Anybody tried it? What are your thoughts? Seems easy and I don't care that it may be considered cheating if the final product is good. I had never heard of it until recently but after looking into it, it appears to be popular these days.

Never done it myself, but I had an amazing venison tenderloin cooked that way in a nice restaurant in San Antonio this last year. Perfectly medium rare, great flavor, and incredibly tender.

I love my sous vide setup. It's worth every penny on beef tenderloins alone.

I've got some plans to make one for about $100 since I don't really want to shell out the $300+. If it works out, then I'll bring it here.

[This message has been edited by hbc07 (edited 2/24/2013 7:06p).]

Are the cookers really necessary? Couldn't I just put what I'm cooking in the water and bring the temp up? When the water gets to the temp I want the inside of the meat, I take it out of the water.

The water will reach temperature long before the food will. You can use a thermometer and stove top (adjusting with ice cubes as needed) but that would be much more labor intensive than the work an immersion circulator would require, especially as you need to cook for an hour or so (or whatever the recipe calls for). As you cook sous vide, you can benefit from textural changes as well. Htown and Bonfire know a bit about sous vide so I'm sure they'll chime in.

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.

If you are crafty.

http://seattlefoodgeek.com/2010/02/diy-sous-vide-heating-immersion-circulator-for-about-75/

If you aren't crafty but you are cheap

http://www.auberins.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=13&products_id=44

Or even cheaper

http://www.amazon.com/DorkFood-DSV-Temperature-Controller-Sous-vide/dp/B0088OTON4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1361769582&sr=8-1&keywords=sous+vide

Got it!

Makes sense that the temperature of the meat wouldn't rise as quickly as the water. I think I need to borrow somebody else's before I spend that kind of money though.

If your steak stays in the water longer does it get more tender? Wouldn't you have the same break-down of the stuff that makes a steak tough if it is in heat longer? Just like cooking a brisket I suppose.

[This message has been edited by Rufneck (edited 2/25/2013 7:42a).]

I use a counter-top roaster (must get one with a manual on/off dial... digital is no good) and a Johnson Controls temperature controller.

It takes an hour or so to get a steak up to your desired temp. 45 minutes minimum. You can leave the steak at temp for 24 hours or more, they say... the most I've done is about 4.

The most I've done at one time was 20. I had requests for med-rare all the way up to well (ugh.) I did the more-done steaks first, lowered the water temp, put in the mediums, let them get done, then lowered the temp again for the med-rare, etc.

Sous vide does not create a nice looking steak, so I flash sear them for 30 seconds a side on my gas grill after taking them out of the water bath.

The steaks get "more tender" if you leave them at temp a little while past the minimum time needed, but beyond say, 1.5 hours, you're not getting any more benefit. The steak isn't cooking any more, it's just staying warm past that point.

Best steaks I've ever made, and tons of compliments.

http://mobile.texags.com/Forums/67/Topics/2268380

In the aeropress vs french press thread, some are talking about a PID controller, which I assume is to heat water to just the right temp.

A temp controller good for one should be good for both, fwiw. I use my Johnson Controls controller to run my kegerator most of the time. Every now and then, I switch it into heating mode for sous vide cooking.

so which model johnson controler do you have?

Mine's the A419. The writeup at Amazon assumes it'll be used for a kegerator, but it works in heating mode, too. You do get a fair amount of oscillation around the set point (overshoot/undershoot) since it's not a PID controller. A "true" PID controller would vary voltage according to instantaneous desired (heat) output, but a roaster oven wants 115v constant. A "faux" PID controller would vary the duty cycle (10 seconds on, 3 seconds off, etc) to effect the PID control. Maybe that's what the ones in the aeropress thread do? I didn't look closely, since I already have a solution.

If they DO do that, I'd opt for one of them over the Johnson Controls unit. (Look for terms like Pulse Width Control or variable duty cycle)

Even though I get overshoot, I think the average temp is the main thing, since the water temp varies faster than the steaks.

http://www.amazon.com/Johnson-Controls-Digital-Thermostat-Control/dp/B00368D6JA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1361817148&sr=8-1&keywords=johnson+a419

i've never put 2 and 2 together but I have the Johnson control for my fermentation freezer and and a crock pot. will the crock pot work? is it absolutely necessary to have the food vacuum sealed or can i just use a zip lock?

[This message has been edited by JFrench (edited 2/25/2013 4:31p).]

vacuum sealer isn't absolutely necessary, but it's very hard to get all the air out of a zip-loc. you want the steak submerged in the water, not floating on top.

on my a419, there's a manual jumper you have to move to change it from cooling (turn off power when the temp gets down to the set point or below) to warming (turn off when temp > = set point), but if yours does have that additional mode of operation, it should work just fine.

