Sous vide

dave · 05-15-2017, 12:35 PM

Thank you, Peter! You're probably right about me and cooking....I don't mind prep-type work...and I do OK with temperature control and some basic applications of heat...but, when it comes to stuff that needs baby-ing...sauces and multi-phase cooking; even dry/wet rub combo barbecue....I don't generally have the patience. Some sort of mental block...once it hits the oven/stove/grill...my mind calls it done - cooking to me is prep to heat to table.
I'd like to get a little better with herbs, spices, sherrys, etc.... but I may not be ready to drop a couple bills on some gear I may not end up using very much.
BTW, anybody want a cheap fry daddy, or bread machine or electric griddle, or grinder, or Osterizer or waffle maker or....

T.G · 05-15-2017, 09:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dave

BTW, anybody want a cheap fry daddy, or bread machine or electric griddle, or grinder, or Osterizer or waffle maker or....

Pancakes.

T.G · 05-15-2017, 09:59 PM

Dave,

Peter covered a lot of the bases. Just some things I'd like to add.

SV cooking isn't really any more work than pressure cooking. SV you have an extra step in bagging the food and an extra step in searing it when you are done (some things don't need it), but you don't generally have to worry about things like: getting the heat just right for the pressure widget, or leaving the food in too long - which for a pressure cooker could be 5 minutes, worrying about running out of liquid, then you have the whole cool down period.

I have a Fagor stovetop pressure cooker, which I really like, and I use it about as often as I use my SV cooker (about 1-6 times a month), but, I have to be completely honest, the pressure cooker is more work than the SV. Can't tell you how many times I've dropped stuff in the meat jacuzzi and just left the house. I can't pull that stunt with a pressure cooker.

I'd say SV is about as easy as crock pot cooking plus the extra effort of searing the food. Can't cook a 2" steak in a crock pot though, unless you like shredded beef.

Which brings me to the point that Dom brought up that sold me. Completely even edge to edge doneness. 2-1/2" thick ribeye, medium-rare, hard to do on a grill, you get a bullseye effect: a layer of well done, then med-well, then medium, then medium-rare and maybe even a rare center. With SV, the whole thing is cooked to medium-rare and can't get any more cooked because the water is only 136F. Ice bath the bag, open it, dry it off, season it and sear it. Now you're entering into the realm of what you used to only be able to get done right at a high end steakhouse.

I'm not a SV die-hard. It doesn't do everything, nor would I want to cook everything with it. Quite a few things that you can cook with it that I simply don't care for when cooked that way. For many things I much prefer one of my smokers, or my santa maria grill, deep fryer or some other method, but, for some things, I now found the SV cooker to be absolutely indispensable because it's simply the best tool for that particular job.

05-15-2017, 12:35 PM	#1
dave Have My Own Room Join Date: May 2011 First Name: Dave Location: Northern VA Posts: 1,180 Trading: (15)	Re: Sous vide Thank you, Peter! You're probably right about me and cooking....I don't mind prep-type work...and I do OK with temperature control and some basic applications of heat...but, when it comes to stuff that needs baby-ing...sauces and multi-phase cooking; even dry/wet rub combo barbecue....I don't generally have the patience. Some sort of mental block...once it hits the oven/stove/grill...my mind calls it done - cooking to me is prep to heat to table. I'd like to get a little better with herbs, spices, sherrys, etc.... but I may not be ready to drop a couple bills on some gear I may not end up using very much. BTW, anybody want a cheap fry daddy, or bread machine or electric griddle, or grinder, or Osterizer or waffle maker or.... __________________ I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it. Thomas Jefferson

05-15-2017, 09:59 PM	#3
T.G Grrrrrr Join Date: Mar 2009 First Name: The Other Adam Posts: 15,568 Trading: (37)	Re: Sous vide Dave, Peter covered a lot of the bases. Just some things I'd like to add. SV cooking isn't really any more work than pressure cooking. SV you have an extra step in bagging the food and an extra step in searing it when you are done (some things don't need it), but you don't generally have to worry about things like: getting the heat just right for the pressure widget, or leaving the food in too long - which for a pressure cooker could be 5 minutes, worrying about running out of liquid, then you have the whole cool down period. I have a Fagor stovetop pressure cooker, which I really like, and I use it about as often as I use my SV cooker (about 1-6 times a month), but, I have to be completely honest, the pressure cooker is more work than the SV. Can't tell you how many times I've dropped stuff in the meat jacuzzi and just left the house. I can't pull that stunt with a pressure cooker. I'd say SV is about as easy as crock pot cooking plus the extra effort of searing the food. Can't cook a 2" steak in a crock pot though, unless you like shredded beef. Which brings me to the point that Dom brought up that sold me. Completely even edge to edge doneness. 2-1/2" thick ribeye, medium-rare, hard to do on a grill, you get a bullseye effect: a layer of well done, then med-well, then medium, then medium-rare and maybe even a rare center. With SV, the whole thing is cooked to medium-rare and can't get any more cooked because the water is only 136F. Ice bath the bag, open it, dry it off, season it and sear it. Now you're entering into the realm of what you used to only be able to get done right at a high end steakhouse. I'm not a SV die-hard. It doesn't do everything, nor would I want to cook everything with it. Quite a few things that you can cook with it that I simply don't care for when cooked that way. For many things I much prefer one of my smokers, or my santa maria grill, deep fryer or some other method, but, for some things, I now found the SV cooker to be absolutely indispensable because it's simply the best tool for that particular job.