I have a question concerning sous vide cooking. For NYE, I cooked a 13oz. piece of tenderloin. The recipe from Chef Steps called for pre-searing in oil, then lightly sautéing thyme and rosemary in butter, placing everything in a bag for cooking, etc. I used a Food Saver to vacuum seal the meat and seasonings. A bit of the butter/oil/meat juice was drawn out of the bag causing me to stop the vacuuming before it was completed.

Is there a way to vacuum seal a bag containing liquid? I hung the bag off the countertop thinking that would help. Perhaps it helped, but it didn’t prevent liquid being vacuumed out of the bag.

freeze the bag with the liquid first.

dcarch

Doesn't your Food Saver have a "liquid" setting? It should. I sometimes get it wrong, thinking something is dryer than it is, but basically dry for rolled oats, wet for raw meat, especially if there's a sauce or marinade, however small, but also just the juice from the meat.

Everything I’ve read says not to add butter or liquid to your sous vide as it will pull flavor out of your meat.

You can add what you like. There are so many internet opinions about sous vide that really the only way is to experiment and keep careful notes about what works for you, the cuts you like, the results you enjoy etc....... do your own thing. I keep a spreadsheet .

For a bag with liquid, use the displacement method rather that your sous vide machine.

Yes, freeze the bag with any liquid or marinade if planning ahead, (not the meat, just the liquid) or use the displacement method like mentioned.

I rarely use anything but a dry rub with meat but do like some butter, lemon slice etc with seafood.

I have the most basic foodSaver. I just hit the seal button early if some liquid starts to travel up the pike. Steaks and burgers I give some air-dry time...un-covered in the fridge. Compound butters are in the freezer in portions so that is grab-n-go.

Can't remember if I've ever pre-seared.

Oh, that I was organized enough to plan ahead enough to freeze the liquid! Plus, the recipe that I used called for adding the fat and the pan juices from the pre-sear to the bag. It also called for a post-sear, which didn’t happen. While the tenderloin was in the sous vide, DH cleaned the stove. I didn’t have the heart to mess it up again with a post-sear.

I need to drag out my Food Saver and see if it has a wet setting.

If I were to pasteurize eggs in my sous vide set up, would I just put the eggs in the pan, or should I put them in a bag first?

No bag necessary for your eggs.

My foodSaver has the moisture button. It does not work for liquids. It is just meant for 'wet' food like a fresh wet steak, etc. Moist food.

Finally got mine out. Nope, no moisture button. Watched a YouTube video on sealing “wet“ food with my model. They suggest putting a folded paper towel between the food and the seal or better yet (drum roll, please) buying the FoodSaver bags with a built in moisture dam! I think I’ll try to plan ahead, instead.

Bbstx have you tried the deplacement method? Just put the food and liquid in a ziploc bag and gently lower it into water. The water will push the air out, then zip it up and cook. Simples!

"---deplacement method--"

You can buy inexpensive food grade weights to put inside your bag to weigh down the bag. This can make the displacement method a lot easier.

dcarch

IC, although I’m aware of the displacement method, I haven’t tried it yet . Seemed silly for me to do that when I have a FoodSaver, but I can see that there is a time and place for each method.

DC, I’ve read about putting a spoon in the bottom of the bag to weigh it down. Would the weights be better? I try not to have “one trick ponies” in my kitchen.

bbstx, the weights are specifically designed for SV use.

A spoon can create some air pockets.

I reuse SV bags. The displacement method allows you to save lots of money.

dcarch

Fillmoe, I second the Anova – love it! It has Bluetooth but I don’t bother with it, ever. Just use the manual controls. I think I got the Bluetooth model as it had a slightly higher wattage. Not necessary as it turns out. The Bluetooth was activated briefly and I found unreliable so I got rid of it. Didn’t want it anyway. As for wifi, my password is too long – it won’t except it. However again, not needed, but I can see for some cooks, it might be quite useful at times. Glad to hear you are having such success and enjoying playing!

