Sous Vide

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jaybett

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I've been getting more and more interested in Sous Vide, I'm at the point were I am considering a purchase. It will be for home use. I've been looking at the Sous Vide Supreme. Reviews have been positive. The other one is Sous Vide Magic. I like the idea of a separate digital controller.

I'm wondering if anybody has experiences with these units or should I be looking at something else. The Polytechnic is on the rich side, but if there were a compelling reason why it is superior to the other two units, I'd consider it.

Jay
 
You might be able to find a used Polyscience on a used lab equipment website, only downside is you don't know what they were circulating with it and it would require some intense cleaning. The real upside to the unit is precise temp control (within 1/2 degree), low/high temp cutoff and 2 speed pump; depends how technical you want to get. There was also a site where someone diy from different parts if your handy. Here's the link:

http://seattlefoodgeek.com/2010/02/diy-sous-vide-heating-immersion-circulator-for-about-75/
 
Jay, another consideration might be how much you want to process at one time. I built mine at the beginning of the sous vide craze, and made it pretty big. I have a used Lauda circulator and it hasn't given me one bit of trouble, nor have I ever overloaded it where the unit couldn't maintain the desired temp. I've done some pretty big batches like 20# of chicken breasts all individually bagged. Being able to do such large batches lets me buy differently. For example, I can head over to the Bell and Evans processing plant and buy a case of chicken wholesale getting top notch chicken for prices well below the supermarket. I package them in appropriate sizes for our family, process them in the sous vide, and freeze in the same pouch as they finish. I've not been able to tell a difference between the fresh and frozen breasts. The shelf life is very good too if you buy the right bags.

I've also done 8 bottom rounds at a time. Same thing; I freeze them once done and have them ready to slice down for cold roast beef sandwiches, or hot with gravy :)



Bottom Round Roast

Chicken I cooked sous vide and then BBQ'd
 
I have a DIY circulator and the Sous Vide Supreme and they both work just fine for regular home use. I'm not sure how the SVS maintains temperature, but it is spot on according to my Thermapen. If I had the finances and stopped buying knives and/or was applying it to my commercial environment, a larger scale circulator is definitely the way to go! You can do more at once and can convert any reasonable vessel into a makeshift water bath.





 
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FryBoy said:
Hasn't the sous vide craze pretty much run its course? I don't see much future for it myself.
Click to expand...

Uhhh, probably no more than cooking with cast iron has gone away. It's a method that produces some unique and pretty damn good results that can't be duplicated with other methods. You can roast a chicken and put BBQ sauce on it, but it's not a BBQ'd chicken.
 
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FryBoy said:
Hasn't the sous vide craze pretty much run its course? I don't see much future for it myself.
Click to expand...

Not in my kitchen it hasn't. Really it's just another medium. Fry, saute, boil, steam, grill, sous vide. Just another way to do it. And really there are just some applications I use it for that simply can not be replaced.
 
Sous vide has been around for more than 35 years. The industry was slow to pick it up because or sanitation issues and cost of equipment.
 
Actually, longer than that. It was used in WWII by the French to feed the troops. Then it was used as a method of preservation, but sous vide none the less
 
Well done steak = Tough (but I can't eat the red stuff)

Sous Vide well done steak = Butter

It won me on this alone.
 
LOL, I remember that night Dave :)

PS. Check your mail
 
warren's sous vide is a mouthful of deliciousness....ryan
 
FryBoy said:
Hasn't the sous vide craze pretty much run its course? I don't see much future for it myself.
Click to expand...

interesting you say this. in this article, the former CTO of Microsoft turned mad kitchen scientist says that one of this motivation to start investing in culinary research is that when he assumed that everybody knew what sous vide was and went out to get some literature, he found out that was really no formalized knowledge on it, except for a couple of books (which i would guess are keller and adria).
 
dreamsignals said:
interesting you say this. in this article, the former CTO of Microsoft turned mad kitchen scientist says that one of this motivation to start investing in culinary research is that when he assumed that everybody knew what sous vide was and went out to get some literature, he found out that was really no formalized knowledge on it, except for a couple of books (which i would guess are keller and adria).
Click to expand...

His book is more geared towards modernist cuisine and really gets into the how's and why's of the techniques. Sous vide has been written about by several different people... I believe one of the home units includes Thomas Keller's book regarding the use of such techniques along with several of his recipes. While virtually every restaurant that practices modernist cuisine employs the use of sous vide as cooking method, every restaurant that uses sous vide does not practice modernist cuisine. The two do not necessarily go hand in hand.
 
I think that sous vide is gaining respect from the top(fine dining and eventually to home cooks), but I am rooting for the rise of the microwave in pro kitchens. Wanna talk about different? It makes food cook ITSELF. Microwaves, properly used, are not to be ashamed of. A stove can be used to boil flaccid frozen veggies too, you know.
 
I just got into it last month and I'm having a hoot.
Been eating out of that water bath 5 days a week for the past 3 weeks now.
Have I discovered some amazing things? Yes
Could I have done some dishes better with a different method? Yes
Have I had an absolute kick in the pants the whole time? Absolutely!
 
Dave Martell said:
Well done steak = Tough (but I can't eat the red stuff)

Sous Vide well done steak = Butter

It won me on this alone.
Click to expand...

I've been toying with the idea of building a sous vide bath, and I think you just sold me on it. My wife prefers her steak more done than many of us, and I always cringe a little bit when I have to make a nice piece of steak medium well and tough.

I've got about half of what I need to build one laying around. All I really need is a switch, some heating elements, and a small circulation pump and I'm good to go.

-d
 
SpikeC said:
Seen this?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/11/04/slow-cooker-sous-vide-hack-at-home_n_778929.html
Click to expand...

Ok, I have everything for this except some wiring to make a plug for the crock pot and a type J thermocouple. I do have several type K probes laying around though that should work until I can get a J in...and I'm home from work today taking care of my wife who has a nasty cold....hrmmmm.....

So, will there be a separate thread for sous vide recipes or should they land here? I've got some short ribs in the freezer that are begging for this technique, but I don't know if I'll be able to wait 2 or 3 days to eat them...

-d
 
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