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Sous Vide questions

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dragon49

I don't feel like spending money on a dedicated Sous Vide apparatus, but want to try using this cooking method on fish inside vacuum sealed FoodSaver bags.  
 
Assuming that I have some fish vacuumed sealed in a FoodSaver bag, (nothing too thick - maybe some bluefish or stripped bass) and fully defrost it, can I just throw the bag into a large pot of boiling water and it will eventually get cooked?  If so, how long will it take?  If it helps answer the timing question, depending on the thickness of my fish, and how defrosted it is, I cook it by frying it in butter, between 2:30 and 3:30 a side.
 
 
Thanks
 
yes and no ...
 
for fish, you can sous vide in your sink, by using a thermometer and adding mugs of boiling water to maintain temp ... the more you fill the sink, the easier it is to maintain ...
 
cook length for fish is short, so it's not too big of a deal ...
 
manually sous vide in a cooler is even easier, for obvious reasons ...
 
grantmichaels said:
yes and no ...
 
for fish, you can sous vide in your sink, by using a thermometer and adding mugs of boiling water to maintain temp ... the more you fill the sink, the easier it is to maintain ...
 
cook length for fish is short, so it's not too big of a deal ...
 
manually sous vide in a cooler is even easier, for obvious reasons ...
Click to expand...
If I boil water and leave the flame on high, isn't the water going to be a constant 212 f or 100 c?
 
That's not what Sous Vide does. Boil water. LOL. It keeps the water at a constant 140º + or whatever temp you set it at but not boiling. Grant was saying you can do it in your sink or cooler by adding hot water keeping it at your desired temp. Regulating it yourself.
 
dragon49 said:
If I boil water and leave the flame on high, isn't the water going to be a constant 212 f or 100 c?
Click to expand...
 
you don't want to boil fish ... hael no.
 
more like 125F or something ... Google Baldwin Sous Vide and you can use his free book, which is a great reference truth be told on SV ...
 
otherwise, i've found ChefSteps to be reliably awesome, and their site let's you scale recipes, which is a real time-saver ...
 
grantmichaels said:
 
you don't want to boil fish ... hael no.
 
more like 125F or something ... Google Baldwin Sous Vide and you can use his free book, which is a great reference truth be told on SV ...
 
otherwise, i've found ChefSteps to be reliably awesome, and their site let's you scale recipes, which is a real time-saver ...
Click to expand...
Thanks for all of the answers.  I asked, because my apartment has no ventilation and I am sick of smoking it out when I fry fish.  
 
grantmichaels said:
Totally understand re: the smoke ...
 
Step 0: Broiler
Step 1: Benzomatic - https://amzn.com/B0019CQL60
Step 2: Searzall for Benzomatic - https://amzn.com/B00L2P0KNO
 
That's the map to promised land.
Click to expand...
That looks like a cool setup.  BTW, I've never used my oven and don't intend to.
 
Normally, the smoke out is bearable, but I tried something different tonight and it was a disaster.
 
Normally, I fry butter on high.  Because it burns up quickly, I just keep adding butter as the fish is cooking.  Tonight, I used Ghee (clarified butter) instead.  I only had to add it once, but the smoke was so bad that my smoke detector which was hidden in a closed drawer, went off.  I had to open the window for a few hours to clear out the apartment.
 
I should probably experiment with frying on medium or low instead of full blast.
 
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