As mentioned in another post, my wife got me the Anova sous vide circulator for Christmas, along with a FoodSaver vacuum sealer.
I’ve already tried salmon, and it was great. I’d like to hear what your favorites are and whether there are any tips or suggestions you have.
Thanks!
Pork tenderloin, scallops, beef stew (I am currently not at home with my sous vide journal - I highly recommend to capture your different sous vide experiments as one degree or 30 minutes can make a hugh difference in the final result)
New York strips.
Not exciting, but I’ve been playing with the cooking temperatures. These 1-inch steaks came out perfect at 140 F.
Kenji had a great suggestion, to take a photos of your sous vide meat as cooked at different different temperatures. It’s a handy reference for later, when you want to achieve the same level of doneness.
I got two for Christmas but have been playing with my friend’s for the past year. Here are some things we’ve tried…all with resounding success:
Ribeye - 1 hour at 125 degrees bone-in with garlic, rosemary, and thyme (and salt and pepper); pan-sear with butter and the same aromatics
Chicken - I forget the time and temp (we used Kenji’s suggestions) but it hung out with thyme and sage (and salt and pepper) bone-in and skin-on; pan-sear to make the skin super crispy
Salmon - I forget the time and temp (we used Kenji’s suggestions) but it hung out with salt and pepper skin-on; pan-sear skin side only to get it super crispy
Fingerling potatoes - 2 hours at 183 degrees and it hung out with salt and pepper, duck fat, and garlic; pan-sear afterwards if you wish…they make fantastic breakfast burrito potatoes, too
Beets - 1 hour at 183 degrees with salt and pepper
Haricot verts - 20 mins at 183 degrees with butter and salt and pepper works well, compound butters are even better
Asparagus - 10-15 minutes at 183 degrees depending on thickness of stalk with salt and pepper
Purple Sweet Potatoes - 2 hours at 183 degrees with a French compound butter seasoned with pimenton and salt and pepper; this was sweet and savory all at the same time
Zucchini/Squash - 20 mins at 183 degrees with bacon fat and salt and pepper
Carrots - 1 hour at 183 degrees with butter, thyme, salt and pepper; the rainbow carrots are even better
Kohlrabi - 1 hour at 183 degrees with butter, salt, and pepper; make sure you peel the kolhrabi well and slice it on the thinner side
If using the FoodSaver, I’ve noticed that I’ve had problems including olive oil into the bag…it makes a mess, so I’ve stuck to using solid fats.
Hope this list helps!
You’ve been busy! I had planned on using mine over the weekend, but the flu had other plans for me. So far, all I’ve done is salmon, which turned out great.
Thanks for the ideas. I see several that I will be trying.
We’ve been experimenting over the past year, so this is a compilation of what we’ve done. I forgot to mention the following:
Lobster tails - 125 degrees for 1 hour with butter, salt, pepper, and tarrgon; they made the best lobster rolls I’ve ever had but my family would have preferred 130 degrees
Egg - 63 degree C (everything else has been F) for 35 minutes; best damn egg ever…just top with fleur de sel and fresh cracked pepper and some buttery toast points…I’ve been known to eat this just for dinner or top a vinaigrette-dressed salad with one. If you can find farm fresh eggs, you’re even better off.
I took advantage of the foul weather yesterday to do some experimenting.
I did shrimp (no good lobster tails at the store) with garlic, butter, a little salt, and a pinch of baking soda. They went at 138 degrees for about 30 minutes. They turned out great.
Also did a ribeye at 130 degrees for about an hour with salt, fresh thyme, and fresh rosemary. Finished in cast iron with oil, butter, more thyme, more rosemary, and some smashed garlic cloves. It was delicious, but I’d probably go closer to 125 next time. Overall, a great dinner.
I got an Anova just after Christmas. I already had a Food Saver. I often use Zip-Loc bags and really squeeze the air out and close. Yesterday I had a sealed package of veal slices for scallopini. I cooked them right in the package it was about 6-7 hours. I made Tonnato sauce to go over the slices. The meat was tender but with good texture. I’ve had success with chicken breasts. What I really like is how shrimp cook. I did a side by side test with shelled and deveined and plain. equal amounts of shrimp in separate zip bags. Both went into the pot together. The texture on the shelled shrimp was better. Next time I cook shell on I’ll cut down the back and remove the vein. It gave a mushy texture. I cooked some shelled and deveined shrimp a few days ago and had some left over. Fri. PM I used Rick Bayless’ Chipotle Shrimp recipe and made shrimp tacos with it. The shrimp had cooked in their own juices and their own flavor was great. It could stand up to the smokiness of the chipotle and the heat. I think it is my favorite way to cook shrimp. I do need to try more things. DH is talking about filet mignon. I was experimenting after reading an article on Korean Cried Chicken and the double cook issue. I decided to make Sweet and Sour Pork. I cooked the pork pieces with the sous vide cooker. Then chilled and the next day coated them in the batter to fry and crisp. It worked pretty well.
