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Sous Vide and Fiery Foods

I figured that I would just start a sous vide thread since I've been using the immersion circulator like crazy. It's no wonder that top chefs throughout the world are using this technique. The textures and flavors are that come out are amazing. Precision temperature cooking makes for predicable and repeatable results. It's great for infusing spices and herbs into foods as they're vacuum sealed inside.
 
If you're interested in trying it and don't want to buy any expensive equipment, all you need is a thermometer, a spare cooler and a ziplock freezer bag. This method works great for fish or tender cuts of beef. For fish heat the water to 125-130 degrees F and pour into the cooler. Place your fish in a ziplock bag and using the water immersion technique leave the top of the bag open while you submerge the fish so that the water pressure forces the air out of the bag. Once the air is out and you're nearing the top of the bag, close it up and clip it or tape it down to the side of the cooler and close the lid. For beef try water at 129 F (rare), 136 F(med rare), 140-150 F (medium to well). Sear in a very hot pan, or finish under a very hot broiler or grill.
 
Here's a few things I've done with it and I welcome anyone else's experiences, opinions, or ideas. 
 
Jamaican Jerk Turkey Breast with 'Rice and Peas' and Fried Plantains
 
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Miso Tilefish with Baby Bok Choy and Shiitake Mushrooms
 
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Ribeye with the Perfect Egg Yolk
vc0OVwi.jpg

 
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found this great website
 
http://www.chefsteps.com/activities/a-complete-guide-to-sous-vide-packaging

 
I saw put a butter knife in the bag to weigh it down. But regarding the sear, i thought you sear first then sous vide?
 
 
And grant, you best bet i'm going to make custards in mason jars, maybe pate as well. On that website was a dank recipe for mushroom burgers formed by making a log in saran wrap then sliced and seared. looked great


very familiar w/ those cats ;)

did you see my taco/sushi-roll from Pex's contest? =)

check out, also:

stefan's gourmet blog
sous vide guys
modernistcuisinemadeeasy
eGullet
modernist cuisine

and the user forums for:

sous vide supreme
nomiku
sansaire
anova
polyscience
vacmaster

the best thing about sous vide is the recipe integrity ...
the time's and temp's are fairly consistent from person to person!

I read that ziplocks don't work well in 185F but you need that for the roots and vegetables like squash. Your experience?


ziploc didn't have a vac bag yet when i last did squash, but i'm not very concerned re the toxicity of any food safe plastics in the sous vide ...

i have posted three mp3's of a toxicologist on this subject in my grilling thread ... in fact, i'm not sure if you have participated there, but i stuff a lot of non-bbq/non-spicy cooks in my bbq thread, so you should poke around in there ...

there's a bunch of sous vide cooks (curry) in the pages in the 500`s of the drunken chef thread too, i think ...
 
it was more of the bag melting i think. and yea i saw the sushi thing. was that from them?


no, but you were talkin' about a sliced meat roll ;)
 
J. Kenji López-Alt is the Managing Culinary Director of Serious Eats, author of the James Beard Award-nominated column The Food Lab
 
TEMPERATURE AND TIMING FOR CHICKEN THIGH
 
Texture: Firm, very juicy, slightly tough
Temperature: 150°F (66°C)        
Timing Range: 1 to 4 hours
 
Texture: Tender and very juicy
Temperature: 165°F (74°C)        
Timing Range: 1 to 4 hours
 
Texture: Fall-off-the-bone tender
Temperature: 165°F (74°C)        
Timing Range: 4 to 8 hours

Still dunno.  165/74? Seems really high to me.
Only gonna find out by cooking it myself and judging how i like texture, flavour, juices etc
 
Deathtosnails said:
 
J. Kenji López-Alt is the Managing Culinary Director of Serious Eats, author of the James Beard Award-nominated column The Food Lab
 
TEMPERATURE AND TIMING FOR CHICKEN THIGH
 
Texture: Firm, very juicy, slightly tough
Temperature: 150°F (66°C)        
Timing Range: 1 to 4 hours
 
Texture: Tender and very juicy
Temperature: 165°F (74°C)        
Timing Range: 1 to 4 hours
 
Texture: Fall-off-the-bone tender
Temperature: 165°F (74°C)        
Timing Range: 4 to 8 hours

Still dunno.  165/74? Seems really high to me.
Only gonna find out by cooking it myself and judging how i like texture, flavour, juices etc
 
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was the chicken brined? that makes a difference when you fry it, but dunno about sous vide
 
Deathtosnails said:
 
Still dunno.  165/74? Seems really high to me.
Click to expand...
 
Dark meat is pretty resilient and a 165F for 90-120mins sounds like a good time ...
 
Kenji is usually pretty spot-on ... he's really down-to-earth and accessible via Twitter ...
 
I have the older model of the Anova, and I think I prefer this over the newer one, as i don't need blutooth connectivity and mine has a bit more power.
 
