Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

Sous vide cooking, on the cheap

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

  • #31
    Originally posted by kwantfm View Post
    Best to vacuum seal... air pockets are insulators and not great from a food safety perspective. However, one can apparently do a decent job with a zip lock bag by putting food in, slowly lowering the bag into a bowl of water displacing air until you reach the zip lock level, then lock the bag up.
    Yes you can definitely do this with a regular zip lock bag, with a little practice it's quite easy and effective. In fact if I'm cooking something soft like fish them this is better as a vacuum machine can squish the fish. It's also a better approach if you're putting a liquid with the food...unless you have a $3k vacuum chamber.

    Comment


    • #32
      The one food you can cook unbagged is eggs, 63 degrees for an hour. But it's a bit gimmicky, not a patch on properly poached eggs, but worth trying.

      Also, you can confit a piece of meat by putting it (unbagged) into a suitable container full of oil and floating that container in the water bath. As long as the container is the right material the oil will remain the same temp as the water.

      Comment


      • #33
        Thanks Jonathon. I'd certainly give the eggs a go ( I experiment with lots of weird methods of poaching them e.g. wrapped in cling film with salt, pepper and tarragon).

        Comment


        • #34
          Originally posted by Barry O'Speedwagon View Post
          Thanks Jonathon. I'd certainly give the eggs a go ( I experiment with lots of weird methods of poaching them e.g. wrapped in cling film with salt, pepper and tarragon).
          Modernist Cuisine by Nathan Myrvhold has a lot of great ideas for sous vide eggs. I only have the home version of the book, maybe Santa will be good to me.

          Comment


          • #35
            Originally posted by Jonathon View Post
            I've just picked up a sous vide circulator from Anova, a US company. They do a 220v version for $200, with shipping and forex it cost me A$300 all up.

            Sous Vide Water bath & Circulators By Anova

            It arrived about a week after ordering. It looks great (much better than my rice cooker PID setup) and works a treat.
            How about a machine for less? Sunbeam MU4000 Duos Sous Vide 5L Slow Cooker at The Good Guys

            I bought one a while back and it seems to do the job ok, and is a brilliant slow cooker too!

            Comment


            • #36
              Originally posted by jaybee View Post
              How about a machine for less? Sunbeam MU4000 Duos Sous Vide 5L Slow Cooker at The Good Guys

              I bought one a while back and it seems to do the job ok, and is a brilliant slow cooker too!
              At that price it's a screaming bargain, but all the reviews I've read mention 2 things:
              1) it can only be set in increments of 1 degree; and
              2) it's pretty poor at temperature stability, swaying a couple of degrees either side of the desired temperature.

              1 degree increments might seem trivial, but for steak left in for 75 mins there's a noticeable difference between 53.0 and 53.5. That said, for the price it would still be a bargain.

              But if the temp isn't stable...what's been your experience with its temp stability Jaybee?

              Comment


              • #37
                I reckon I'll get shot if end up storing another large kitchen appliance in the linen cupboard (in addition to the existing slow cooker, pressure cooker, auxiliary back-up reserve food processor, and green coffee beans), so maybe the immersion circulator might be better for family harmony

                Comment


                • #38
                  And the immersion circulator can be used in any size container, so if you need to cook a load of steaks ahead of a barbecue you can use it in a large esky or even a fish tank.

                  Comment


                  • #39
                    I have been doing small sous vide for some time, using a home made PID control box and a Kambrook multi cooker / deep fryer. Works very well for up to 3 decent size steaks.

                    Several months ago, there was a large BBQ planned, 20 steaks about 300g each so i knocked up this 50L tub version out of what i had lying around from brewing and bits around the home. Even if you had to buy some of this, it still works out cheaper for the size, more accurate and robust than anything you can buy out of a box for the home. Quality 2400W hand held immersion element $120, the 12V pump rated for 100 degrees C and food grade around $35, Sestos PID and bits n pieces $50.

                    Click image for larger version

Name:	IMAG0097.jpg
Views:	1
Size:	339.8 KB
ID:	735130

                    Comment


                    • #40
                      Originally posted by Jonathon View Post
                      At that price it's a screaming bargain, but all the reviews I've read mention 2 things:
                      1) it can only be set in increments of 1 degree; and
                      2) it's pretty poor at temperature stability, swaying a couple of degrees either side of the desired temperature.

                      1 degree increments might seem trivial, but for steak left in for 75 mins there's a noticeable difference between 53.0 and 53.5. That said, for the price it would still be a bargain.

                      But if the temp isn't stable...what's been your experience with its temp stability Jaybee?
                      One day I may do a temp profile of it to see how it looks. But it works ok and the results seem consistent, although I'm no Heston!

                      As

                      Comment


                      • #41
                        Originally posted by Barry O'Speedwagon View Post
                        I reckon I'll get shot if end up storing another large kitchen appliance in the linen cupboard (in addition to the existing slow cooker, pressure cooker, auxiliary back-up reserve food processor, and green coffee beans), so maybe the immersion circulator might be better for family harmony
                        Thankfully, the built in slow cooker meant that it was out on the bench for almost the entire winter! Gathering dust now unless Salmon is on the menu...

                        Comment


                        • #42
                          Originally posted by jaybee View Post
                          Thankfully, the built in slow cooker meant that it was out on the bench for almost the entire winter! Gathering dust now unless Salmon is on the menu...
                          I do think most of the general population has no idea what they're missing out on. Whether it's sous vide or traditional slow cooking, the way slow cooked meat tastes after it's been cooked for half a day or more is phenomenal.

                          I recently did beef short ribs for 75 hours in the sous vide. They cost me $8 for 3 good servings and after 80 hours they were stunning.

                          Comment


                          • #43
                            Originally posted by Jonathon View Post
                            I do think most of the general population has no idea what they're missing out on. Whether it's sous vide or traditional slow cooking, the way slow cooked meat tastes after it's been cooked for half a day or more is phenomenal.
                            Morning Jonathon, qualifier needed here, most of the general population under the age of 40 have no idea of what they are missing, cooking skills have been declining fast since the mid 7o's.

                            Of course we oldies well remember Mums stew, braises and pea soup simmering away on the stove for most of the day.

                            Oh for the days of real food.

                            PS we still use a crock pot (nowadays refereed to as a slow cooker) in our home.
                            Last edited by Yelta; 27 November 2013, 01:06 PM. Reason: remembered what I forgot.

                            Comment


                            • #44
                              I purchased a couple of Sous Vide Supreme minis quite a while ago, people still rave about the steaks we serve out, and I've also found results for fish to be superb. I've had one go with chicken and it was not great. I've also done eggs a couple of times but totally agree with Jonathon that my preference is a good poached egg over a sous vide egg any time.

                              If I had my time over again and could purchase what is available now I'd definitely go with a good value immersion circulator, it takes less space, is more adaptable and provides tighter temperature control because of the circulation. Having said that the tighter temperature control is probably really useful for specific cooking needs such as eggs which I've already written I don't really do...

                              Comment


                              • #45
                                Yep eggs are no good. But chicken can be superb - not so much for a chunk of meat to eat as is, but for putting into a salad it's wonderful.

                                I rarely do non-proteins in the sous vide, but the one I really like is carrot. 85 degrees for 25-30 mins and the flavour concentrates beautifully.

                                Comment

                                Working...
                                X