I only just noticed your post. So, I can cook a bunch of difference vegetables, just pull the bag at tha appropriate time? I’ve always skipped vegetable cooking because I thought it would be a headache. But 183 F it is. Thanks!
@Bookwich Yes, serious eats claims that 183 is the sweet spot for veg. The night we did our vegetable bounty, they all cooked at 183 and we put them in at different times. Sturdier vegetables (carrots, potatoes, etc.) went in first because they took the longest to cook, and placed the rest in at the appropriate intervals. Haricot vert and asparagus went in last because they’re so delicate (10-15 minutes depending on the thickness of the asparagus stalks). We messed up the first try and ended up overcooking the haricot verts and asparagus because we forgot to set the timer.
I’ve been cooking most of our vegetables this way because it requires very little clean up due to the lack of pots and pans needed…open the bag and eat.
I did carrots at 183. Everyone agreed that they were a little over-done. I’m going to try them at 175 next time.
I think it depends on how you prep them. When I cut them into bite-sized chunks, they’re a bit over. But if I pick up the rainbow carrots from the farmers market and cut them in half lengthwise, they come out great. The shorter (dare I say, baby carrot) bunches require no cutting…just a quick peel and those have worked well for me.
I’ve not gotten into vegetables yet. Maybe in the coming week. I have a carrot recipe that I like very much. It is from Michael Robert’s Parisian Home Cooking. It is a puree made by roasting carrots in butter with fresh thyme, bay leaf, onion and chicken stock in a covered pot. When the carrots are fork tender they are pureed, after removing the bay and thyme and drain off any remaining stock, in the food processor. Your eyes tell your brain it is sweet potato on the plate but my goodness what a great flavor. I want to do it sous vide. Firm vegetables are what you want to cook that way. Something tender like greens or peas, corn etc would be a waste. I tried hard cooked eggs a week ago, just to see. It wasn’t really worth my time. I’ve never had a problem hard cooking eggs anyway. I’m going to take a look at some recipes that call for eggs and do a bit of experimenting. Last week I had a sirloin strip steak. It was vacuum sealed. I left it in the package and popped it into the pot. I thought I’d make Bearnaise sauce and realized i was out of tarragon. The steak was cooked. I just put it in the fridge to have the next day. It looked raw of course. I heated my grill pan, opened the steak to season it and grilled it quickly. It was perfectly med-rare. That could be a great offering in upper end markets. Precooked , sous vide. All the customer would need to do is take it home and give it a quick grill. As I said in my first post, shrimp are unbelievably delicious. The flavor is imcomprable. The beautiful thing is that as long as the food, like shrimp is held at the correct temperature you can’t over cook it.
We’re on Santorini, one of the Greek Islands!!! Booked a room with a “kitchen.” Well, the kitchen has a two burner hot plate, no MW, no oven, one small skillet and one medium sized pot with lid. We have some leftover lamb with potatoes from a lunch in Athens a few days ago and no really good idea how to slowly reheat. Then I thought : SV!!! So I put it in a zipping bag which is currently soaking in just hot tap water and I’ll slowly heat it later. Thanks for reminding me of this.
Tonight I made a couple of lamb steaks (cut from lamb leg). First I coated the meat with a paste of chopped rosemary, thyme, garlic, salt and olive and let it sit at room temp for 1/2 hour, then I sous vided them at 140 for 90 minutes.
When the steaks were done, I patted dry, seared in cast iron, removed and made a quick pan sauce with the meat juices and balsamic vinegar. The lamb was so juicy and rich and tender, I couldn’t believe how well it came out. It also picked up the marinade flavor very well.
Thanks for all the detail. My experiences - quite a while back - were pretty subpar.
Also posted in What’s Cookin’, but I wanted to put it here, too.
Sous vide artichokes. Prepped with a smashed garlic clove, pat of butter, lemon zest, and salt/pepper.
Bagged…
OOut of the water bath after 2 hours at 180 degrees and ready for the grill.
And done…
I probably could have left them on the grill a little longer. Hearts came out perfect, but the outer leaves were pretty tough. I might experiment with more time in the water bath next time. Served with garlic butter spiked with a little Maggi Wurze.
Maybe trim off more outer leaves?
I’ve done it since and just increased the temp to 190. That seems to have resolved it.
