Sous Vide anyone?

[PaulP]

Sous Vide has really got my attention recently. If you haven't heard of sous vide it is a cooking technique using a low temperature water oven that has a very precise temperature control. The food to be cooked (usually meat or fish) is bagged first in a vacuum sealed plastic bag and then the bag is placed in the water oven. The cooking temperatures are low in the 55 to 85 degrees C range and the cooking times can be long, upto 78 hours in some cases!

Now so far this doesn't sound very exciting or impressive but here are the advantages:

It's impossible to burn the food so you can cook a steak exactly as you like it then take out of the plastic cooking bag and sear the outside.

No loss of juices or flavour.

Tougher cuts of meat become super tender given time and the right temperature. The temps used in sous vide are hot enough to break down the tough collagen connective tissues but not hot enough to destroy the meat muscle proteins.

The food cooked in the sealed plastic bags can be chilled after sous vide and safely kept in a fridge for about 5 days. Then when you need to serve up some super tender lamb chops, porks chops, steaks , ribs etc just open the bag and sear the meat. Great for a BBQ as the meat is already perfectly cooked through and just needs an outer coating.

I was thinking it might be a way to produce a tender lamb tikka, always a challenge.

Downsides?

Price of cooker - this will be ?400+.
Some people don't like the idea of cooking in a plastic bag but the temps are low and the plastic is food grade.
But if you've been eating in decent restaurants you've probably already eaten sous vide as it is very popular commercially.

If you can sort out the electronics you can convert a slow cooker or rice cooker into a sous vide oven:

http://www.howtogeek.com/93983/hack-a-crock-pot-into-a-sous-vide-cooker/

http://www.over-engineered.com/projects/sous-vide-pid-controller/

Hope somebody finds this interesting, I would like to make one myself if possible.

Paul


Edit: Link to Amazon product first available in UK for domestic use.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/SousVide-Supreme-water-oven-plug/dp/B004LP8QCO/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1332865854&sr=8-2

Edit 2: Link to a ready built controller to use a slow or rice cooker but it's Canadian:

http://www.amazon.ca/Sous-Vide-Controller-Magic-1500D/dp/B0053Z7GIQ

Edit 3 - Bingo! I might get one of these:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Sous-Vide-Magic-Controller-FREE-WORLDWIDE-SHIPPING-/150613228801

[curryhell]

A very interesting line of enquiry Paul.  Keep us posted on how you get on.  Kind of like the idea of melt in the mouth lamb tikka.  It's kind of as rare as rocking horse do dos though, isn't it?  ;D

[loveitspicy]

We looked at this style of cooking - in fact we bought a couple of vacuum sealers and started experimenting
The guy in ye Vid seems to know what to do in re wiring and making a new cooker - his posts are everywhere on the internet

As far as tikka goes yes it would be melt in the mouth but it wouldnt have the Smokey flavour - unless you briefly cook in a tandoor or grill then vacuum seal and then cook   

best, Rich

[Lesm]

I bought my "SousVide Supreme Demi" from Lakeland 

[PaulP]

Hi Les and welcome to cr0.

I have the Sous Vide Magic controller and use a rice cooker as a water bath. So far I've had mixed results but haven't tried any BIR dishes with it yet. I was thinking of trying Blade's chicken tikka recipe from this site but I keep reading how bad fresh garlic can taste when it's been in a bag at 60 degrees for 2 hours.
Have you tried anything with raw garlic going into the bag?

Cheers,

Paul

[beachbum]

There's an Australian steak house chain called "Hogs Breath Cafe" that do this, they cook an entire rib fillet for 18 hours then cut it into thick steaks and sear. Bloody delicious. They are expanding to the UK apparently so watch out for one near you  ;D

http://www.hogsbreath.com.au/main-menu/our-menu/prime-rib-steak

[George]

Sous Vide has really got my attention recently. If you haven't heard of sous vide it is a cooking technique using a low temperature water oven that has a very precise temperature control.

Many thanks for bringing this to our attention. I'd never heard of Sous Vide before I saw your post, today. I'll try it using the  approach used on your howtogeek link, with an adapted slow cooker. I can make a thermostatic controller for 2 or 3 quid. Anyone charging GBP100 or more for one of the 'proper' cookers is taking customers for a ride. I only need to buy some vacuum bags.

[beachbum]

I'm a home brewer and have a 40L electric boiler with a temperature dial and thermostat so you can dial in any temperature up to boiling (you can get them in the UK under the "Buffalo" name. )

The thermostat isn't too accurate as they are made mostly as boilers for tea and coffee in restaurants and church halls ladies' bingo sessions, but I'll do a test run to see if I can get a steady temperature, and try it with a whole rib - need to source some vacuum bags.

I mentioned this on a home brew forum and one guy already does this with corned silverside that he cooks for 72 hours 

[PaulP]

Hi George,

If you want to try something like steak sous-vide without buying all the kit most people use an insulated food container and fill it with warm water. For a cooking time of 2 hours or so this works ok although you might need to top up with a little hot water from time to time. Other people have achieved it with a pot of water on the stove but you would need to watch it and keep adjusting the heat and stirring. Obviously you would need a thermometer.

Regarding the overpriced equipment if you are serious regarding safety and results you need to control the temperature to about plus or minus 1 degree celsius. You see a big difference between cooking a steak at 55 versus 60 degrees.

So far I'm wondering if I've wasted 200 quid like I did with my 200 quid blender that doesn't blend very well or my 100 quid bread maker that |'ve only used twice. One of the problems with sous-vide is it is designed to not overcook food. It only really works if you like your beef and lamb a bit pink and even pork and chicken can show a few pink bits which may put people off the food.

Cheers,

Paul

[George]

I mentioned this on a home brew forum and one guy already does this with corned silverside that he cooks for 72 hours 

If it works, it works but I would have expected that keeping meat at such a relatively low temperature (i.e. very high for refrigeration but very low for cooking) would produce an ideal environment for the breeding of bacteria.

It's easy and quite cheap to build an electronic thermostat which will control temperatures to 0.1 degrees C, let alone 1 degree C.