I use a foodsaver vacuum sealer quite often and am glad I spent the ~$80 on it.  I've had great results with steak, 72 hour beef short ribs, eggs and especially love thick pork chops.  GrantMichaels will probably agree -- the texture straight from the bath leaves something to be desired so I don't think the setup is really complete without a torch of some kind.  I love my searzall. 
 
I'm glad more of us are picking these immersion circulators up.  Though there are a handful of websites with information and recipes, I really like reading first hand accounts on forums like this.  I'll try to be a good resource when I feel like I find success.  Soon I really want to do pate and other weird meats/fats in jars.  I have a friend who is very successful at a Chicago restaurant and I hope to consult with him on some of this soon. 
 
I'll admit that I've been slacking on the anova use as I've been on a fermentation kick these days.  I may just find some free time tomorrow to fire up the water bath up.
 
Cheers!
Matt
 
- oh, and you can find some of my food photos either in old threads of in the website I have linked in my profile.  No need for me to double post here.
 
Honestly, I usually do chicken thighs in the oven because they can handle high heat without getting dried out. They have much higher fat content than the breast meat. I love stuffing a little goat cheese and hot pepper under the skin of thighs and roasting them. Sous vide really shines on the white meat since it's so easy to overcook them.  

Nice photos Matt! How did the octopus come out? I think that would be a really great dish to cook sous vide. I also love that you had some Russian River Pliny in there! 
 
Thanks for checking the site, TRPV1.  BigB, the website is just my last name -- http://bierzychudek.com
 
Click on Food and Drink to see some stuff done sous vide. 
 
I honestly said to myself the first time I cooked a steak in my Anova -- and my first cook with it -- "This is the best steak I've ever had."
 
zoo-1-19.jpg

 
 
And this was the second attempt.
steak-1.jpg

 
 
I keep a log with times and  temperatures I've used for cooks and add comments so I can track my preferences.  I usually do use the chefsteps link for basic info.  I haven't yet found a great book on this. 
 
http://www.chefsteps.com/activities/sous-vide-time-and-temperature-guide
 
As Deathtosnails mentioned, J. Kenji López-Alt is a big proponent of sous vide and someone I really trust and respect.  I look forward to the release of his book.
 
Kenji's book can be pre-ordered, which means it'll just appear on my Kindle when it's available ... hooray! I'd never seen that Amazon feature before ...
 
Kenji's doing a dozen ribs today:
https://instagram.com/p/5aWj9nIyAF/
 
He's doing 55-57C, 12/24/36 hour cook ... should be interesting.
 
PS - I bought a couple of kraut source lids after seeing your post the other day ;)
 
tctenten said:
I have them...pretty easy to use for a fermenting newbie that I am.
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Maybe we can share some approaches/recipes for using these.  So far I've only tasted some pickled cucumbers and they were soft and not very tasty. They definitely had fermented but I didn't really enjoy their overall flavor and definitely not the texture.  
 
I'm curious to try my other ferments soon, and I'll be using the sous vide device for a bunch of chicken thighs tonight.
 
bierz said:
Maybe we can share some approaches/recipes for using these.  So far I've only tasted some pickled cucumbers and they were soft and not very tasty. They definitely had fermented but I didn't really enjoy their overall flavor and definitely not the texture.  
 
I'm curious to try my other ferments soon, and I'll be using the sous vide device for a bunch of chicken thighs tonight.
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Currently have some cukes fermenting, I will be trying them this weekend. Will let you know how they are.
 
I'm still waiting for my Anova.  The one they sent had a German plug on it.  I had to send it back and for them to get the tracking number before they'd send the replacement.  Two weeks from purchase and still no food science experiments.  But the original box was 5 lbs and the one they are sending me now is 6 lbs.  Wonder what else is in there :think:.  I've been tracking my unit from Stafford Texas to Houston, through to Memphis and now it's been two days in Chicago.  Next stop Alaska via Cali?  C'mon FedEx!
 
I used my anova for the first time yesterday. my friend brought over chuck mix and i used ground short ribs. Mine were far superior in taste and texture. Didn't get a picture because it wasn't really picture worthy but they turned out well. I tried to make an egg too but going to have to tinker with that one or just the process of peeling the shell off the egg. The way I usually make poached eggs is to make a well with some saran wrap, drop the egg, tie it up and let it sit in water that was boiling but turned off for 6 minutes. Maybe i'll do something similar. Also, the temperature is always in celsius? lol I don't mind, but  i thought that was funny
 
You can change from Celsius to Fahrenheit, but I don't know offhand how to do it  The website has a support section and I'd look there.
 
I cooked chicken thighs last night at 65.6 C for 90 minutes and followed up by a 2 minute sear in hot oil on each side.  They were unbelievable, but by the time the cook finished it was 11:30 and I didn't feel like taking pictures.  I bagged up 4 portions and tossed three in an ice bath and into the freezer.  One of my favorite aspects of this style of cooking is how well things can be reheated. 
 
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