Sous Vide Anova is on it's way, what first?

First time to sous vide, gonna use the ziplock bag method, and I have a pregnant wife at home so I need to make sure food is cooked well enough to not risk anything.

Any ideas?

Poach some eggs. That's always an amazing and quick first experiment. Cheap cuts of meat like country style beef rib come out butter tender and perfectly cooked to your chosen doneness. I sear them in butter with fresh thyme, then slice them into "sashimi slices". There are never leftovers. Guests go nuts over it.

Mmmm, the beef rib sounds good.

Medium-rare pasteurized steak was appreciated very much, as well as pasteurized eggs

riba said:

as well as pasteurized eggs

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Coming from a recently pregnant wife, the important point you want to emphasize here is pasteurized. Even though they appear somewhat runny still, the eggs are pasteurized, thus safe for her to eat (if done properly).

Eggs over asparagus or similar is sounding really tempting.

The 62.5C egg is a beauty to behold. The yolk takes on a texture that is just glorious.


To help you with protecting your wife in her "delicate state", the FDA has a table that gives time vs. temp for achieving pasteurization. It's VERY handy and gives you peace of mind when dealing with the "counter-intuitive aspects" of sous vide cooking.

erickso1 said:

Coming from a recently pregnant wife, the important point you want to emphasize here is pasteurized. Even though they appear somewhat runny still, the eggs are pasteurized, thus safe for her to eat (if done properly).

Click to expand...

Yes indeed. I followed
http://www.douglasbaldwin.com/sous-vide.html#Pasteurized_in_Shell_Egg and then took the caucious side (longer and 1C higher)

I did the egg first (and second; did it again at another degree higher). After that I tackled a tilapia fillet I bagged with some olive oil, herbs and lemon slices. It was easy and was reportedly very good.

I did some carnitas last week that didn't last long!!

I am doing some hard-boiled eggs right now with my sainsaire. It has been a half year since I got it, and I am just now finding time to tinker with some of my toys. Right now I am trying out things with my iSi whip and Sansaire.

Btw, when some of you suggest an egg at a certain temp, how long are you cooking it. I have been looking at the doug baldwin info and the egg yolk texture changes over time. So a 62.5 degree egg is different at 45 minutes and 2 hours.

With that said, what are some favorite temp/timing combos for hard boiled eggs? Modernist cooking likes 71 degrees, Serious Eats likes 73.9. Any experienced hard-boiled egg makers out there?

k.

For 62.5 eggs, I cook for an hour.

Btw, I have been looking into this egg timer from Chef Steps. Baldwin developed it for them.

Egg timer.

k.

Btw, I found the 71 degrees for an hour to have just a bit too soft of egg whites, though they tasted amazingly creamy. Using the ChefSteps timer, I did four of the eggs at 85 degrees for 14m 28s. They were perfect. This will be my new hard boiled egg method.

k.