Sous Vide, the adventure begins

[TomInPA]

Tomorrow is my birthday, so the wife is getting me the Bluetooth Annova based on feedback here. $119 on Amazon. Like everyone else, I don't think the App is worth $80 for now. I'll get a start on this machine and see if this adventure requires a better tool. Meanwhile, I'm looking forward to exploring this approach to cooking. It's cold outside, and the smoker and grill are still in business, but this could cut time spent out on the deck.

Now, what to do first?

 

[El Toro Joe]

Maybe hot dogs?

Oh, and happy birthday, Tom

 

[RiderCoach Lar]

Wow! Lighten up, Francis. Did you forget that you clicked on an "Off-Topic" thread! Good news, though: the rest of the "On-Topic" forum is still in place for you to see.

 

[eflyguy]

Steak. It's the one thing I will never cook the "old fashioned" way..

 

[drc32-0]

Happy birthday and happy cooking Tom.

 

[MrZappo]

<blockquote class='ipsBlockquote'data-author="Bokerfork" data-cid="1347530" data-time="1479787024"><p>

OMFG!<br />

<br />

Are you serious? Another smoking thread and the admins are "all in"<br />

<br />

Although no one here will miss me, I'm done.<br />

<br />

When did this fall from being a fun place to get news and reviews about our favorite motorcycle to the gheyest place to smoke one's own meats?<br />

<br />

Even though the last man to give this forum any personality is gone, I will sign off in the immortal words of Don.<br />

<br />

JSNS</p></blockquote>

Is it just me or are we seeing an increase of reactionary whiners on the site? Talking about BBQ is so upsetting that someone lobbs an insult or two over the fence and than disappears into the distant horizon?

This is a forum for older guys who ride sport touring machines. Which also implies many common interests. Cars, planes, camping, breasts, food, BBQ, smoking(food), smoking(cigars), single malt scotch, and breasts. And (insert other topic now affordable after kids have gone) .

For crying out loud, pull up a chair, grab a beer and some pork chops and enjoy. We always ride before and after eating anyways.

Stop by the doc and get your testosterone levels checked. They may be low.

This ain't the "view".

Now, I have no darn clue about smoking compared to some of the obvious geniuses here. But, I'm willing to learn even it only means making myself available to eat.

PM me, I'll gladly consume all anyone has to offer and no "whining" to boot!

 

[HotRodZilla]

This is a forum for older guys who ride sport touring machines. Which also implies many common interests. Cars, planes, camping, breasts, food, BBQ, smoking(food), smoking(cigars), single malt scotch, and breasts. And (insert other topic now affordable after kids have gone).

WTF?!?!?!?!? This is not a Forum for older guys. I am NOT an older guy. Right? Right? Please God, say I'm not an older guy. Jeebus, many of you are old enough to be my dad. I still have a 7 year old in the house, and I've owned an FOR for 9 years dammit!

Now, about the whining: I have no idea. Election sadness, early winter, low testosterone? No idea. Personally, I like these two threads. I don't have it in me to watch something cook for 12 hours, or spend the money to do it right, but I like the results. Hell, riding motorcycles and eating meat are about as American as it gets.

 

[gregory]

Happy Birthday!

 

[Bounce]

Hiding (not deleting) the intentional troll.

Instead of hiding those follow-ups that give the troll more visibility, I am requesting that those of you who did, consider editing your posts to avoid giving him what he wants.

 

[Knifemaker]

Well, I put one of these contraptions on my Christmas list. If money was no object, which model would you choose? The Anova One Bluetooth looks like a good choice for a newbie.....

 

[TomInPA]

Well, here we go...I'm ready. Happy birthday to me!

 

[Bugman]

Well, here we go...I'm ready. Happy birthday to me!

Happy Birthday to you Tom!

 

[phroenips]

Well, I put one of these contraptions on my Christmas list. If money was no object, which model would you choose? The Anova One Bluetooth looks like a good choice for a newbie.....

https://thesweethome.com/reviews/best-sous-vide-gear/

 

[08FJR4ME]

OK, so this may sound like a dumb question but is there specific plastic bags for this type of cooking? Just wondering about BPA's.

Dave

 

[Bounce]

You can get sous vide specific vacuum pumps and bags. The bags are designed to handle higher heat than standard vacuum systems do. My first attempt failed because I didn't know that and the seal failed (dumping the veggies into open sea). The vacuum to go with the bags is meant to get hot enough to seal the higher temp bags.

The last 2 times I just used standard gallon zip log bags.

 

[eflyguy]

Many options, I get rolls of bag material from Amazon. The bags have a textured side that allows air to escape around food, and work fine with a regular Foodsaver machine. Handy for portioning certain products that you'd like to keep air-tight (Arborio for example)..

The Foodsaver brand does not seal well on their own machines, but I've never had a failure with the ones I get on Amazon, with the exception of sealing across a wrinkle - that will fail every time.

I used the circulator to quickly defrost the duck I plan to cook tomorrow - which begs the question, do I roast it, or smoke it? (Yeah, wrong thread..)

Note I set it as low as it would go - 41F - so the heating element never came on. I just wanted the water to circulate. This was at the start, it dropped to mid 40's pretty quickly, and the bird was defrosted in about an hour.

Then I made a 2" thick pork rib chop, 2 hours at 135, then finished in a pan with some olive oil. Accompanied by roasted brussels sprouts..

 

[TomInPA]

My photography is not nearly as good as dinner. My wife was going to be late getting home, so the plan was to cook a chicken and serve with rice and asparagus. I had a roasting chicken, and quartered it. Onion, carrots, celery, terragon, salt and pepper were applied, and white and dark meat bagged separately. The legs and thighs were cooked at 162 degrees for an hour, then the temperature dropped to 142 and the breast/wings added. Everything including the rice was done by 6:30, so I dropped the sous vide to 132 degrees to put things on hold. I removed the rice from the pan I cooked it in, and put it in a plastic bag and dropped it in the sous vide to stay hot, but not cook. Worked great, and tasted better. A good first effort. I have a ways to go to catch up with eflyguy..

Everything on hold.

Final product...after we dug in. The Grillgrates apply a really nice sear.

 

[GinaMcD]

We were introduced to this method of cooking last year by a chef who was using it to do roast beef for a party he was catering. He made us a couple of sandwiches to go the next day with the left overs.

This past summer we had dinner at friend's house and he served steaks that were cooked Sous Vide then seared on the grill. Both were cooked to perfection with little to no effort.

A Sous Vide machine is on our wish list for when we have some $$$ to spare.

 

[eflyguy]

Nice job, Tom. Did you find the chicken to be better this way? I do, I can grill it to perfection knowing it's cooked inside, and it doesn't dry out as much.

 

[TomInPA]

It was delicious. All the internal moisture and flavor was preserved, and the aeromatics and seasoning came through nicely. I totally blasted the skin on the Grillgrates and used a torch to hit some of the spots behind the wings and some creases. I added some fine wood chips into the Grillgrate troughs, so just a hint of smoke in the skin.