Basically it is cooking with hot water instead of hot air, and at much lower temperatures. Water transfers heat much better/faster so instead of cooking at 350 in an oven, you can cook at say 130 in the water. The advantage is it cooks evenly and the food will reach equilibrium with the water temp. This allows you to cook at the desired finish temp and not worry about missing the sweet spot. Do you like steak medium rare? Cook at 130-135 and it will be perfect every time. Prefer medium well, try 145. Whatever you choose, it will be exactly that doneness edge to edge every time whether you take it out after 90 minutes or four hours. The next advantage is reliable pasteurization. While most bacteria will die instantly at 165, they will also die after a few minutes at 150, slightly longer at 140, and in around 45 minutes at 130. So, instead of stringy dried out chicken breast cooked to 165, with Sous Vide, you can cook it at 140 for 1.5-4 hours and it will be perfectly safe and MUCH juicier. Same with pork tenderloins which are easy to overcook with other methods. Also note the timing is very broad. You have a big window so you don’t need to perfectly predict when your guests are ready to sit down for dinner. Just pull the bag when they are ready, give it a quick sear and serve. As for the bags, most of the time you don’t want the food getting wet and losing flavor to the water so we cook in either vacuum bags or ziplocks. The meat is still wet when it comes out due to its own juices being released, so you often will want to pay dry and apply a quick sear. And yes, it isn’t just for meat. Eggs, veggies, fruits, desserts etc. can all be cooked SV. Mashed potatoes are an excellent example because they don’t lose flavor to the water, and you can clip the corner and pipe them out if you want a fancier presentation.
No pics, but with a lasagna and turkey to cook and only one oven, I pressed the Weber Kettle into service yesterday. Turkey came out fantastic, but the juices were still pretty pink when I went to cut out the drumstick, and the bottom of the breast looked a touch underdone even though the thermometer in the thigh was up to 175, and I confirmed temp in multiple spots with my digital oven probe before pulling. Took just about 100 minutes at 350F for a 13lb bird. All dark meat will be going into a pot pie or soup in the next few days.
Thanks for the explanation of sous vide gang. I was reading along and didnt know what the heck it was. I all of a sudden want one.
Your temps sound good to me although I went with 180f for the thigh and 165f for the breast on last nights smoked turkey (probably splitting hairs, not sure how much difference 5f makes). For me it was 5 hours in a bradley at 200f over apple. I find with smoking turkey the meat looks a bit pink compared to an oven bird but I still think its good to go with your gut feel, Ive experienced the same thing when cutting into the drumstick but not last night. Did you finish it off in the oven or just go with it? There is a good reason to finish the bird in the oven anyways... it allows the skin to crisp up instead of being all rubbery. I would have done this last night but as it was my bird was the perfect temperature so we just tented it for 15 minutes and then ate.
Chuck roasts came out really great. Cooked at 140 for 30 hours and then brushed with a egg wash and rubbed with rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper. Into the oven for 15 minutes at 475 to make the herbs nice and crusty. Also made a wonderful jus from all the juices in the bag, just simmer it down a bit and add a little beef stock. I would cook them a bit lower next time, maybe like 132 or so. The beef was unbelievably tender still just not quite as rare as I like. Everyone was raving about it though and couldn’t believe it was a chuck roast so it was a hit.
Getting ready to pull it out of the smoker, wrap, and let it rest. Don’t know for how long. The wife says it would be nice to get it all done before the evenings festivities!!
Threw some jerky in today. Local market had top round for 2.29 a pound. Picked up about 9 pounds. After trimming put 8 into the smoker, let’s see what I net.
Almost 3 pounds. Plan on giving some to the neighbor and taking some to work Wednesday. Fresh smoked jerky usually doesn’t last too long around here though.
We are having some friends over on Thursday so I’m making smoked shredded beef with smoked Swiss or Horseradish cheese from Wisconsin to go on top. I’m deciding between toasted slider buns or toasted hoagie buns. They were marinated in Dales seasoning for a day or so then on the smoker for for 4-6 hours. I’ll toss them in the crock pot before I go to bed and let them simmer in some beef broth. Shred in the morning and reheat in the evening. I am using a mix of Cherry and Pecan smoke this time. I hope it isn’t too mild.
Thanks. That was all beef cut a little thicker, maybe 1/4”. Took 4.5-6 hours at 180 with white oak. Had to keep rotating trays and take pieces off at different times due to hot spots in the smoker. I’m pleased how it came out. And because I do everything in excess(so I’ve been told) I went out and bought 10 more pounds of beef yesterday and defrosted 2 pound venison roast. Got 1/2 on smoker now, half tomorrow night.
Looks great OhioStihl. I’ve never used the Dale marinade before but have a friend who loves it. I’m sure whatever kind of cheese you choose will be delicious however I am partial to a nice sharp white cheddar. Can’t remember if I saw it mentioned here or what but I saw someone mention “pepper stout beef”. Looked it up and saved the recipe. Going to give that a go one day soon.
Was at Costco the other day and picked up a whole Prime Brisket for $3.99 a pound. The choice was $5.99. Couldn’t believe it.
