Sous Vide What not to sous vide?

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They call them 6 minute eggs for a reason.

Yeah but when I drop a dozen in boiling water all at once, it drops the water temp so 6 mins might not get me to a 146F yolk (and the white gets much harder than the 3 min cook). We’ve tried 145 and 147 and settled on 146F as perfect for our tastes.

I could try it, but then if I end up with yolks too runny the wife will yell at me and all week I’ll be eating a dozen too-runny soft boiled eggs that I had to scramble instead. I could get there with trial and error but the sous vide is sitting right there whispering, “why bother?”
 
Before I had sous vide, I had a hot tub! Tossed this ribeye in, finished at 3 minutes per side, perfect!
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A steaks tale in sous vide ...

Strip loin after 30hr dry brine, my rub.

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After 90 min sous vide cook in an Anova Precision Oven @124F to 122F, 100% steam, and a 3 minute sear in a very hot carbon pan.

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On the plate ... half saved for tomorrow ...

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Next day ... Remaining half of the steak ... sous vide reheat 17 minutes at 140F to 128F, 100% steam.

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Sliced ....


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On the plate ....

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Never used immersion sous vide.

Thoughts ... the Anova Precision Oven Sous Vide steak cook provided excellent results (especially tender) with a following day reheat which closely matched the quality of the original cook. A much more convenient cook than using my outdoor grill mid winter. I still prefer a live fire grill of steak over charcoal but I couldn’t guarantee that a live fire grill could match the tenderness of the sous vide cook In the oven.
 
All my experience with sous vide were negative. Not even one single thing was tasting like cooked with conventional\proper methods. Waste of time!
 
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.


This guy's eggs are so white, it's freaking me out. Never seen that in my life :eek:

(I understand it has to do with the fact that most of the eggs in the US come from “white leghorn”) but still :rolleyes:
 
Not so much slamming or avoiding sous vide, but a good temperature probe and oven will give superior results when doing steak. Moisture retention is important but it does not concentrate the flavour as much compared to the oven and you will never get as good a crust with a wet steak compared to one with a dry bark.
 
I love low temp lightly cured fish sous vide, but high temp fish just loses so much body compared to traditional methods - I think that's something that's rarely worth it to me.

I love sous vide eggs.

For steaks, it definitely depends on the cut. Flat iron, flank steak, skirt steak, round steaks, and steaks from very lean animals like most game meats have a higher ceiling in sous vide for sure. For higher end steak cuts like ribeyes, tenderloin, porterhouse, NY, all taste better through traditional methods, save for one - cryo frying. Sous vide followed by liquid nitrogen followed by deep frying produces a steak with a divine crust.
 
Definitely agree that tougher cuts of meat can be awesome sous vide. The best part about this is that opposed to roasting (lesser so with braising) the seasoning you put in the bag will permeate throughout the whole piece of meat over the long cook time. Super juicy, tender and tasty.
+1 for lightly cured, low temp sous vide fish. I've had lightly cured trout that was sous vide with olive oil and it was one of the best pieces of fish I've ever had. If you take it to the right temperature, and don't keep it in for too long you can get edge to edge medium rare and served cold/warm in a dish it can be pretty amazing. Any fish at the wrong temperature will just flake apart though, and I'm sure there are some fish very much not suited for this so definitely take this with a grain of salt.
Cryo fried steak sounds like some wizard ****, might have to try it sometime. o_O
 
ah, ok. So no sous vide short ribs?

I cold smoke my ribs for 2-3 hours on the KJ then sous vide for 18 hours at 168F with some butter. Finish in the oven, broil for the final minute after saucing for stickiness. This is how we prepare them at the restaurant. I have yet to find a better method, and can't imagine better results. Definitely worth trying!
 
Still loving my precision oven. Picked up a small sirloin tip roast. Gave it a 30hr dry brine with salt and spices followed by a 12hr sous vide cook. Settings were cooking temperature 132F, target temperature 132F, steam 100%. The roast hit its target temperature in about 5 hours. The rest of the time was for tenderness. Note the use of my trusty TF for slicing duties. Here’s few pics ...

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Nice med rare cook, nice and tender and juicy, great crust.
 
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Every experience has been negative aside from eggs. Meats are flavorless. These are good for people that don't know how to cook meat properly...
 
Yeah, considering plenty of 3-Star Michelin restaurants use sous vide prodigiously, if your meats are turning out flavorless it's probably because you're underseasoning them :p
 
Every experience has been negative aside from eggs. Meats are flavorless. These are good for people that don't know how to cook meat properly...
You can also temper chocolate much easier using sous vide, plenty of other applications. In regards to the meat, sous vide allows whatever seasonings you use to fully penetrate your protein which can make very delicious meats. Would recommend you season in the bag next time then grill/sear afterwords.
 
Every experience has been negative aside from eggs. Meats are flavorless. These are good for people that don't know how to cook meat properly...
I do boneless pork loin at 140 degrees all the time. Use some Montreal steak seasoning, sear in hot pan with butter, use bag juices for gravy. Always comes out moist and tasty.
 
Every experience has been negative aside from eggs. Meats are flavorless. These are good for people that don't know how to cook meat properly...

For me also the egg experience was bad. Nothing compared to classic cooking in water.
I would not call meat flavourless, but surely tasting like boiled meat.
For me, what not to sous vide, is everything. It's pointless compared to classical methods and useful only for people that do not know how to cook.

🤪
 
For me, what not to sous vide, is everything. It's pointless compared to classical methods and useful only for people that do not know how to cook.
In my experience, blanket statements such as this are rarely (if ever) correct.

There are plenty of things sous vide is useful for.
 
… you can find the clip under Culinary Institute of America.

Somebody should tell these guys that they are “people who do not know how to cook”’. I guess they might as well shut down their schools and the graduates should send their diploma’s back and get jobs as Uber drivers.

The older I get the more I realize how little I know about most everything.
 

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