Sous Vide - Please share your best recipe and tips! (2 Viewers)

[jja412]

In short, I just ordered an Anova Sous Vide circulator on Amazon...and it's all your fault PCF! All the great pictures of seemingly delicious food, I had to do it. Unfortunately, it won't be here for a week...but that gives me time to gather some recipes and tips, so I am not thoroughly disappointed in the results.

So please, tell me what I need to know to make some stunning food! Post a recipe if you can!

Also, a few questions: how large of a container do you use? I have a 12 quart rubbermaid coming, will that be big enough for steak, ribs, roast, prime rib? Or do you think I should jump up to a 22 qt model?

Any and all help will be appreciated.

 

[links_slayer]

@Josh is good at this.

 

[Mr Tree]

I just got an immersion circulator myself and am still figuring it out.

 

[T_Chan]

I've used mine to make some steaks, then sear it over high with butter, some pork chops, salmon, not a lot. I don't make use of it enough that's for sure.

I'd also be interested to hear what others have made with theirs.

I am a bit reluctant to try any recipes that require more than 6 hours of cook time.

 

[jja412]

Tagging those who have shown that they own one:
@pltrgyst @ttttubby @Leonard @Poker Zombie @NiceShot

Share with the less experienced!

 

[Poker Zombie]

I usually use a large pot when cooking for two. I don't remember the size (I'm at work right now) but its the size I use for pasta so it's probably 12 quarts.

When I made an 11 lb roast I used a plastic storage container. Basically, if it can hold up to the warm temps and it can submerge your food, it's good.

Biggest concern is getting the bags big enough to hold your food.

I don't use recipes though. Following a recipe is like saying "this is as good as this meal will ever get". The main things to remember is how hot and how long (both easily found with the Anova app).

 

[jja412]

Oh nice, there is an app. That helps.

I've got a vacuum sealer with some pretty large bag sizes...but not sure I could do a pork butt.

@Max D

 

[jja412]

I usually use a large pot when cooking for two. I don't remember the size (I'm at work right now) but its the size I use for pasta so it's probably 12 quarts.

When I made an 11 lb roast I used a plastic storage container. Basically, if it can hold up to the warm temps and it can submerge your food, it's good.

Biggest concern is getting the bags big enough to hold your food.

I don't use recipes though. Following a recipe is like saying "this is as good as this meal will ever get". The main things to remember is how hot and how long (both easily found with the Anova app).

With the storage container, did you have to make some sort of insulation barrier to keep heat?

 

[Poker Zombie]

With the storage container, did you have to make some sort of insulation barrier to keep heat?

I had considered it, but in the end decided against it. The Anova had no issue maintaining the temp (I double-checked with a Thermapen Mk4).

 

[jja412]

Another question....I see ping pong balls for sale for use in sous vide cooking? Useful? Unnecessary?

 

[Poker Zombie]

Ping Pong balls taste terrible.

 

[jja412]

Fair enough, my instinct was that ping pong balls seems stupid

 

[pltrgyst]

Ping pong balls would just reduce the water volume and impede circulation. Both are negatives to me, unless possibly you need to use a huge container for a monstrous piece of meat so large that your circulator couldn't keep the temperature of such a great volume constant. Is there some other consideration?

My circulator is the Sansaire.

I use 8 or 16 quart stock pots or a 12 quart plastic sous vide container with a wire rack to hold up to six steak or chop bags in place.

I don't even think of using any other method for steaks or thick chops any more, especially if I'm cooking for guests. Sous vide makes timing a meal *so* much easier.

Pork belly is another great application.

The biggest eye-opener for us has been pseudo-poached eggs. In the shell, 147 deg F for 45 minutes, resulting in the most amazing silken texture ever tasted from an egg.

Oh, and buying your vacuum seal materials in rolls instead of pre-cut bags is a major plus for cooking large items. I still don't trust zip-loc bags for sous vide, though some people do.

Experiment and have fun!

 

[Poker Zombie]

The idea of pingpong balls is to keep some water from evaporating. When I did the 26 hour prime rib, evaporation was a concern. I measured the drop over 3 hours and determined that I would need to top it off at some point, so I used tinfoil and fashioned a crude lid. It was convex shaped so moisture would condense on the lid and roll back down into the pot.

The "lid" didn't completely cover because of the sous vide stick, but the water level barely dropped for the remainder of the cook. Ping pong balls are unnecessary, and a lid is unnecessary for most cooking times.

 

[Mr Tree]

I’ve had issues where I thought my food was sealed well and then the bag has water in it and I basically boiled the meat. I’m guessing I need a better vacuum sealer?

 

[Mr Tree]

Also I was thinking about trying a Sous vide duck breast.

 

[pltrgyst]

The idea of pingpong balls is to keep some water from evaporating. When I did the 26 hour prime rib, evaporation was a concern....

Amazon offers transparent plastic lids for the 12-qt. sous vide containers, with cutouts specific to several models of circulators. Mine fits quite snugly, and has shown negligible water loss for up to 36 hours.

 

[pltrgyst]

I’ve had issues where I thought my food was sealed well and then the bag has water in it and I basically boiled the meat. I’m guessing I need a better vacuum sealer?

Probably. For sous vide use, I generally hit the "Seal" button again after running the vacuum-and-seal cycle.

