eggs were great, but scrambled eggs were really mushy/runny and not very good. Pork chops were probably the best even over the steak.

I think it was talked about a few pages back but can I cook a prepackaged meat in the bag it's in or do I need to remove it and put into a bag? I have a pre-seasoned pork tenderloin from HEB that I'm going to drop in the bath tonight but was curious if I needed to take it out of it's vacuumed bag or if I can just drop it in straight out of the fridge as is.

I have done the HEB pork loins with no issues regarding the bag integrity. I have no idea as to the safety of doing so in regards to the type of plastic vs a vacuum seal or Ziploc bag.

Edit: I want to add that HEB is not consistent across the board in their sealed plastic food. I tossed in a filet for my wife one night and the plastic around the bottom side was not as thick as that on the top and it leaked. The tenderloins, however, seem to use the thicker stuff all around, so you might want to check before tossing in the water bath.

I did the preseasoned pork tenderloin from HEB in the bag and it was great.

I finally had some good steaks. Getting a cast iron skillet super hot and searing to finish really makes a huge difference.

edit: I do prefer the tenderloin smoked but both ways are pretty amazing for a cheap gourmet meal

I've done several HEB pork loins. Just drop it in.

Came out perfect after 1 hour at 140

Cooked a couple flat iron steaks with a peppercorn marinade for about six hours today. Absolutely fantastic!

Anova Nano replacement bluetooth model came in today. What should I cook for my first try at sous vide?

Pork chops

a lot of sous vide things cook for many, many hours. just placing in some hot water won't work. there are some people who will use a cooler and pre heated water and just check every two or three hours to see how much they need to adjust the temperature.

It's a sock trying to build a post count without drawing attention to themselves, poorly.

mathguy86 said:

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I've done several HEB pork loins. Just drop it in.

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Just a thought and maybe you've already know about it.

There's typically not a lot of information on the plastic that stores package their products in. I know enough about how plastics are made and don't typically see enough information on the plastic used to usually play-it-safe and re-bag before cooking.

As an general FYI:

• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Resin_identification_code
• Terms "Microwavable" or "Boil-safe" and you should be good

Almost all Ziplock-style bags are made from polyethylene and are food and heat safe.