Since the controller cuts the power completely when the temp is reached, your crock pot needs to have a manual on/off switch vice an electronic one. If it was electronic, it wouldn't wake up in "heat on" mode.

thanks 88.

i recall reading in the manual about the switch. i'll pick it back up.

i feel like the crock pot is manual but I rarely use it.

i may play around with the whole setup before i get a sealer.

If you don't own a vacuum sealer, this is a good/cheap one to start with.

http://www.ziploc.com/Products/Pages/VacuumFreezerSystem.aspx

Just a heads up for the DIY crowd, the water bath temp is critical. A difference in in,y 2 or 3 degrees can change the pasteurization time by an hour or more for some foods. I did some research on sous vide cooking and it had some great advantages but its not totally foolproof.

Cheating? Who has ever called it cheating?

Personally, I'm not a huge fan. Its not something I reach for in the bag of skills/tricks. That said I i wouldn't turn down something prepared this way.



_______________________________________________________
Bacon: The duct tape of the kitchen.

quote:

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Just a heads up for the DIY crowd, the water bath temp is critical. A difference in in,y 2 or 3 degrees can change the pasteurization time by an hour or more for some foods. I did some research on sous vide cooking and it had some great advantages but its not totally foolproof.

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Could you be specific? What foods, what temps?

Also keep in mind that while sous vide can be a way to cook AND pasteurize foods, sometimes it's JUST a cooking method (e.g. fish, rare meats)

http://www.douglasbaldwin.com/sous-vide.html

there's a lot of good information, including pasteurization time tables for different foods at this link

That's a great link and one I cited frequently in my research. True, pasteurization may not always be the goal but if you plan to store the food for very long after cooking it's something to consider.

bunch of namby pamby's

oh, and here's a link to the temp controller I use:

http://www.amazon.com/Johnson-Controls-Digital-Thermostat-Control/dp/B00368D6JA/ref=pd_sbs_k_1

It will work in cooling mode for a kegerator AND heating mode for sous vide, as I stated above, AND it's cheaper than DI's "if you're not crafty and cheap" option, above.

i tried this yesterday with steaks. came out incredible even with the poor mans version. johnson control A419/crock pot/zip lock cheap vacuum sealer.

i used a flat iron. mainly because i could get more meat in the oval shape of crock pot. I grill them occasionally so I'm familiar with typical texture and flavor. i also got a single small sirloin in case i had enough room. i probably overcrowded it a bit but it worked.

the temp control wasn't perfect. but close enough for the women i date. i kept playing with the controller and crock pot settings until it somewhat stabilized. 132 F +/- 1. On the high setting it ran up to 137 once.

the flat iron i just put in the bag with nothing. when done I hit it with the propane torch and salt/pepper. the sirloin i put a couple sprigs of rosemary. nothing else. the rosemary flavor definitely came through.

both came out perfect. some of the better steaks i've had. i might be scarred from any other method.

Congrats and welcome to the club!

There will be overshoot and undershoot due to the thermal "inertia" of the system and the bang-bang control method. Even though the water temp may get up to 137*, your steaks don't react that quickly, and their centers are going to be closer to the average temp than the extremes. I have been toying with the idea of incorporating PID control behavior, just as an engineering/tinkering challenge. If I ever do get that working, I'll post something here.

As for seasoning, I usually use garlic salt and pepper. Read up (I think the site I linked has some info) on spices. The vacuum/no air situation causes some non-standard reactions. I think they say to go light on aromatics (like your rosemary) and they definitely recommend AGAINST minced/chopped/etc. garlic, in favor of granulated.

Glad it worked out for you. It can be a real boon when making a big meal. The nice thing is that you can get everything started hours in advance, perhaps before your company starts to arrive. Then you time all your other dishes to be ready at X O'clock and the steaks will be ready and patiently waiting for you. Just take them out and sear them real quickly on a grill or something, and viola! They really don't have to rest, since the temp is already consistent throughout.

can't wait to try some venison this way.

Some notes based on my experiences:
1. Don't try to do this on the cheap. Yes, you can make it work with a crock pot and a temperature controller. Here's the problem with the crock pot. It's ceramic, and has a high thermal mass, meaning it can absorb a lot of heat. The issue is that when the temperature controller turns the pot off, it's still going to radiate heat into the water for a long time. That increases the temperature wave, and though I've never done it, I can imagine that the wave is +/- 3-5 degrees. While pretty good, it isn't precise enough for some applications. My SousVideSupreme cycles maybe 0.5 of a degree. At $300, it's worth it to me to have that kind of precision, and someone's name to stand behind a product in case something should go wrong.