John Liu, do you have a sous vide? Any recipes you care to share : )

Regarding pre-searing, I doubt I’d ever bother unless I’m just missing something. Perhaps to sear off extra fat that I want to use somehow in the sous vide. Bbstx, I’ve (as seen above) pre-frozen some liquids to seal in the food saver, but I’d most likely use the immersion method instead. I will admit I find the immersion method fiddly, and sometimes downright frustrating. As dcarch says, pick up some sous vide weights – very helpful! Yes, weights are better IMO. You can separately bag a spoon and place it in the bag of food, but it’s still a pain to me, having to do the immersion method with 2 bags… and I don’t like the idea of putting utensils directly in with foods for a couple reasons.

So yes, some food savers have a liquid setting but as Sleevendog explained, it’s for moist things like meats. Not liquids. Those must be frozen or left out. Mine has that setting, and I don’t find it different than the regular setting really.

I do like liquids in some of my sous vides, and I do often pre-season as well. Again, it’s a personal preference. I would not salt salmon fillets, but I do salt and use other seasonings with meats, just less than usual because after sous vide I will remove some of the seasonings as I dry the meat for searing. And pre-marinated meats are a favorite for us - again, in the above comments skirt steak marinated between 12 and 24 hours prior to sous vide.

We’ve been entirely without a kitchen now doing a renovation and I had to pack up the Anova too. Of all my kitchen ‘gadgets and tools’ the sous vide is the one I miss the most and will use the most often when I have a kitchen. I would not be without one now.

On my Twitter feed today: https://www.seriouseats.com/2017/01/how-to-insulate-sous-vide-water-bath.html Why You Should Add Ping-Pong Balls to Your Sous Vide Bath

Thanks, all. I'd almost talked myself out of buying a circulator, but I looked at the pictures at the beginning of this thread and I'm on again!

For those of you who are only now being "thanked" by me, my sincere apologies. I just noticed many were not thanked so long ago, but I remembered to click the like's. Bad 'thread hosting' on my part there.

Hi, 2Many!

That's so funny, as I was just wandering through Cooking from last year, searching for a recipe. The search function leaves much to be desired, so it took a long time, but I revisited some good times. Cheers to you!

Interesting about the ping pong balls.

Re weights, wouldn't ceramic pie weights work? I never thought of it until now, but I have way too many of those.

I have a small Igloo Cube that I use to for sous vide. Rather than cut a hole in the top, I have covered the top with plastic wrap. It is pretty disappointing. I think I’ll invest in some ping pong balls!

Mercurygirl, hi!! Yep, my searches of late have had odd results, but sometimes they take me to some interesting things!

RE: ping pong balls. I can see how they’d offer good insulation, being filled with air. The container I use has a lid that the Anova fits into, and since we’ve got extra ice chests we’ll never use, I think I’ll just cut a whole in the lid for anything large should I need that. The plastic container with the lid worked well for my one and only (thus far) long sous vide of 27 hours. I just put a towel on top of the thin lid, and though I checked on it, no issues. Those ping pong balls should work well for an ice chest one doesn’t want to cut holes into.

I am not sure why they feel PP ball is an excellent idea when there are other options.

1/2" thick foam board, cut into identical rectangles to fit your tub, will take a lot less room to store, 10 times the insulation value, easier to clean, and no evaporation.

Much cheaper too.

dcarch

dcarch, one of the reasons that they give for PP balls over a lid is that the hole in the lid funnels steam out and toward the “delicate electronics” of the circulator. I was just thinking about this. Are the electronics actually that “delicate” or is this an attempt to be overly persnicket?

It is true that digital electronics are extremely sensitive to weak electric voltage and currents leaks, and there are literally millions and millions of semi-conductor packed on a chip smaller than the "o" alphabet on your screen. Definitely moisture can fry your expensive SV tool.

