Topic: Sous Vide anyone?

[PaulP]

Hi George, you are correct about bacteria:

http://www.cookingissues.com/primers/sous-vide/purdy-pictures-the-charts/

If you accidentally cooked something at 50 instead of 55 degrees you could be in the danger zone.

On that link you can see a chart for temperature vs safety. You can also see from the pictures of cooked meat and eggs how a few degrees difference can make.

I don't think you are correct about easily building a temp controller. A simple thermostat will cause the temp to oscillate above and below your set temperature. An intelligent PID like the one I use is smart enough to slow down the heating when you approach the set point.
You could build one if you are competent in electronics as several people have.

Cheers,

Paul

[chriswg]

Damn you've got me hooked on the idea now

Lamb tikka will take some thinking. The vacuum process draws out all of the air from within the meat changing the structure of it considerably. I think that would mean the marinade wouldn't be absorbed by the meat so well. Or maybe I'm wrong:

"The point of using the vacuum for marinating is that the vacuum pulls the meat fibers apart, and forces the marinade into the meat. With the VacuVin, you just give a couple of pumps, and your meat is marinated--just seconds, to get the same or better results as you would with hours of regular soaking. Basically, once the vacuum is achieved, the meat is marinated--no real time involved."

The other problem is how you get the smokey taste on lamb that falls apart - not on a skewer. Maybe one of those fish cooking BBQ tools would work.

[PaulP]

Hi Chris,

The main reasons for the vacuum in sous vide are (1) Any air pockets or bubbles will cause the bag to float (2) Any air pockets or bubbles means the heat transfer from the water bath to the contents may be compromised.

I'm not sure of the side effects on a marinade. Unless you have a chamber vacuum sealer (over