While I have yet to set up a sous vide apparatus, it is on my to do list, specifically so that I can pasteurize eggs for a couple of applications. We raise chickens and they are pampered and healthy. Still, I think pasteurization is a good idea for Caesar salad, mayonnaise, etc. I have this book, recommended by a GWer, but here is an online link (I hope). Perhaps this is your book? Too bad this link doesn't show how the 75 minute at 135 looks. Some photos here. Also, wouldn't the type and size of the egg matter? Here is a link that might be useful: Baldwin on sous vide This post was edited by kitchendetective on Fri, Apr 4, 14 at 17:42

Very interesting post, FOAS. Thank you for taking the time to do the experimentations/investigations. Your efforts definitely will further everyone's knowledge in this Forum. Ultimately that is a very important part for the participation here. It is interesting that you have had mixed results. Let's look at it this way; at least it was not a total lost for you. Obviously your experience is not the same as mine. That is not to say that you have done anything wrong or you don't have good taste. Eating experience is very subjective and details for preparation can be unpredictable. I have been luckier. I have sous vided many kinds of foods. As I can remember, the biggest failure I had was with squid. My timing was wrong and the squid turned into mush. Otherwise all meats, all seafood; lobsters, clams, fish, scallops --- all were from good to fantastic. Unlike you, I had great results with shrimps, but I did my shrimps at 138 F for 25 minutes, and I was able to get very fresh shrimps, not the chemically treated ones you now find in stores. I can only suggest to you, given that fact that if you search the WEB you will realize the practice of sous vide cooking is more than just a fashion trend, that you may want to play with it a few time times before giving up. I am not going to discredit Jonathan Gold's opinion about sous vide, after all he is a Pulitzer-price winning writer. However, I do humbly disagree that a perfectly cooked piece of meat is by definition boring. No one eats a steak directly as it comes out from the cooker, there are other preparation steps before the steak is to be served. Off-topic, I noticed that Costco is now selling sous vide cookers. I must point out again that sous vide only guarantees that you will not overcook or undercook your food, but it cannot guarantee that your food will taste good. It is like having a fancy grill will not automatically give you great BBQ. I might also add that sous vide cooking for chefs is not necessarily easier than regular cooking, but that's another topic all together. dcarch

Yeh, I was wishing it was deeper but went ahead and bought it because it looked like it would be easy to set up and the price was right. After I got it home, I remembered that I have one of those kettle type warmers down in the basement...much smaller, of course & I haven't dug it out to see if it's much deeper. I was thinking that I would insulate the top some way....at first I was concerned that the rim would be too hot. Now I realize that shouldn't be a concern because the element is on the bottom and the rim won't be any hotter than the water. (Unlike if you're using a Nesco.) Now, can you point me to some directions on how to wire the relay? (And what to buy.) This spring I wired up a PID to control my seedling mats and noted on some of the blogs that they recommended using a relay. (I think those were prolly on the home brewing applications.) Others didn't mention it so I went without. Obviously, I'm pretty much electronics ignorant so I need to have a 'For Dummies' tutorial! Oh, and muchas gracias, DC!

Yes, crispy brown comes from dry heat. There are a few ways of doing it, but as you surmise, it happens outside of the actual sous vide cook. The advantage is that it's cooked 100% through and through to the temperature of your choice while sous vide. There's no perfect sear with blue raw meat happening. For a steak, it's often sous vide cooked, all the way through, then removed from the pouch, juices dried off, then seared in a screaming hot pan. You don't have to hold back the searing temperature, because the meat is thoroughly cooked. This is how the famous "edge to edge" is achieved. There's the dark caramelized sear edge, but no ring of brown, dryer interior and pink center. Just the desired doneness, color and texture all the way. You can make red meat "well done" this way, as in killing pathogens, while still having the soft texture of medium rare. You can also cook it at a higher temperature if you want a firmer texture. It's the temperature setting you're cooking to, not the time, though, of course, higher temperatures still take a bit longer. For other uses you can also do "reverse", where you sear first and then seal sous vide and cook with the circulator. I forget when that is done. That wouldn't be for crisp, of course. You can use sous vide ("under vacuum") to hurry marinades. That's just sealing it in the bag with the vacuum machine, not cooking it. One of the catering joys of sous vide is that on Wednesday, when you receive your poultry order, you can prep Friday's skinless chicken breasts, including the flavorings and herbs, vacuum seal and refrigerate them, then put them in the circulator to cook a few hours before service. When you're approaching time to plate, you can remove them to a sheet pan and put them in the oven for five minutes to brown, or just plate them with a sauce. You're never going to get crisp skin sous vide. All the moisture is held inside, which is great for the flesh, but doesn't dry the skin, which is what makes it crisp. You're not going to get fond, either. There's no Maillard reaction. But you can also just roast off some trimmings and make a pan full of fond. This is where cooking sous vide at home parts with catering. There isn't enough fond in catering to do the job so you're making it anyway. At home, it's a side benefit. Other than to try recipes before serving to company, I don't bother with sous vide for just us. There's no point when I have so many other tools. If you go to the Anova website, you can find all kinds of recipes using their circulators that seem a bit ridiculous, like making cakes in mason jars. As experiments in what you can do, however, they're interesting, and could inform a decision later. The great thing about an immersion circulator that you use with your own vessel, like I have, is that you have an instant spare oven. But what if one kid has football practice, another has show choir, and the third has cub scouts. Besides screaming, you need to chauffeur them and feed them after the boys get home and before the girl leaves. There's drive thru. Ugh. Or crockpot. Or, if like me you have two circulators, you can set your chicken and potatoes to cook sous vide before the scout meeting and have your salad ready, and by the time coats are off and backpacks stowed, everybody's eating a wholesome, perfect temperature, dinner together, whenever you got home, and all your time going to eating it and talking to the kids, rather than fixing the meal up (even microwaving or other reheating takes time) and being late to choir. It's just a tool. There are other ways to achieve what you need to achieve, and people have been cooking for thousands of years without it. I think it was invented a bit over 200 years ago.