Sous Vide cooking Great stuff

[Stereodude]

Today I made a boneless/skinless chicken breast with the sous vide. I seasoned it with Weber Kickin' Chicken seasoning, sealed it in the vacuum bag with a very small drizzle of olive oil and cooked it at 148F for 2 hours. It was only slightly defrosted which is why I cooked it for so long. I just opened the bag and put it on my plate and ate it. It was quite juicy and had good texture. :bomb:

 

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I suggest you try and cook something that hasn't been frozen. I think it.makes a huge difference to the taste.

 

[Stereodude]

I suggest you try and cook something that hasn't been frozen. I think it.makes a huge difference to the taste.

That's somewhat challenging in the grand scheme of things. I'm cooking for only myself, sous vide isn't a the way you cook something when you want leftovers for the week, & decent prices on food are obtained by buying more than a single serving of something. So, even if I buy the meat in a non-frozen fashion, I'm going to end up freezing some quantity of it since I don't want to eat the same thing 4-5 days in a row and fresh meat doesn't keep any longer than that, especially once it's been opened and exposed to the Oxygen in the air.

 

[jtr1962]

I think it's more how food is frozen than the fact it's frozen which affects the taste. A few years back, we used to regularly order from Omaha Steaks. The meat was shipped in a styrofoam container with dry ice, and each piece was individually wrapped in plastic. To me it tasted better than fresh store-bought meat. They must have used some flash-freezing process.

 

[Stereodude]

I think it's more how food is frozen than the fact it's frozen which affects the taste. A few years back, we used to regularly order from Omaha Steaks. The meat was shipped in a styrofoam container with dry ice, and each piece was individually wrapped in plastic. To me it tasted better than fresh store-bought meat. They must have used some flash-freezing process.

My logic was basically that individually wrapped stuff that comes frozen should be better than if I toss extras in the freezer because I'm not flash freezing.

 

[jtr1962]

My logic was basically that individually wrapped stuff that comes frozen should be better than if I toss extras in the freezer because I'm not flash freezing.

Your reasoning seems sound to me. A home freezer isn't going to be able to freeze food all that fast.

 

[Stereodude]

I finally got around to making my first steak in the sous vide last night after not using it for several months. I bought a whole tenderloin from Costco, cut it up, seasoned the steaks, and individually vacuum sealed each steak. All but one went into the freezer. I cooked the one I didn't freeze. I did 135F for 1 hour. I'm going to bump up the temp a little bit next time.

 

[forstory]

Y'know, I've always been interested in how this method of cooking works and whether it'd be tough to achieve the right degree doneness on your food. Also, you actually need the machine itself to go into the method of cooking right?

 

[Handruin]

The heater/cooker helps but isn't absolutely required. I'd certainly recommend it if you want consistent results in getting the meats to the desired temperature and reduce your own risk of foodborne illness.

 

[Stereodude]

I can't imagine trying to accurately control the temperature of the water bath without one. I mean I'm sure someone could Arduino something up with closed loop control, but any sort of open loop double boiler or something would seem extremely difficult to achieve and hold the desired temperature.

I used my Monoprice Sous Vide tonight for the first time in several months. My steak (beef tenderloin) was absolutely delicious.

 

[LunarMist]

I can't imagine trying to accurately control the temperature of the water bath without one. I mean I'm sure someone could Arduino something up with closed loop control, but any sort of open loop double boiler or something would seem extremely difficult to achieve and hold the desired temperature.

I used my Monoprice Sous Vide tonight for the first time in several months. My steak (beef tenderloin) was absolutely delicious.

In olden times of the 1970s we had analog controllers. Achieving ±0.5°C is not a problem if there is sufficient heater control and thermal transfer to the water bath.
I assume that there are plenty of relatively inexpensive cookers that are good enough for the intended purpose. I doubt that cooking the dead meats is so demanding.

 

[Stereodude]

In olden times of the 1970s we had analog controllers. Achieving ±0.5°C is not a problem if there is sufficient heater control and thermal transfer to the water bath.

And I'm sure they were closed loop.

I doubt that cooking the dead meats is so demanding.

I find your lack of faith disturbing.

 

[LunarMist]

The water baths were open to the atmospheric pressure, so it was not a closed system. I don't think they were using plastic balls yet though.

I simply don't believe that professional chefs for hundreds of years controlled temperatures to fractions of degrees.

 

[Stereodude]

The water baths were open to the atmospheric pressure, so it was not a closed system. I don't think they were using plastic balls yet though.

So apparently we've discovered that you don't know what a closed loop control system is. I guess they didn't teach that in film school. :bomb:

It doesn't mean the container is closed. It means there is feedback into the system based on the current condition and that it take action accordingly to that feedback. An open loop system has no feedback. A thermostat in your house or your oven is an example of a closed loop temperature control system. The burners on your stove are an open loop control system.

 

[LunarMist]

So apparently we've discovered that you don't know what a closed loop control system is. I guess they didn't teach that in film school. :bomb:

It doesn't mean the container is closed. It means there is feedback into the system based on the current condition and that it take action accordingly to that feedback. An open loop system has no feedback. A thermostat in your house or your oven is an example of a closed loop temperature control system. The burners on your stove are an open loop control system.

Well, of course there should be some feedback from a sensor in the heated mass (water) to control the heating source.
Back in the day I used a Ge probe, some op amps, and a timer to generate PWM that controlled a triac, or something like that. It was a long, long time ago, so I probably forgot some details. :dunno:

 

[Stereodude]

FWIW, Monoprice has their Sous Vide on sale today for $43.99 with free shipping. https://www.monoprice.com/product?p_id=21594