ah, ok. So no sous vide short ribs?
Sous Vide What not to sous vide?
- Thread starter Ruso
- Start date
Help Support Kitchen Knife Forums:
I sous-vided my beef tenderloin prior to wrapping as a wellington and it was fantastic.
Pork tenderloin at 133F is an excellent experience.
Guess I'm getting culled....
Was it that octopus teacher movie - because octopus sous vide is quite yummy - whether they worked in the educational field or not from my experience. Pressure cooker is better though ... can't hear the screams ...
https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/tender-silky-sous-vide-octopus
My apologies to the OP ...
Have to agree with WildBoar here No Chop ... short ribs SV are really kinda my go to ... MomoF recipe or not ... I agree with the steaks things not being best with SV but short ribs all bright and red are kinda nice ... just sayin ... will keep an eye out the window for the culling brigade ...
Jovidah
I'll make you a sponsor offer you can't refuse...
I don't see the problem with doing steak? Most of the time I'm too lazy to bring out the stuff to do it that way, but whenever I did I can't say it was really any worse for it.
Just do a quick pre-sear, then SV for like an hour, then a quick post-sear.
Just do a quick pre-sear, then SV for like an hour, then a quick post-sear.
Understand Jovidah - just have moved away from doing that for myself ... cook thicker cuts/bone-in with reverse sear has become my preferred method ... I should have caveated that I don't see anything wrong with sous vide steaks just have a diff prefered method ...
;-)
Nothing necessarily wrong with it. But when you factor in prep + sous vide cook time + finishing cook = probably would have steak rested and ready to eat with conventional method.
It's a good method for not messing up the temperature or you're having some larger gathering.
Sous vide -> work on other stuff -> just before serving sear off steaks and rest -> plate other stuff -> slice steaks and plate.
Jovidah
I'll make you a sponsor offer you can't refuse...
Oh I agree.. on smaller steaks there's.. not much of a gain except making it foolproof. It's an inherently slow method. Same reason I mostly don't bother much with it for smaller pieces either. But I saw some sentiments that it would somehow be worse, which is just not something I have experienced.
SeattleB
Well-Known Member
Unless it is the food poisoning experience. Ask me how I know. And it was at a restaurant very well-known for meat.
I don't think that I would ever eat medium rare pork at a restaurant. I've done it at home where I know that the pork has been held at temp for long enough.
SeattleB
Well-Known Member
They weren't advertising medium rare. It didn't look medium rare.
I think in any process (whether cooking or building, say, cars) there is a margin for error. If they play in the margin there is a probability that the dice will roll the wrong way.
I think in any process (whether cooking or building, say, cars) there is a margin for error. If they play in the margin there is a probability that the dice will roll the wrong way.
Why do you say this?
NO ChoP!
Old Head
It's already very tender. Sous vide adds nothing to texture, yet pulls out the juices, so it almost tastes like mush to me.
I just dont see the purpose.
I just dont see the purpose.
- Joined
- Mar 3, 2020
- Messages
- 874
- Reaction score
- 1,033
Willing to be culled on this one. Yes, there are better ways. But, as a home cook, especially when entertaining, I think the flexibility sous vide offers makes it very useful. I think it does well on lean proteins like pork loin. I hate it for fish and (non-root) vegetables.
I'll add pasteurizing eggs to the list of benefits.
I'll add pasteurizing eggs to the list of benefits.
Egg whites fully set at a higher temp than the yolk, so if you're cooking to achieve a unique yolk texture (which is the main reason to cook eggs SV -- SV yolks are unachievable with any other cooking method) the whites will be soft, watery, and super-delicate. These yolks are acceptable for a benedict, where they will be hidden under a sauce, or as a garnish to soup. But they're not great.
Last edited:
What temperature is that? What do you do with the yolks after; just eat em?
There's a whole range of textures in the yolk from 60C to roughly 68C. A degree (or even half a degree) can make a big difference. I like eggs for my ramen to have a somewhat runny yolk, so I shoot for like 62.5C. But I think my favorite texture is in the high 63s to low 64s, just set enough so that it will barely, slowly flow when you break the membrane. Here's a video which shows the range of yolk textures achievable SV. You can also get a sense of how strange the whites are.
These are cooked for one hour at the time indicated; they'll continue to thicken if you hold them for longer at temps above 60C, so if you want to make them ahead, drop the bath temp down to like 56C after they're done cooking and you can hot hold them without the eggs changing texture.
The yolks make a great garnish, but you can also build a dish around them. Here's a "Bacon, Egg, and Cheese" dish I did with deep fried, smoked SV pork belly stuffed with cheese and topped with a 64C yolk:
Here's a 63 yolk as a garnish on some asparagus dressed with lemon juice. When you pop the yolk, it oozes slowly and makes a sauce on the plate.
And here's a dish built around 65C yolks at 3* Jean Georges in NYC. Skip to 4:15 to see the dish being prepped.
These are cooked for one hour at the time indicated; they'll continue to thicken if you hold them for longer at temps above 60C, so if you want to make them ahead, drop the bath temp down to like 56C after they're done cooking and you can hot hold them without the eggs changing texture.