There are so many holes between each PP ball to allow moisture vapor to rise, compared to custom foam board, it just makes no sense.

dcarch

The ping pong balls is the same principle as those nylon disks for keeping the heat in swimming pools. It doesn't have to be perfect coverage. I think the reason for suggesting them is a lot of people have old ping pong balls that are past bounce that they don't want to throw away. I agree that insulating board would be better, and most of the big chain hardware stores with building supplies will cut it to size for you for "free" (that's what makes the price worth going there rather than the lumber yard). You could easily put a flange around the circulator at hole in the board height and maybe make a small steam escape hole at the other end if you're really worried about steam.

I usually use something ad hoc and just check regularly to make sure the circulator is still running, the meat is still submerged and that there's enough water. I'm conservative with water, but even for the three day chuck it doesn't use so much as to worry about how much is used. :)

Plllog, could you direct me to the 3 day chuck instructions, please?

To be honest, I dislike chicken breast... always too dry and tasteless, But I did work on and create a sous vide recipe for it that keeps it moist enough to enjoy and eat. Since I am now raising my own chickens, wasting food is not something I want to do.

https://goatsandgreens.wordpress.com/2018/03/23/poultry-plans-sous-vide-chicken-breast-sauce-recipe/

Came up with this, and if you sous vide, give it a try.

Artemis-ma, thank you! I've saved your recipe : ) As it has bacon and onion DH will love this, as it has spinach and mushrooms I will love it, and as it has all, we both will love it. Question - DH won't touch goat cheese, and frankly I'm finding our grocery store goat cheese far too strong (unlike that which I used to get in New Mexico). Rather than coconut milk, would there be another cheese (I'm thinking perhaps not, nothing really resembles goat cheese in flavor and texture) or should I just leave that ingredient out? By the way, it never occurred to me to try bacon in sous vide, which makes not sense as it does add such lovely flavor.

I agree, many recipes with chicken breasts are often dry. I've got an Instant Pot Butter Chicken that is tender and moist, but that's a rarity. Sous Vide changes the game for me on many proteins.

There are lots of bad recipes for everything, but there are plenty of ways of making chicken breasts which are good and not dry! Though, of course, sous vide is dead easy. ;) I think you could substitute any semi-soft cheese with a good moisture content for the goat, though I haven't made that recipe and don't know how important the tang is.

Bbstx, It was something I read that Kenji did and someone (probably Dcarch) had mentioned. I think it was actually a different write up, and I was only using it as a general guide rather than following the recipe, but I found this on Google: \https://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2016/08/sous-vide-smoked-barbecue-bbq-beef-chuck-recipe.html

You might also find me nattering about it in the threads from Spring a couple of years ago, but I didn't find any details. I ordered 18 lbs of bison and they gave me a whole shoulder. :) I had to whack it into chunks to get it into the bags, and I don't remember if I seasoned it first. What I remember, and what I did find that I shared here, was that after the 36 hours in the water, I let the meat rest about half an hour, sloshed on some low sugar, tomato-y barbecue sauce (the one I made for FOAS) and put it in a low oven for a couple of hours. The reason for the sauce is mostly to keep the edges from drying out too much and getting hard. I'm sure beef would be good, but bison is even better!

Ping-pong balls makes perfect sense. We just need to slow down evaporation. They just roll aside when removing any packages. They dry quickly and store in the container. (and they look kinda cool). Styrofoam is cheap and free in many delivery packages. I use them as well but mostly for seed starting and macro-greens to raise different trays growing at a slower pace so I never need to touch my light banks.

I just bought a hig, cheap, plastic box with a lid, cut a hole in the lid, and wrap a tea towel round the gap that absorbs any moisture. Cover with towels/blanket to insulate and voila! Cheap. No water loss.

Bbstx, I've found the best recipes, times etc are here.

https://www.chefsteps.com

Thanks, IC. I’ve used Chef Steps before and been pleased. I was just wondering if plllog had a T&T recipe for her chuck roast.

