I got an Anova for Christmas and it's sat in the box ever since. Looking to break it out this weekend and try it out. Anyone have any go-to meals they'd recommend? Steak is always an option but I was wondering what else y'all have had success with.

Salmon is a good option. Then broil off at the end for crust. Pretty hard to dry it out that way.

I don't have my recipe in front of me but this is one I do. Essentially a confit:

Vac seal dark meat chicken/turkey with seasoning and a good bit of olive oil, at least half a cup if not 3/4. Sous vide at ~180*F over night. Remove in the morning and allow to cool in the fridge. Come dinner time, saute mirepoix, garlic, thyme, rosemary and sage in butter. Add tomato paste and cook down a bit, then add white wine and juices from the vac bag to deglaze. Place chicken or turkey into mixture then add stock halfway up the side of the meat. Simmer until it's all happy. There's a good bit of oil so you may need to skim if it's a good consistency already. If it's still thin, add a little flour and it should thicken and soak up that oil.

Serve over cheesy polenta.

If you haven't done it yet, download the Anova app to help you manage your cook. There are built in recipes in the app.



ETA Recipe, I do this with my dove harvest, but I've done it with chicken thighs too. You can pull the meat or leave it on the bone to your preference.

30 dove breasts
1 cup all-purpose flour
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 small onions (diced)
2-3 carrots (peeled, diced)
2-3 stalks celery (diced)
4 cloves garlic (minced)
2 tablespoon tomato paste
1.5 cup white wine
4 cups chicken stock
2 sprig fresh rosemary
6 sprigs fresh thyme

Season and sous vide dove for 12 hours @ 185*F/85*C. Remove from bath and chill.

Pull meat from bone once chilled.

Add olive oil, onion, celery, carrot, cook until onion translucent. Add herbs, garlic and tomato paste. Cook a minute or two until fragrant.
Deglaze pan with wine. Add chicken stock. Add doves. Simmer 45 min-1 hour. Add flour for thicker stew if desired. Doves will begin to fall apart a bit if done properly.

1 cup polenta
3 cup chicken stock
1 cup heavy cream
Heavy pinch salt (or two, to taste.)
3/4 cup shredded asiago cheese

Additional cheese for table

Bring liquid and salt to a boil. Stir in polenta. Reduce heat and cook for about 20 minutes or so or until creamy. Stir occasionally with a wooden spoon. Stir in 3/4 cup shredded asiago cheese just before removing from heat.

Oooh, that sounds good.

Our favorite is probably beef short ribs. It's the chefsteps/joule recipe.

Regular rotation includes chicken, pork chops, pork tenderloin, salmon.

Some different things we've tried that we've enjoyed are Alton Brown's cheesecake, chicken liver mousse, lamb chops/T-bones (really like these if I can find them at a good price), flank steak with chimichurri, and siracha chicken.

Short Rib Recipe:
Short ribs
1 onion
3 stalks celery
1 large carrot
2 cloves of garlic
1.5 oz tomato paste
8.5 oz red wine
1.5 oz of demi-glace
pinch of chili flakes

Dry and season short ribs w/ salt and pepper
Presear short ribs in pan w/ oil over medium high heat on all sides until golden brown (~2 minutes per side)
Remove short ribs and sweat veggies
Once onions are translucent add tomato paste, of red wine, demi-glace, and chili flakes.
Reduce to a thick glaze.
Add meat to bag & pour in glaze/sauce. If using ziploc bags we double bag it.
Sous vide at 167 degrees for 24 hours.

Ready to serve out of sous vide, we usually serve over mashed potatoes.

Saw a post for sous vide barbacoa on here recently that looked really good. I've done the chefsteps eggs Benedict in mine, that turned out pretty yummy with very little work.

Kenji Lopez-Alt's sous vide brisket is worth a try at least once. Much harder to do if you don't have a vacuum sealer.

Anything really. I've gotten to where I just cook any meat I may need for a recipe in the sous vide and use that. ie...Chicken spaghetti that calls for the chicken to be poached I'll just season and sous vide.

Pork tenderloins - We buy the already seasoned and vac sealed tenderloins from HEB that are perfect for weeknight meals. Literally just drop in and cook. 136 for 1.5 hours

Chicken - Boneless thighs seasoned with whatever rub you like thrown in a bag with a couple slices of butter. 167 for 45 mins

I have a great recipe for mozzarella and basil stuffed turkey meatballs but don't have it with me. Once I get home I'll have to post it up. It's great!

