I definitely have a Sous Vide Supreme on my want list but since I recently dropped about $700 on a VitaMix set at Costoc it will probably be a while. :D One dish that really fascinates me when prepared Sous Vide is Fried Chicken. Have you tried this before? I love experimenting with new techniques to improve fried chicken and this one is very promising. (My other favorite method is pressure cooker fried chicken but that's pretty dangerous if you don't have the right equipment!) To make Sous Vide Fried Chicken soak your chicken in a strong brine for 30-40 minutes, rinse and soak in seasoned buttermilk for 8-12 hours. Season the meat with your preferred spices, maybe a little hot sauce or fresh buttermilk. Put the chicken in vacuum bags and cook at 160F for an hour. At that point you can dry the meat, coat in seasoned flour and fry it. Alternatively you can chill the meat down in ice water and hold in the fridge for quick frying later. The benefit to that method is that you can do all of the prep work for fried chicken in advance. Also, there are no worries about undercooked centers or dried meat. The chicken stays incredibly moist and the flavors really penetrate the meat. It's great if you want to cook a large amount of fried chicken for a crowd in a short amount of time. It's also good if you want to fry chicken to order. One warning though, you might want to cook the chicken to 165 though since the USDA has recently revised their meat cooking guidelines. Here is a link that might be useful: Hacking Your Slow Cooker: D.I.Y. Sous Vide Setup

Artemis_ma, I had 146 written originally, but have changed it to 148 – thank you. OT: I woke up in the middle of the night last night, literally sat up, and almost said aloud “that is artemis ma’s kitchen!” Forgive me, I didn’t remember your reveal post, but I guess it’s been in my subconscious all the while… I love your kitchen (said that a while back, but worth repeating). I even remember a family member had made or found an incredible crazy-looking langolier-like (from a Stephen King book) metal creature sculpture with eating utensils which I adored! I hear you, I’m now in TN, where the humidity makes me soaked after 10 minutes outside. I loved NM, the heat so dry… but DH is here, so I am : ) Plllog, you have a good point. I was thinking if there were followers, or later someone searching, they’d like to hear a newbie’s experiences, but yes, this is a long thread now, and many might skip over some of this invaluable information accidentally. I’ll start a new thread but include reference to this one. I’m (again) saving your comments. I need to write all this out in a notebook – writing it again will help me remember without having to look up things every time. I put a towel over and around the container with my long-cook meat yesterday and had been watching the water level like a mother hen : ) Sherri, I’ll keep your comment in mind about fast sears. See? These types of learning experiences are so helpful and I feel others can also benefit! That’s what I’d read Islay! Endive with butter and ginger? Instant gratin? My brain is in joyful overload! Bragu, I’d never have thought of that combo, ever… will now! Sleeve, I think I will start a new thread.. Yes, I will put sous vide in the title : ) “In a 'part-2' thread I'd like to hear some recipes.” – Last night I was thinking the same thing! I’ll make that request and share what I’ve got thus far (which isn’t much, but it’s a start!). Ha! There’s a very happy dog at your home! Did you smile or grumble? I’d have done both! Ah, so you use it for lunches and tacos! Or were going too.. Oh my, that London broil… I hope I’m not sous vide’ing (OK, how do you say it???) the round sirloin tip roast too long… oh well, trial and error! Sleevendog, I know I sound dense, but to clarify: You had a London broil that had been sous vide earlier, then you smoked it 45 minutes at 180-200 F to finish? Because, I’m thinking I can get (even in this heat) the weber and pellet tube at 200 F… I have yet to pre-sous vide and freeze anything – because I need to get my times and temps down before doing several at once. This is so embarrassing, but it’s the only way to learn: I looked for a London broil last Tuesday - but I was also looking for Top Round (which I also couldn’t find). Now I understand London broil is Top Round or Flank Steak or the way it’s prepared??? I bought the ‘round sirloin tip roast’ because it was cheap, and have never bought one before (it’s about the same thickness I think as Sleeve’s London Broil pic). It’s my understanding the top round is more tender than the sirloin tip, but the sirloin tip has some flavor. I’ve stared at photos of cow cuts, read multiple beef articles and my brain is now sous vide! If anyone can clarify what a London broil is, I’d appreciate it!

First try at leftovers from the freezer the other day, a pork loin roast, worked perfectly. Nice to have hot leftovers without overcooking. Less success, again, with steaks. Figured I’d try it on my kids without them knowing anything. 1.25” strips, a bit of salt, bit of avocado oil. 132° for about an hour, pan seared. As opposed to my typical pan sear, rest, oven. My daughter immediately picked up on something being different. “The juice doesn’t taste right.” I asked my son if his was ok. “Not as good as normal but it’s fine.” That was as much descriptive as I got from them. Add them to the list, as my wife never likes it either, complains about the texture. Can’t say SV steak is idiot-proof because this idiot has yet to nail it.

Thanks, bbstx, I'm going to give FOAS' method a try next. There are several reasons that I thought I'd use the pork chops for my sous vide experiments. I have quite a few of them, and since pork is not my favorite meat and it was pretty cheap, I'm not as leery about "wasting" them. They were languishing in the freezer, and I'm trying to get some freezer room for those 23 meat chickens that'll be ready to process in about 2 weeks. And, of course, the dog likes everything I mess up, LOL. So, I figure I'll keep trying different methods/temperatures/times/seasonings until I hit that "sweet spot" where Elery likes them and I think they are edible. (shrug) I am disappointed that I can't just chuck them into the sous vide in the morning, work at the farm all day and come home to a perfectly cooked chop that just needs a quick sear to be supper. It was the reason Elery wanted one, so he could do a bunch of chops/steaks/whatever and then just toss them on a grill to finish when the family was ready to eat. Unfortunately, that results in a mushy and sub-par finished product, which I did not expect after hearing others say they could "hold" a steak for 12 hours or whatever and still have it be perfect. I remember Grandma telling me that if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is, so I should have been suspicious. However, Elery wanted one and it made a good gift, so it accomplished something already, and I bought it on line, didn't have to go to a store! Mother, wants everything to be soft, so maybe she'd like it that way! Annie