Since we are in the middle of the slowest time for sports IMO. I thought I would give an update on sous vide cooking. I've posted before about sous vide cooking, and know others here cook using sous vide, as well as others may be considering it.
Sous vide cooking sealing items in some sort of bag/container and cooking that in a water bath. In general sous vide provides a very consistent, perfectly cooked (doneness/tenderness) method of cooking. Searing and other types of finishing, such as smoking are often required to meet the final result you are looking for.
Sous vide typically takes a long time, but most of that time is not active cooking.
Beef
Steak – amazing, steak alone would make buying a sous vide machine worth it. It is so easy to make them perfect every time. I just found out a way to have different doneness (rare - medium -well done, etc.) to the steaks, so that helps one of the problems of sous vide of everything being cooked to the same level of doneness.
Chuck roast – I’ve made it two ways, one at a higher temp, I would prefer just using a crock pot for this, the second way at low temp (131 F) comes out like a prime rib. It is better than most prime rib I’ve had at restaurants and at about $5 a pound is excellent
Brisket – texture/doneness is excellent, I don’t have a smoker, but I think a combination of sous vide and smoking would be better than either alone.
Beef Tongue – per my youngest son, who is a good critic and will tell me exactly what he thinks, it is the best thing I’ve ever cooked.
Deli Roast Beef – very good, and you know exactly what goes into it
Pork
Pork Chops – I prefer not using sous vide
Pork Shoulder – very good, I’ve made carnitas and pulled pork (pretty much the same thing)
ROAST PORK (also shoulder) for sandwiches (Tony Luke copy, genius kitchen). Best sandwich (by far) that I have ever made. It isn’t cheap to make, with broccoli rabe and good provolone but is amazing
Ribs – perfect texture, as I said for brisket a combination of sous vide and smoking would be better than either alone
Bacon – weird but will probably try again. I had a very thick cut pepper bacon, and when used the sous vide it came out similar to a brisket
Sausage - I’ve only made bulk hot Italian sausage to make as a burger, per my son the critic, it was “a beautiful sandwich”
Chicken
Chicken Breast – good (its chicken, how good can it be?), easy way to ensure it is cooked without being dried out.
Can’f F*** it up chicken – easy to make a very good fried chicken (google Can’f F*** it up chicken) once you use the sous vide, you can then fry for 3 minutes a batch and it is done.
Wings – easy to make, also only needs about 3 minutes to fry a batch, so if you sous vide the wings, you can make batches of 12 every three minutes, rather than about 15 minutes a batch. Great for a crowd.
Seafood
Salmon – not my favorite, but was told it was very good, and it went very fast when there were a lot of other foods.
Scallops – cooked at 121 F (seriously, basically hot tap water temp) then seared in butter. I also had a wine/butter/basil reduction that I added to the pan after searing — PERFECT one of the best foods I have eaten in a long time.
Shrimp – simple, easy and good… same doneness every time
Veggies
Carrots – best I have ever had by far, multiple people have agreed on this
Corn - just tried this and it was amazing. I should have boiled or cooked some a different way as a control
Misc
Cheesecake – excellent and easy recipe from sousvideeverything.com
Yogurt – very good and you can control exactly what is in it
Blackberry infused vodka – not really my thing, so hard to say how good it was. I ended up using it in a blackberry lemonade
Blackberry infused brandy – also not really my thing, so hard to say how good it was (but it didn’t last long)
Eggs -- have only pasteurized for other recipes
Scrapple – haven’t tried, would probably be a mess
Sous vide cooking sealing items in some sort of bag/container and cooking that in a water bath. In general sous vide provides a very consistent, perfectly cooked (doneness/tenderness) method of cooking. Searing and other types of finishing, such as smoking are often required to meet the final result you are looking for.
Sous vide typically takes a long time, but most of that time is not active cooking.
Beef
Steak – amazing, steak alone would make buying a sous vide machine worth it. It is so easy to make them perfect every time. I just found out a way to have different doneness (rare - medium -well done, etc.) to the steaks, so that helps one of the problems of sous vide of everything being cooked to the same level of doneness.
Chuck roast – I’ve made it two ways, one at a higher temp, I would prefer just using a crock pot for this, the second way at low temp (131 F) comes out like a prime rib. It is better than most prime rib I’ve had at restaurants and at about $5 a pound is excellent
Brisket – texture/doneness is excellent, I don’t have a smoker, but I think a combination of sous vide and smoking would be better than either alone.
Beef Tongue – per my youngest son, who is a good critic and will tell me exactly what he thinks, it is the best thing I’ve ever cooked.
Deli Roast Beef – very good, and you know exactly what goes into it
Pork
Pork Chops – I prefer not using sous vide
Pork Shoulder – very good, I’ve made carnitas and pulled pork (pretty much the same thing)
ROAST PORK (also shoulder) for sandwiches (Tony Luke copy, genius kitchen). Best sandwich (by far) that I have ever made. It isn’t cheap to make, with broccoli rabe and good provolone but is amazing
Ribs – perfect texture, as I said for brisket a combination of sous vide and smoking would be better than either alone
Bacon – weird but will probably try again. I had a very thick cut pepper bacon, and when used the sous vide it came out similar to a brisket
Sausage - I’ve only made bulk hot Italian sausage to make as a burger, per my son the critic, it was “a beautiful sandwich”
Chicken
Chicken Breast – good (its chicken, how good can it be?), easy way to ensure it is cooked without being dried out.
Can’f F*** it up chicken – easy to make a very good fried chicken (google Can’f F*** it up chicken) once you use the sous vide, you can then fry for 3 minutes a batch and it is done.
Wings – easy to make, also only needs about 3 minutes to fry a batch, so if you sous vide the wings, you can make batches of 12 every three minutes, rather than about 15 minutes a batch. Great for a crowd.
Seafood
Salmon – not my favorite, but was told it was very good, and it went very fast when there were a lot of other foods.
Scallops – cooked at 121 F (seriously, basically hot tap water temp) then seared in butter. I also had a wine/butter/basil reduction that I added to the pan after searing — PERFECT one of the best foods I have eaten in a long time.
Shrimp – simple, easy and good… same doneness every time
Veggies
Carrots – best I have ever had by far, multiple people have agreed on this
Corn - just tried this and it was amazing. I should have boiled or cooked some a different way as a control
Misc
Cheesecake – excellent and easy recipe from sousvideeverything.com
Yogurt – very good and you can control exactly what is in it
Blackberry infused vodka – not really my thing, so hard to say how good it was. I ended up using it in a blackberry lemonade
Blackberry infused brandy – also not really my thing, so hard to say how good it was (but it didn’t last long)
Eggs -- have only pasteurized for other recipes
Scrapple – haven’t tried, would probably be a mess