I am curious about any roast-size chunk of meat. When reading Douglas Baldwin’s advice on Sous Vide, I was under the impression that meat should never be more than 2.75” thick. Chef Steps shows lots of roasts that appear more than 2.75” thick, such as this https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/reconstructed-roast (I don’t think I’d ever “reconstruct” a roast, but it was interesting to read about.) What is safe?

Blind trust of Kenji? I'm guessing that the thickness thing is about how quickly done it gets vis-a-vis potential to go mushy. You'd have to overcook chuck to a faretheewell to get mushy! :) But that's also where the three days in the circulator comes in, I'm guessing. To get the middle up to temperature and have the connective tissue of the chuck dissolving. That's why we low and slow it always. You wouldn't want to do that to a chateau! I can just imagine what that would be like! (hint: gross).

I almost never sous vide single portions. I've made a lot of rolled turkey breasts sous vide, that's 3-6" thick. The bison chuck pieces were a lot bigger than that, though they also were in the oven for hours, and it's no biggie if the middle of the beef is pink (but I don't think it was any different than the rest). :) Recently, I did a whole turkey breast with bones. No problem.

If I'd have read Baldwin rather than just kind of charging forward and doing my own thing, I probably wouldn't have taken up sous vide at all. I'm not going to bother for something I could just throw in a pan and finish in half an hour!

I've cooked thicker than that and am here to tell the tale. Frankly I just find chefsteps more serious than many other sites.

Like Islay, I've also cooked thicker (roasts) with no issues. 4-5" thick if memory serves correctly. Thus far, my SV times have been dependent on the cut of meat, not the thickness.

ETA: That's in the thawed state, of course.

I agree, 2many. I do with temp for the degree of cooking and time for tenderness.

I claim almost no experience except what I sometimes remember from here. But I recently got a sous vide device and just had very good results from a partial chuck roast that seems right on point for this section of the thread because of its focus on chuck sous vide time of 24 hour or more timing and the above link to restructure of meat.

I can't seem to find any sources for an old memory (long before the cooking forum) that said a portion of the chuck was actually steak tender. I believe it is this muscle group directly over and to the right of the 'usda inspected' label in the following pic.

I would guess that 4-5 hours would have been sufficient time for this piece of meat. Yes, I knew about dcarch's suggestion to open the bag, but I didn't. Perhaps I will try searing first and then a bag check will seem more appealing. When picking a chuck roast, I often try to find the one containing a larger section of that muscle group; it varies.

Chas045, have I circled the portion of the chuck roast you are referring to?

I did a trial run of the chuck do with what the butcher calls a "chuck steak" but I think it's just a slab off the chuck. I may be wrong. It's bigger than the part Bbstx circled, but smaller than the pictured piece of meat. It worked great in the bath, but got way too dried out on the edges in the oven (stand-in for smoker). I borrowed my father's meat saw for the actual day, but the sauce was sufficient to keep the crust tender. It's not very assertive, so the tomato and bit of sugar did their thing without really doing anything to the flavor. Just a little extra umami and moisture.

@bbxtx: No; the portion directly below your circled part that begins under the label, extends rightward and then upwards and again to the right making a leaning 'S' shape. It is often much smaller.

Since there seems to be some renewed interest by those who’ve yet to try sous vide, thought I’d add a few comments/observations…

For me, the most wonderful thing about sous vide is the ability to take a cheap cut of meat and make it tender and tasty – and cook it to perfect mid-rare (our preference). Whether it’s Select steaks on sale for DH and I to enjoy and feel as if we’re dining on quality steak on a weeknight, or finding some cut at the grocery which I’ve no idea what it is and SV’ing, then slicing for a fantastic lunch meat or a quick dinner sandwich… it’s amazing what the SV can do with cheap cuts…