The yolks make a great garnish, but you can also build a dish around them. Here's a "Bacon, Egg, and Cheese" dish I did with deep fried, smoked SV pork belly stuffed with cheese and topped with a 64C yolk:
Here's a 63 yolk as a garnish on some asparagus dressed with lemon juice. When you pop the yolk, it oozes slowly and makes a sauce on the plate.
And here's a dish built around 65C yolks at 3* Jean Georges in NYC. Skip to 4:15 to see the dish being prepped.
Last edited:
NO ChoP!
Old Head
Chicken breast, beef and pork tenderloin sous vide for maybe an hour or less, sure. Anything longer and the texture is just way off for me. I get it for a quick pick-ups on the line- a time saver, but I really am adamant it adds nothing for flavor or texture.
Jovidah
I'll make you a sponsor offer you can't refuse...
I think that's a thing with a lot of SV preparations, especially when it comes to meat. It doesn't necessarily get a better result, it just makes it easier to get that result. It's a bit more foolproof, but nothing you couldn't achieve with a half-decent pan, oven, and the knowledge how to use it.
Depends on the meat. Most tender cuts don't benefit, but tough cuts can benefit tremendously in ways that cannot be achieved with other cooking methods. Uniform edge-to-edge doneness is the main thing that SV offers for tender cuts that is difficult to get with other methods, but the alleged benefits of that are overblown. I actually prefer a bit of "overcooked" meat around the edges because it provides textural contrast. Uniformily-cooked meat isn't always delicious or desirable. But it is easy, which is a point in its favor if you're not very good at cooking meat.
Jovidah
I'll make you a sponsor offer you can't refuse...
Can't you just get the same effect in a normal oven though? Just wrap it in foil... as long as it goes low enough. The temperature might go off by maybe 1 or 2 degrees, but are you really going to notice on something that's in there for a day or two?
The fact that both my ovens go down all the way to 50 celcius if needed is really the main reason I just... can't be bothered pulling out my SV all that much.
I do like the 'edge to edge uniformity of doneness' that SV provides, but I find that if your oven is low enough you can get a result that's pretty much the same.
For me SV - when it comes to meat - is mostly easier for stuff that's very long, or when you're busy doing other stuff and don't have the time or the desire to watch something. It's a bit easier to time than low and slow ovens.
The fact that both my ovens go down all the way to 50 celcius if needed is really the main reason I just... can't be bothered pulling out my SV all that much.
I do like the 'edge to edge uniformity of doneness' that SV provides, but I find that if your oven is low enough you can get a result that's pretty much the same.
For me SV - when it comes to meat - is mostly easier for stuff that's very long, or when you're busy doing other stuff and don't have the time or the desire to watch something. It's a bit easier to time than low and slow ovens.
- Joined
- Mar 3, 2020
- Messages
- 874
- Reaction score
- 1,033
That convenience is really the benefit, as far as I'm concerned. Reverse sear will provide better results, but it needs to be watched more closely. For the really long stuff, I tend to prefer a pressure cooker. The other benefit of SV is being able to cook from frozen. I would always prefer fresh, but there are times when it's nice to have a vacuum-sealed, seasoned pork chop or three ready to throw in the water bath -- when I get home from traveling or a variety of other scenarios.
I've had really good luck with tender cuts of meat, but I agree it has more to do with convenience than tenderness of the cooked meat. And overcooking if using SV produces a less disastrous outcome; I'd rather have overcooked pork tenderloin that's a bit mushy than one that's dried out from overcooking in the over or skillet. I don't really have any problems with loss of juices from SV cooking, and I'd say (judging by the finished product) that there is less loss than with most other means of cooking these cuts.
If I had to name one food I think is a waste of time to cook SV, I'd nominate buffalo chicken wings. I tried a couple different SV recipes for wings. The wings had to cook forever in the water bath and they still had to be fried (to crisp the skin), so you end with wings that take a long time to cook and you still have to deal with a fryer. I didn't really find the SV wings to taste any better or to have a superior texture; some folks talk of cooking SV wings a really long time, to the point where you almost confit the wings, but I like a bit of tug on my wings (just like on ribs). I don't want wings with everything falling off the bone. Cooking wings SV seemed like a good example of cooking SV for the sake of cooking SV.
If I had to name one food I think is a waste of time to cook SV, I'd nominate buffalo chicken wings. I tried a couple different SV recipes for wings. The wings had to cook forever in the water bath and they still had to be fried (to crisp the skin), so you end with wings that take a long time to cook and you still have to deal with a fryer. I didn't really find the SV wings to taste any better or to have a superior texture; some folks talk of cooking SV wings a really long time, to the point where you almost confit the wings, but I like a bit of tug on my wings (just like on ribs). I don't want wings with everything falling off the bone. Cooking wings SV seemed like a good example of cooking SV for the sake of cooking SV.
For soft-boiled eggs, I boil (low boil / fast simmer) the eggs for 3 mins to set the whites, briefly cool, then finish them up in the sous vide bath at 146F for 45 mins to set the yolks. It’s a lot of work for a perfect soft-boiled egg and I should probably just figure out how long to leave them in the simmering water to get the same effect, but they do come out absolutely perfect every time this way. I do a dozen at a time to make it worthwhile and have a week’s worth of eggs.
NO ChoP!
Old Head
They call them 6 minute eggs for a reason.
for timing sex?