I've done the meatballs as well, or at least a recipe from a sous vide book I have that sound similar. They were really good.

And tangent, but my wife is out of town for work this week. I looked for the seasoned pork tenderloin packets at HEB this weekend for an easy dinner option and they didn't have any. Disappointing, but really hoping they aren't gone for good.

Same one

That book is great!

Sous Vide at Home

Txmoe said:

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Kenji Lopez-Alt's sous vide brisket is worth a try at least once. Much harder to do if you don't have a vacuum sealer.

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Done this several times and almost always ask myself why I go through the effort to cook a brisket start to finish on the egg. If you use a bit of pink salt in the rub, and then something like Hardcore Carnivore black when you put it on the smoke, it's about 95% as good as any "normal" brisket I've turned out. About the only thing I notice is the fat/tissue layer between the point and flat doesn't quite render like it does on a pit.

I really like the few things I have done. However my wife insists it is BOILED MEAT and will not eat it.

Mark Fairchild said:

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I really like the few things I have done. However my wife insists it is BOILED MEAT and will not eat it.

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that is insanely dumb, but...

you can also do veggies with the sous vide. I'll do that somewhat often, b/c it makes timing much easier. work on everything else, and pull the veggies out of the sous vide when everything else is done.

also, if you guys have eaten out, she's likely had sous vide meat and never known it.

Asparagus with seasoning and some lemon butter is SUPER easy. About 20 min at ~180*f or reduce temp and add time if cooking with other items. ~2 hours at 120*f if cooking with steak.

It will change your mind on boneless skinless chicken breast

Keeper of The Spirits said:

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It will change your mind on boneless skinless chicken breast

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I bought a Anova because someone else told me the same. I'd like to know what you do, because I've tried chicken breast a couple of times now and I was just not impressed.

Salt in advance if you have time. Apply just about any seasoning(Tony's, taco, everything). I usually go without fat but olive oil, butter, chicken fat or bacon grease are all good. I do 148 for 1.5 hours, I have done 140 but don't care for the texture

I mean at the end of the day it's still just chicken. Not like it magically comes out as something better.

And, yes, I've had as good of chicken baking, etc. But with the sous vide it comes out cooked perfect and not dried out every single time, with no effort.

To us, that's why it's the only way we do chicken breasts anymore.

I've gotten incredible texture cooking shrimp with sous vide

lazuras_dc said:

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I've gotten incredible texture cooking shrimp with sous vide

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This. It's great for seafood.

Same. Cooked in garlic butter. I've reheated bags of crawfish boil as well.

It just makes cooking any meat so easy. It's always perfect and ready to serve when you're ready.

A simple one is just deboned thighs with the skin still on and salted. Broil up that skin to serve and it's elevated.

I'd like to mess around with it more to master some of the things you can do with eggs.

Sous vide everything on YouTube is a great channel and resource. Some good tips and all sorts of ideas on there.

For chicken, I season with salt, pepper, garlic powder, dried rosemary, and dried thyme, then I slice a lemon and place 2 slices on top and bottom before vacuum sealing. Cook at 150 for 2 hours and sear. Super juicy and delicious.

I love to do thick cut pork chops with salt, pepper, garlic powder and sear in cast iron. Once seared, I set aside and do a pan sauce where I add in butter, garlic, and very finely diced shallots. Cook for a few minutes until starting to get tender, then add in some Magi flavor enhancer and heavy cream. Cook on low until sauce thickens to your desired consistency, cut pork chops, and spoon over the meat and rice on the side. It's outstanding. Picture below

I'll also do sous vide French dips. Get a 3-4 lb shoulder roast or something similar, and season heavily with salt. Sear on all sides in a cast iron and set aside. Take 2/3 cup of dry red wine and deglaze the pan and add in about 1 teaspoon dry thyme. Let the mixture cool along with the meat, then place the cooled meat in a bag (ziplock freezer or vacuum seal bag), pour in 2 cups of beef broth, your wine/thyme mixture, and some of the Magi flavor enhancer. Cook at 129 for 24 hours. Add water before you go to bed if you need to. After 24 hours, remove and pat dry then sear again. Once seared, set meat aside and put butter and yellow onions in the pan along with more red wine and some more magi enahncer. Cut meat into thin slices, and put on hoagie or whatever bread you want with the onions and provolone on top and broil until cheese is melted. Use the left over juice from your sous vide bag as au jus. It's seriously amazing.

