Sous Vide eye opening experience

I have been curious about sous vide cooking for a number of years and have been patiently watching prices fall each year. I finally dropped some money on a new product (pre-ordered Chef Steps 'Joule'). It arrived this morning in time for me to take to work. I had a little time to play with it and cooked a #1 rib eye steak then cooked two #1.5 chicken breasts. Rib eye 1hr@131F, chicken 2hrs@140F both with salt/pepper, knob of butter and a fresh rosemary sprig. High temp sear and red wine pan sauce with the rib eye. Chicken 5mm slices straight out of the SV bath.

I had high hopes going into this after reading all of the superlatives but I truly thought everyone was being hyperbolic. I was wrong. Simply wrong.

Both the steak and the chicken breast were ridiculously good... actually the best steak and chicken breast I have had. I can't hardly wait to try ________.

BTW- I am a chef at a retirement community and cook for 80-100 people 5 days a week from scratch.

I full heartedly recommend getting into SV cooking!

Cheers,
rj

Thanks for the write-up.
Just curious; are you planning on leaving this at work or bringing it home to include it as part of your regular home meals?

InspiringK said:

Thanks for the write-up.
Just curious; are you planning on leaving this at work or bringing it home to include it as part of your regular home meals?

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I am sure I will figure out a few times here and there to use it for work since it should be able to handle fairly large volumes. Most likely custards, Hollandaise and a few other things but probably not much meat unless it is large chunks since I don't have time to bag 60-80 pieces of chicken for a single meal.

I typically cook on my free time at work because a commercial kitchen sure beats my undersized kitchen at home. If I want to try something out I run to the store and pick up supplies and work on it during my off time at work. I kind of rue having to cook at home and usually keep it simple.

tl;dr - probably keep at work most of the time to cook for home

What are you using for a water bath container? How large a volume do they claim it can keep at constant temperature? Thanks!

Skew, get larger bags and put multiple pieces in each bag. I recommend wrapping each piece in shrink wrap prior to sealing. Be sure to poke holes in each piece before sealing. Have fun

I brought SV into a restaurant where the Chef had heard about it and had liked what he heard but no one had used. I had the most success using it with xthick pork chops and osso buco. Because of the unpredictable demand I portioned the bags with individual servings, cooked them off and refrigerated them. When ordered the grill guy would drop them in the pasta water for a couple minutes to reheat (did I say that out loud?) then open them up and sear them. Had a hard time at first convincing cooks to sear, not cook, the product on the grill. Was starting to do salmon SV when restaurant closed down. Doneness became right on, no send backs.

Within a retirement community you probably have a more predictable demand and can put several servings in a bag as well as set up a bath just for reheating. It's a common misconception that SV will save time. It will not. But it will allow you to better manage time. Cook the steaks off at 130F for an hour/inch. Bump it up to 140/145F for the chicken and pork. Poach a bunch of eggs around 160F. Bump again to 185F for hard or root veg. (Cauliflower is the best!)

I had disappointing results trying to do custard and other egg based dishes/sauces for a commercial application. The much lauded SV creme brulee never worked, sauces can be made from scratch in the time it takes to reheat them. No joy there for me. YMMV

Will caution that to make it work you'll need at least a decent sealer. After using my Anova I was able to get restaurant to buy one and a cambro for the bath. I pitched the $600 chamber sealer to a deaf audience, the $200 strip sealer was also a no go. Ended up with a $100 Food Saver that did the job but....Saying it sucked might lead to confusion. You don't want to be into immersion sealing for commercial quantities.

Thanks for sharing… something about cooking in a plastic bag doesn't appeal to me, but perhaps it's time set traditionalism aside.

milkbaby said:

What are you using for a water bath container? How large a volume do they claim it can keep at constant temperature? Thanks!

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Just a normal gallon cambro. I only did a single rib eye steak and then two large chicken breasts so far. The Joule is 1100 watts and is claimed to work up to 5 gallons using a lid/clear wrap or up to 10g in a closed cooler. It should be able to handle pretty high volume cooking.

Thanks MB and Dave. I have no desire to cook 80ish chicken breast at work. I don't have the time in my schedule for it especially without a chamber vac. I would consider doing larger cuts: pork shoulder, chuck roast, brisket and maybe 15-20 teres majors at a time. Eggs benedict should work well for a service

Tanner-

I agree, it is a strange thing, cooking in plastic bags. With the prices for SV circs well under $200 I figured it was time for me to try one out. I was very skeptical but I am gobsmacked at just how good the results are. All 5-10 people who tried the rib eye and chicken agreed, best steak and chicken breast they had tasted (these are kitchen people- cooks, preps...).

Cheers,
rj

skewed.. it was a eye opener for me as well. I've been putting it through the paces lately, home cook, proteins like chicken and turkey are ridiculously good and make for great sammy slicing! The best asparagus I ever cooked, a little olive oil and lemon zest.
I got a retired chef friend 30+years in and never used them so he'll be coming over to see what the fuss is about, can't wait for the reaction!
Anyway cheers and glad you like it!