Anyone here do any sous vide cooking? I have a sous vide for heating sparge water. I have heard that steaks are amazing when done sous vide and seared. Have been doing a little research on it.
@Craigerrr : Yes, we cook almost all meats with the sous vide, then finish them on a hot grill. You can cook most anything like this, but I've not experimented with vegetables, etc. yet.
We buy Costco steaks, vacuum seal and freeze them. 1.5 hours in the sous vide at 133.5 F gets them from frozen to medium, then 2 minutes on each side on a 600F grill (little sale & pepper sprinkled on) and there's good to go. What's nice is that 1.5 hours or 5.5 hours, they come out the same - almost impossible to overcook.
Boneless chicken, same thing, but at 150 F. Pork chops, 140 F. A few degrees difference (with beef) makes a lot of difference in degree of doneness, so tread lightly. Pork and chicken shouldn't be rare, ever... Oh, and ribs! 2 hours sous vide, 2 hours of smoke, some sauce or rub, a few minutes to crisp them outsides, and wow.
You can also finish anything in a hot pan instead of the grill: The goal is some Maillard reactions, thus browning the meat. Un-browned meat is kind of gray, tastes fine but looks unappetizing.
Some season the meat before packaging & freezing; I prefer to do this after.
Oh, and sparge water at 170F is not bad either!
She did a great beef stew tonight. Amazing how quick it was to cook. Thinking I might end up liking this thing for Winter cooking. The old bones don't take to the cold like they used to.
