I picked up a sous vide rack and a container on amazon but before that I just used a paper binding clip to secure it to the side of the spaghetti pot I used.
I picked up almost 4# of top sirloin steaks yesterday for $8.60, marked down from $21. They're going in the sous vide this afternoon.
From what I read about an hour. We will be eating around 6 so I can leave it going until right before dinner is served. edit that’s not clear. The nice part about the sous vide is you can leave something going for a long time with out it overcooking.
That was the right thing to do! Ya gotta season most things for best results. Now if you buy the pricey pre-marinated stuff you can dump it right in, but I think my own seasoning is better and cheaper. I got my 3rd Anova about 18 months ago, so needless to say I am a big fan of Sous vide! I mostly use 12 and 16 quart plastic containers and a 32 quart Coleman cooler, depending on the size and shape of the items getting cooked. Some counterintuitive tips for the new folks: 1) no extra fats in the bag for meats (ok for veggies). You would think butter it the bag would add flavor but it actually pulls out fat soluable flavor compounds. Add the butter or olive oil in the searing process when done with the bath. 2) granulated garlic or garlic powder gives better flavor than fresh or minced garlic. I don’t know why but a lot of testing confirms this. 3) Some smells and flavors can permeate the bag. I cooked up a large bunch of garlic cloves once and nearly had to evacuate the house! Had to carry the setup out to my barn with watering eyes! When I pre-smoke brisket and finish SV the water will discolor and get a smokey smell. 4) traditional vacuum sealers like the food savers are not lifetime machines so don’t spend too much on them. I google for refurb units and get them for $30-$40. So far my refurbished ones have lasted longer than the ones I bought new for triple the price. 5) Chamber vacs are much better with liquids, but I never see them at a price I am willing to pay. If you ever find a cheap source, please let me know! I have used all sorts of techniques for searing and I have a new one in transit. I will post a review of the Su-V Gun from GrillBlazer (I was an early Kickstarter backer because...well, it promises to shoot flames, duh!) when it arrives.
Next time try 135 for 1.5 to 4 hours. It is pink which is a mental block for some but fully pasteurized and safe due to the time. The texture is amazing and a favorite at my house after everyone got over their fears of medium rare pork.
Hard to change one's way of thinking but it's worth it. Here's a good read. Cook Pork Perfectly Without Burning Your Dinner
It is a good read for other cooking methods but the rules are different for SV. Killing bacteria and parasites is a function of both temperature AND time. Bacteria will die instantly at 160 which is where you have to go on a hot and fast cook, but it will also die at 130 if held there long enough and that’s exactly what we do with SV. So, you can cook your pork as rare as 130 and still be just as safe as 145 or 160, including ground pork if you cook it long enough. 135 is the sweet spot (in my opinion) for pork tenderloins, a little higher for tougher cuts. And not just pork either! Do you like Caesar dressing, raw cookie dough, or home made mayo, but worry about salmonella in raw eggs? The proteins in an egg won’t firm up until well over 13t so you can use SV to make pasteurized “raw” in the shell eggs! (in the bath at 135 for at least 75 minutes). Chicken breasts at 140 for 2+ hours are another game changer. Juicy tender and no stringy sawdust texture!
Timely discussion in the Sous Vide thread! We just made pork tenderloin last night; 130F for a little over an hour. We finished it off in a cast iron pan and served it in a pan sauce. The texture is amazing. Serious Eats has a good temp guide for pork tenderloin here: Sous Vide Pork Tenderloin Recipe I second Matt Fine's comments; cooking chicken Sous Vide is a game changer.
That chart says 1-4 hours....seems pretty vague.....is it done at 1 hr or 4? Cant really temp it with an instant read