 

[Leonard]

I have had and used a Food Saver brand vacuum sealer for years. The bags are pricey but it seems to be worthwhile even before Sous Vide.
I agree with the pseudo poached eggs above.
I do boneless skinless chicken breasts 147 for 2 hours. Typically I buy in bulk, add different seasonings to meal sized bags, then do together and freeze. I can take pre seasoned, cooked chicken breasts from the freezer, defrost and sear and we are good to go.
I did a chuck roast for 36 hours at like 135 degrees and it was practically steak-like and medium rare.

It's cool, but I'm still learning my way around it.

I use a LIPAVI sous vide container FWIW and I have a Joule device, which has worked great for me.

 

[Poker Zombie]

Amazon offers transparent plastic lids for the 12-qt. sous vide containers, with cutouts specific to several models of circulators. Mine fits quite snugly, and has shown negligible water loss for up to 36 hours.

$10 for a reusable lid that only fits 1 container, or 0.4¢ for aluminum foil that fits any container, and performs exactly the same.

I picked the one that was the easiest to store, because my kitchen cupboard space is at a premium.

Also the same reason I don't have a "sous vide" container when any sturdy water-holding vessel will do (including the kitchen sink).

 

[pltrgyst]

$10 for a reusable lid that only fits 1 container, or 0.4¢ for aluminum foil that fits any container, and performs exactly the same.
I picked the one that was the easiest to store, because my kitchen cupboard space is at a premium.
Also the same reason I don't have a "sous vide" container when any sturdy water-holding vessel will do (including the kitchen sink).

That assumes that:

1. You're willing to mess around fitting and crimping the foil every time you cook, and checking it every now and then to make sure the cat hasn't poked it loose and into the water.

2. You don't cook sufficiently large or numerous items together to make the dedicated rectangular container worthwhile. I felt the same way for more than a year, until I needed to cook a number of racks of ribs at one time, and my largest stock pot couldn't do it.

3. You can somehow securely mount your circulator to the sink, and I can't. You really don't want the entire circulator and its AC connector to fall into the water...

But hey, that's the beauty of these circulators -- there are many different ways to use them.

 

[Poker Zombie]

1. You're willing to mess around fitting and crimping the foil every time you cook, and checking it every now and then to make sure the cat hasn't poked it loose and into the water.

It's funny, because we were just discussing the number of times Mrs Zombie has had to fish a cat out of a fish tank. (hint, more than once)

Cat attacks aside, I didn't spent more than 10 seconds fitting the foil. We're not covering a boiling pot here. While the agitation of the molecules will separate the bonds and we will lose some water, most of it will recondense on the cool foil. Because I gave it a little tap in the middle, the water recollected down into the pot. If I didn't cover it I would have topped the water off once during the cook (and my tap water is set at a ridiculous 140F (no kids, no scalding risk).

My largest pot didn't work for the prime rib either. I knew the sink was an option (but would mean taking one side of my sink out of service). I knew the bathtub was another option, but was concerned about one sous vide stick for such a large volume of water (plus the anchoring issue). So I used a Sterilite 30 qt storage container . It usually holds my chef jacket, a chinois, the sous vide stick, an oyster knife, and a potato ricer. This had to be dumped out for the duration of cooking, but like I said, storage space is at a premium in my house, so having a cheap tub that was now a multi-tasker was very useful (also funny, because the tub is labeled "uni-taskers").

Both methods work. One is much cheaper. The other is much more cat resistant.(y) :thumbsup:

 

[Leonard]

Both methods work. One is much cheaper. The other is much more cat resistant.(y) :thumbsup:

And both seem much better than ping pong balls

 

[pltrgyst]

It's funny, because we were just discussing the number of times Mrs Zombie has had to fish a cat out of a fish tank. (hint, more than once)

If you think about it, a circulator and rectangular tub makes an absolutely perfect cat-sized jacuzzi.

 

[jja412]

First noteworthy attempt with the Anova - Pork tenderloin with an maple apple vinegar reduction. Was more than pleasantly surprised with how well the meat came out, and the reduction was great. Hope all my attempts follow this line of success!

Apple reduction

• jja412
• Nov 28, 2017

Pork tenderloin

• jja412
• Nov 28, 2017

 

[ruskba]

Bought an Anova on prime day and finally cracked it open tonight to cook some filet mignon. Absolutely amazing, even cooking from frozen. Have some pork chops to do next, very much looking forward to using this thing more often!

 

[ttttubby]

The idea of pingpong balls is to keep some water from evaporating. When I did the 26 hour prime rib, evaporation was a concern. I measured the drop over 3 hours and determined that I would need to top it off at some point, so I used tinfoil and fashioned a crude lid. It was convex shaped so moisture would condense on the lid and roll back down into the pot.

The "lid" didn't completely cover because of the sous vide stick, but the water level barely dropped for the remainder of the cook. Ping pong balls are unnecessary, and a lid is unnecessary for most cooking times.

Saran Wrap will keep the water from evaporating as well. It's a little janky looking but it works fine.

 

[ttttubby]

First noteworthy attempt with the Anova - Pork tenderloin with an maple apple vinegar reduction. Was more than pleasantly surprised with how well the meat came out, and the reduction was great. Hope all my attempts follow this line of success!

Apple reduction

• jja412
• Nov 28, 2017

Pork tenderloin

• jja412
• Nov 28, 2017

Pork tenderloin is one of those things that really shine with sous vide. Looks delicious. If you're looking For ideas check out the sous vide reddit forum. Lots of good stuff with pics.