Sous Vide anyone ?

[sundodger]

Having just ordered a vacuum sealer, a lot of the jargon associated with it refers to sous vide cooking. My own thoughts origionally were just that of a posh name for boil in the bag, which of course it is!
However, for my last produce run at the local bazaar I had an 11 kilo gammon made & only about half of it pre ordered, so I thought I would try a nice "Boiled ham" Originally Phil (Wheels) I seem to remember you mentioning a boil in the bag ham, & it set me to thinking. The vac sealer has not yet arrived & so armed with 5 kilos of gammon, a large oven bag, a drinking straw A very large stainless pot & a portable two ring gas burner, I set to work. The gammon was put into the bag, I then sucked all the air I could from the bag & sealed it off. The water in the pot was heated to 70c & the gammon placed in & covered. I checked the water temp about every hour or so with a probe & it was kept stable. After about ten hours the core temp of the meat was recording 70c & I called it a day. The ham was then left to cool overnight, sealed & in its own juices & the next day I sliced it at No 2 on the slicer. The result was delicious & all packs were sold at the bazaar after folks had tried the testers I had provided... A lovely ham !
The gammom was origionally cured using the pump & rub method. The injected brine was flavoured with pure Messinian honey, bay, black peper corms & a hint of cinnamon. Ok not true Sous Vide I suppose, but close & the method would seem to me to have uses in certain applications such as this?

[wheels]

I sometimes cook ham in vac bags - it depends on whether the ham is small enough to fit in one. I often cook them on a trivet 'over' water in a temp of 75 - 80°C.

However, I now have a spare temperature controller, so will be using this in conjunction with my 6 litre slow-cooker for smaller hams.

You can also do the same 'slow-cook' in the oven like BriCan does.

Phil

[sundodger]

Yeah I thought it was you Phil that had mentioned this as your method. Have you so far tried the cooking under full vacuum conditions? I was wondering if all the raving about how wonderful a marinading process is enhanced, is true? I did however fing the idea of the cooking liquid being kept at the ideal meat core temperature interesting, as although the cooking time is very long, the danger of overcooking is eliminated.

[wheels]

I've not actually done a ham under vacuum, just in a bag with the opening out of the water. I've done steaks sous-vide though, and they're superb!

Phil

[Jabba]

I've done cooking sous vide a couple of times with my microprocessor controlled home brewery. Fillet steaks (what a beef farmer friend gave me out of his freezer) came out great, chicken breast not so good- when I say not so good it was fine, but just the same as if I'd have cooked it low and slow in a pan.

I'm planning to do some pork belly for New Year's eve, in the water bath (mash tun) for 36 hours then finished off on the BBQ.

Cheers,
Jamie

[Wunderdave]

Sous vide cooking is a bit of a misnomer, it doesn't have to be under a full, pulled vacuum. Really only it just have to have most of the air excluded (enough to get rid of buoyancy).

The technique, if you have a proper device to control temperature, and some know-how, is really mind-bending.

Rare chuck roast, 2-day ribs, the most delicately cooked fish you can imagine, poultry at 140F/60C which makes it extremely juicy, but still pasteurized, etc. It's really great for these applications.

And the steaks. Oh baby.

It's a little gimmicky but it's way different from boil in the bag, if you have the appropriate control over temperatures.

[saucisson]

I ordered ina 4.5kg joint of pork to make the Christmas ham with and Tesco's in their wisdom sent me a 2.5 kilo one, so I may well try a full vacuum cook on this one I'll let you know

[GUS]

There is a very simple, nice looking Sous-vide with 'nth of a degree accuracy cited for $200 (yes dollars) backed via a kickstarter campaign which was heathily oversubscribed, it's basically a finely tuned impeller driven aquarium type heater construction for up to 6 gallon containers (is that 22ish litres) very nice too,

My only quibble / nark is that if you are an energy miser like me (& why not) then covering the pot & insulationg the sides would be a must do for me, obviously there would be less electricity=heat cycling in order to keep the temperature precisely stable.
a 220v unit will be shipping in March 2014(ish) ..I admire their intent to get the design bang on & not rush out a product they are not 100% happy with.

Good looking enough to keep out rather than stuck away in a cupboard & pot size can be selected according to need, ...personally i'd like to see a wall mount for this.

V.nice

take a look, http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/seattlefoodgeek/sansaire-sous-vide-circulator-for-199

[wheels]

I use a large 'slow-cooker' and a digital temperature controller. It works fine. I may 'refine' the design, adding an aquarium air pump for water circulation, but it's OK for now. That said, I've only done steaks in it so far.

Phil

[Wunderdave]

Phil's setup is going to work fine for most applications except the most temperature sensitive (you have a precise egg spec? 1 degree C makes a noticable difference in yolk texture between 59 and 65C) or high-volume applications where a crowded pot will create cold spots.

[wheels]

...you have a precise egg spec? 1 degree C makes a noticable difference in yolk texture between 59 and 65C or high-volume applications where a crowded pot will create cold spots.

Thanks, that's handy to know.

Phil

[Dingo]

I'm very keen to try this with my slow cooker.

How critical is the 130 number? My temp controller swings +/- 10F. Is that a problem?

Thx

[EnriqueB]

I'm very keen to try this with my slow cooker.

How critical is the 130 number? My temp controller swings +/- 10F. Is that a problem?

Thx

I'd say very critical. It is the threshold between pasteurizing and not pasteurizing. Time also affects, but going below that temperature for a long time may not kill or even allow growth of some pathogenic bacteria such as C.Perfingrens. If your controller swings +/-10F you should then cook above 140F if you want to, given enough time, pasteurize your food. Minor swings in temperature may easily increase pasteurization times by 20 or 30%.

[Wunderdave]

Agreed, a +/- 10F swing is not really manageable. 20F is the difference between 115F (very very rare steak) and 135 F (solidly medium). As Enrique says, for anything longer than a few hours if you're playing on the edge of pasteurization, have a bath that dives below 130 presents some serious safety concerns and is not recommended.

[Wunderdave]

that being said, you can definitely mess around with some temporarily rigged sous vide setups. Most thicknesses of steak will cook through to even core temp within about an hour or two at the most. You can probably maintain your preferred 125-130F using a low burner on your stove, or even hot water from your tap, or an insulated cooler, a kettle, and some careful monitoring and stirring.

But you'd be missing out on some of the really excellent applications of sous vide like 2 day ribs, precise eggs, etc.