Peak Acadiana family meal here: sous vide two deboned and stuffed chickens in their packaging while you prepare sides. Broil after for color and texture. Works like a charm!

Thanksgiving sous vide turkey is pretty dang good

The Real Napster said:

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Thanksgiving sous vide turkey is pretty dang good

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I came to say this as well.

A couple of years ago I used Kenji's turchetta recipe. It was excellent.

This past year I did the same thing but used Meatchurch or Hardcore Carnivore inside and out instead of the spice/herb rub from the turchetta. I incorporated those traditional flavors into a turkey gravy with white wine.

A breast cooked this method is perfectly tender, juicy, and in no way gamey like every oven roasted turkey ever cooked, or a grilled or smoked turkey overcooked, etc.

Second this response. Watch the ChefSteps videos on YouTube. Finish on the smoker.

I did sous vide cheesecake

https://recipes.anovaculinary.com/recipe/cheesecake-191

Best I've ever had!

Does anyone have a link to a good starter kit? I've been tempted to try my hand at sous vide, but there are a lot of "entry level kits" and I imagine lot of them are junk

Anova with the bin at Costco.com is a good setup.
Like their bin better than the after market version I have.

That's all you need

Can get reusable bags. Ziploc, or vacuum sealer if you have them.

Yeah. I'd start with an anova or joule. And, really, that's all you need. You can use a large pot for most things. We bought a large, cheap plastic food container from a restaurant supply store eventually. For most things, we use freezer ziploc bags. We do buy meat in bulk, preseason, and vacuum seal so they can go straight from the freezer to the sous vide.

I'm sure the Anova will be on sale on prime day in 2 weeks. I have enjoyed mine. I also have a bonsenkitchen vacuum sealer that has done well for the last 4-5 years or so. I used a pot to begin with but bought a couple different containers and racks on Amazon that I use more now.

Anova Sous Vide Kit, Precision Cooker, Immersion Circulator, Sous Vide Cooker, Includes one Precision Wifi Cooker and one 16 Liter Precision Sous Vide Cooking Container https://a.co/d/iozaeeQ

$318

I paid $150 at Costco Christmas 2021

For 99% of what you'll want to do, you don't need a vacuum sealer. Ziploc bags and using water displacement to get the air out works just fine. Plus, you can do foods that have oil or other liquids in the bag that way (you'll need a chamber vacuum sealer otherwise, and they're not cheap).

I like to sous vide steak primarily when I want to make a pan sauce after the sear, but really sous vide is a better tool for chicken and pork IMO. That's where the ability to get to a safe temp without drying out really shines.

Here's a really good recipe for carnitas: https://www.seriouseats.com/sous-vide-carnitas-crispy-mexican-style-pulled-pork-recipe

Here's a Greek chicken recipe I did recently which turned out really well. I suspect you could probably sous vide the seasoned chicken without the marinade, pan sear, then reduce the "marinade" in the pan, before adding the chicken thighs back in, and maybe come out even better, but it turned out well following the recipe regardless: https://sousvideways.com/sous-vide-greek-chicken/

My go-to sous vide dish, which incorporates one of the easiest cheats in cooking (sear protein, deglaze with wine) is thick cut bone-in pork chops. Season with s&p and any fresh herbs you feel like using like thyme, rosemary, etc, and sous vide at 142 for 1.5-2 hours. Remove, pat dry, add additional s&p. Pan sear on high in your chosen high-smoke point oil coated stainless pan, with some butter added right before you sear and then again when you flip, including some searing of the fat cap on the outside.

Remove chops and make you a pan sauce by deglazing with wine and adding anything else you want and then reducing to a nice sauce for spooning or drizzling on top. I like to use white wine, Dijon mustard, any herbs left from the sous vide bags. and garlic, most often in my sauce. Sometimes I will add a little cream to that at the end and maybe a splash of cognac, brandy or sherry. I will also change things up for the sauce by deglazing and then adding some aged balsamic and reducing that to a good consistency. You can either add the chops back in and flip to coat, or drizzle the sauce on top, depending on how much sauce you're making and your preference for plating.

Super simple but very tasty.

Lamb shanks
Olive oil to coat
Salt
Pepper
Garlic
Rosemary

Vac seal, or water bath a zip bag.
~145 for a long time.
Remove from bath, pat dry of any liquid, fresh dose of oil, salt, and pepper, broil until crispy outside.

Serve with polenta or mashed potatoes. Make a sauce with the bag contents if you know what's good.