Second most wonderful thing for me: Bulk SV’ing (thanks to Sleevendog). I SV and freeze several pork chops to thaw, reheat in the SV, sear and serve; chicken to make salads and sandwiches. And DH’s favorite weeknight meal:

Several cheap steaks in bags of 2, mass SV’d to desired doneness. Drop in ice bath, label, then freeze. I only need to remove a couple from the freezer, pop in the SV at one degree under the temp initially cooked, it thaws and reheats in about 45 minutes, and meanwhile I whip up a quick sauce, some veggies, and finish by searing off which also helps to heat the steaks. Makes for an easy weeknight meal. Below is a Select New York Strip, little to no marbling (uber-cheap cut), with a (too thick) peppercorn sauce. It was quite good!

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And my embarrassing confession: I can prepare fish and seafood… but for some reason I can’t consistently make it come out perfectly cooked. Sometimes my shrimp or scallops are a wee bit on the too done side. Same with salmon (as mentioned above). Sure, should be easy for many, but for me? Eh. So SV to the rescue. I made this scallop dish last summer and while the scallops were in the SV for their 30 minutes I fried up baby kale, baked my maple glazed bacon, sliced the tomatoes and avocados, and made a sauce for BLT Scallops. Seared off the scallops for 15 seconds, sliced in half, assembled, and they were perfection. To those who scoff and say they can sear a scallop in moments, I say great for you, but I can’t and know beyond any doubt they won’t be under cooked or overcooked. With SV I can : )

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fillmoe, and anyone else interested, have fun and enjoy!

Yesterday, I made sous vide country style pork "ribs" on sous vide, 9.5 hours at 156 F. I used 2 lbs of the pork, so I have plenty as leftovers. I pre-seared because I had a marinate I didn't want to pat off afterwards (I think it more important for steaks, chops and fish to post-sear).

Very good, not mushy (some sources say run this for 18 hours or such.... I'm glad I did not.)

Having a small bit for breakfast as I type...

I have yet to try sous vide from the frozen state.

Ribs for breakfast! YUM!!

I did pork spare ribs on Sunday, I make a sauce with ketchup, soy, honey, garlic and a little Worcester. I brushed the ribs with a little sauce, bagged on the set setting and cooked at 74°C , 165F, for 8 hours, and finished in the oven with the rest of the sauce till sticky. Tender and delicious.

All right, I posted my sous vide recipe for country-style pork ribs this morning. Very happy with them! This one used a pre-sear. There's a place for doing that.

Here ya go:

https://goatsandgreens.wordpress.com/2019/01/18/sous-vide-country-style-pork-ribs/

artemis_ma, thank you so much for posting your recipe : ) Though I prefer ribs on the grill throughout, there are many times I've thawed ribs and wish to prepare them but it's raining... this is perfect for those times!

Question for Anova owners: What do you do with your immersion cooker after you have finished cooking? I usually dry mine off and let it set out overnight to dry thoroughly before I put it away. I did the same last night, but when I picked it up to store it, water came out. Not much, maybe a teaspoonful, but more than I want to have in the box I store it in.

bbstx, I allow mine to cool if needed, remove the silver outside cylinder, remove the plastic cap on the end (just to wash), and give them a sudsy bath and rinse. That's if I've not done so time before last (otherwise I just give it a quick wipe). I let the rest air dry (being careful with the propeller part), and put it back together to store.

Did you take off the plastic thingy? That might have held some water.

2Many, I didn’t know the plastic thing or the “skirt” would come off until I went to the Anova website earlier today! Up until now, I figured the gizmo was only touching water so I didn’t think it needed cleaning.

Before mine arrived I was so excited I was looking at every video I could find... I actually ran across a random video showing it being taken apart, and that's the only way I knew :) As for cleaning, I don't always. I most often just give it a wipe and dry : )

I think over time some may experience calcium build-up, so taking the plastic thing off might be a good idea if you soak it in a vinegar solution. Our water here is hard, so I at least try to keep it dried off after removing it from the water.