2. Though no one ever mentions it, food safety is a big, big issue when you're cooking food in the danger zone. As such, your cleanliness and sanitation is very, very important. Be mindful of it.

3. Sous vide is not the be all, end all of cooking. It doesn't work at all for some applications, namely green vegetables, beans and legumes, and pasta.

4. If you're cooking large quantities of items to serve at a later date, you need large quantities of ice to get everything cooled down. An ice bath should have just enough water to keep the ice cubes from sticking to each other. That takes a lot of ice. If you don't have an ice maker, you'll need to have a bag of ice. Something to keep in mind.

5. Cooking times for meat are a non-linear relationship between time and thickness. For example, a 1" thick steak cooked to 130 dF will take about an hour. A 2" thick steak could take 3 hours, because of that whole volume thing. Look up some guides online to see what the expected times are based on thickness for the meat you're cooking.

Some of the foods I've cooked, temperatures, and time, and comments.

Just about any root vegetable is excellent sous vide. 185 dF until they are done, because it's going to depend on the vegetable and how big the pieces are. Check by trying to mash a piece in the bag. If it mashes, they are done.

Venison loin or tenderloin. 128 dF, an hour for tenderloin, 1.5 hours for backstrap. Truly awesome. Flash sear it before serving.

Pork spare ribs. 155dF for 9 hours. It's isn't barbeque, and I certainly won't try to pass it off as barbeque, but these are truly outstanding.

Lobster tail. 150 dF for 30 minutes. Put the shelled tail in the bag, add half a stick of butter and some salt. Butter poached lobster, and it's amazing. Make some stock with the shell, reduce it, add the juices from the bag, and reduce it some. Drawn lobster butter.

A whole turkey. I cut the turkey into 6 pieces, and cooked the white meat at 150 dF for 4 hours, and the dark meat at 165 dF for 8 hours. Chilled both down, and reheated it the next day. It was very moist, but it had the texture of deli turkey meat. Not was I was expecting, but it wasn't bad. May try it again.

Pate. Yes, I did pate in my sous vide machine. I put it in a loaf pan, vacuum packed it, and put it in the machine at 155 dF for 8 hours. The texture was perfect, and I didn't have to worry about over-cooking it or weighting it down after it cooked, because it was already compressed. Won't do it any other way from now on.

Compressed watermelon. Very interesting because of the textural change. The vacuum made it more flavorful, with a nice texture. A bit messy to do, but I'd do it again.

Pork sausages. 155dF for an hour. Perfect every time and no busted casings. Often I don't even bother searing them.

Catfish. 150 dF for 20 minutes. Stays very moist, and the texture doesn't change much. I cook it this way often.

Steak. 128 dF for an hour for a 1" steak. It's great, except for the searing part. The problem is that the steak is very wet when you take it out of the bag. Even ever setting the steak on paper towel to absorb the excess moisture, you need a white-hot cast iron pan to get a decent sear. I don't do it often, but if I was cooking a bunch of steaks for a big group, it's something I would consider doing.

I'll add more later if I think of anything.

so I can't put on a Ron Popeil smile, drink a case of beer while I wait and come to the table with a perfect meal? knew it was too good to be true.

The combination of this thread and how hungry I am is making me want to get a machine very badly.

http://www.seriouseats.com/2013/12/sous-vide-circulator-review-sansaire-nomiku-anova.html

Good for Weight Loss?

I'm thinking, "Honey, let's have prime rib. I'll just crank up the Sous Vide and we can have dinner in 72 hours (3 days)."

Too old for this stuff. Suppose I die before the 72 hours are up?

your loss

Bacon-wrapped chicken boob sous vide, then finished with a pan-sear.

Looking back, it tastes fine, but next time I'll use less bacon (I know) and use meat glue to hold it onto the chicken. I did a weave pattern and the under-weave part of the bacon didn't really crisp up like I wanted. The method I used was (without really knowing why) to coat said boob in olive oil before rolling it up in the bacon, then using a butane torch on the outside of the bacon in an attempt to give it some shape before throwing it in my DIY sous vide setup.

Still tastes good though.

[This message has been edited by bthotugigem05 (edited 12/21/2013 9:21p).]

Oops, missed this in the earlier post and had never seen this before.

Here is a new Soux Vide that came from a KickStarter campaign.

Drops directly in the pot you are using and for only $200. May have to add this to my Christmas list.
Sansaire Sous-Vide Immersion Circulator