Sous Vide cooking, What are the Pros and Cons?

[heavychevy]

Sous Vide Power Precision Cooker Amazon product

this is the first one I had. It’d still be around but I got drunk and tried to do 20 steaks in a cooler and it tipped and shorted out. I got 2 more of a similar make on a groupon like 3 days after mine failed out of pure chance.

easy to use, accurate, smaller price tag.

 

[grengadgy]

Dried beans? My parents primary use of the pressure cooker.

No, mostly on those tough cuts of beef, stew beef. But really on anything....after all a pressure cooker is simply a manual insta-pot.
On canning tomatoes and green beans, been canning them for 50 years in my 20 quart pressure canner.

 

[grengadgy]

Sous Vide Power Precision Cooker Amazon product

this is the first one I had. It’d still be around but I got drunk and tried to do 20 steaks in a cooler and it tipped and shorted out. I got 2 more of a similar make on a groupon like 3 days after mine failed out of pure chance.

easy to use, accurate, smaller price tag.

Amazon doesn't like for you to post pictures.

 

[grengadgy]

So Sous Vide is used to cook the perfect steak .

"Why cook sous vide? The results are obvious. Take these two tenderloin steaks, for example. They’ve both been cooked to 130ºF (medium-rare), but they look strikingly different. The steak on the left has been cooked using the Anova Precision Cooker and then quickly seared before serving. The steak on the right was seared on the stove-top and finished in a hot oven. The steak cooked sous vide has a few distinct advantages: First, it is medium rare almost completely from edge-to-edge. (There is a small, millimeter-thick browned edge that results from searing the steak to finish.) The steak cooked using the traditional method is medium-rare in the center, but has a thick, overcooked band around the edges. Second, the muscle fibers in the sous vide steak are smooth and still full of delicious, beefy juice. The steak on the right has contracted and lost some of its moisture. The grain is more fully defined and less tender. Third, if you're cooking a steak with a defined fat cap (like a ribeye or strip steak), you'll definitely want to choose the sous vide option — the fat on a sous vide steak is tender and flavorful, while the fat on a traditionally cooked steak is tough and gristly."

 

[jdh5484]

Not familiar with Sous Vide cooking at all. Lets say I have 3 steaks that need to be cooked to a different doneness. Say - med, med well and well. Can you do all those at one time? Just remove the med, then crank up the heat for med well etc?

Damn you guys. I may get ANOTHER gizmo.

 

[grengadgy]

Not familiar with Sous Vide cooking at all. Lets say I have 3 steaks that need to be cooked to a different doneness. Say - med, med well and well. Can you do all those at one time? Just remove the med, then crank up the heat for med well etc?

Damn you guys. I may get ANOTHER gizmo.

I'm new at this also. My new air fryer had a sous vide setting so I just threw in a tough cut(london broil] and it turned out delicious , medium rare and tender after cooking 24 hours in a 140 degree water bath. So I am asking questions. Your problem with the 3 steaks is a good question. My problem has always been keeping the steaks rare/medium rare while incendiration one or two well-done and this is the answer for that.

 

[heavychevy]

Not familiar with Sous Vide cooking at all. Lets say I have 3 steaks that need to be cooked to a different doneness. Say - med, med well and well. Can you do all those at one time? Just remove the med, then crank up the heat for med well etc?

Damn you guys. I may get ANOTHER gizmo.

I would say do your final sear a little lower temp and a tad longer to get the more well done to your liking rather than turn the Sv up

 

[jdh5484]

I'm new at this also. My new air fryer had a sous vide setting so I just threw in a tough cut(london broil] and it turned out delicious , medium rare and tender after cooking 24 hours in a 140 degree water bath. So I am asking questions. Your problem with the 3 steaks is a good question. My problem has always been keeping the steaks rare/medium rare while incendiration one or two well-done and this is the answer for that.

London Broil tender? Yeppers ... its looking like immersion heater is going to be a purchase pending the different doneness question. I like mine med rare to med, another family member likes dead, nuked, leather. Can I do both in the same pot and have the well done ready and have the med still warm? Guess it depends on how much water is being heated.

 

[jdh5484]

I would say do your final sear a little lower temp and a tad longer to get the more well done to your liking rather than turn the Sv up

I wonder if that additional lower temp sear defeats the purpose? Has anyone here actually cooked two steaks for the same meal ( say 1" - 1.5" thick) with one being med rare and one well ?

 

[grengadgy]

N

Damn you guys. I may get ANOTHER gizmo.

After input from Heavy, Alex and GatorFl I just bought 2 more gizmos. I ordered an immersion circular and a vacuum sealer. :)

 

[heavychevy]

I wonder if that additional lower temp sear defeats the purpose? Has anyone here actually cooked two steaks for the same meal ( say 1" - 1.5" thick) with one being med rare and one well ?

You get what you get and you don’t pitch a fit. At least that’s what my motto is.

I don’t associate with well done folks.

 

[grengadgy]

I wonder if that additional lower temp sear defeats the purpose? Has anyone here actually cooked two steaks for the same meal ( say 1" - 1.5" thick) with one being med rare and one well ?

I think that you might be missing this point. Throw 2 bagged steaks into 130 degree water cook for 2 hours and take 1 out. Then cook the other steak another 2 hrs(total 4 hrs). They both will be medium rare but the 4 hr steak will be more tender..

Is this right Heavy?

 

[grengadgy]

London Broil tender? Yeppers ... its looking like immersion heater is going to be a purchase pending the different doneness question. I like mine med rare to med, another family member likes dead, nuked, leather. Can I do both in the same pot and have the well done ready and have the med still warm? Guess it depends on how much water is being heated.

Again it's the temperature of the water that determines the doneness.

 

[grengadgy]

All of this sous vide cooking blows the mind when thinking conventional cooking temperatures .

 

[heavychevy]

I think that you might be missing this point. Throw 2 bagged steaks into 130 degree water cook for 2 hours and take 1 out. Then cook the other steak another 2 hrs(total 4 hrs). They both will be medium rare but the 4 hr steak will be more tender..

Is this right Heavy?

This is correct.
If you want two steaks at different temps, the exact same cooking time and exact same sear, you’ll need 2 Sv machines. if you can be flexible in your schedule and or sear method, you can absolutely get a well done steak from the same tub as a rare steak, you’ll just need to sear it a bit longer or, take your rare steak out, crank the sv to well temp and sear the same. I would imagine most sv can get to temp in less than 5-10 min, You’d need to experiment a bit with how long it would take the steak to get to your desired temp.

I don’t think that would be the method I would choose.

I don’t notice texture/tenderness differences until I get around 12 hour + in the bath. It’s very minimal past that though.

 

[grengadgy]

"While your steak cooks, you can prepare your side dishes, take your dog for a walk, or practice playing the accordion. You can't overcook your steak*. Because the water bath is set to the same temperature you want the food to reach, it can't overcook! With sous vide cooking, precise timing is no longer a consideration."

 

[jdh5484]

You get what you get and you don’t pitch a fit. At least that’s what my motto is.

I don’t associate with well done folks.

My 92 year old Dad. Now that you mention it... well done sucks anyway, so who cares if the extra sear time ruins the purpose. Lol. I doubt Dad would taste the difference anyway.

 

[jdh5484]

This is correct.
If you want two steaks at different temps, the exact same cooking time and exact same sear, you’ll need 2 Sv machines. if you can be flexible in your schedule and or sear method, you can absolutely get a well done steak from the same tub as a rare steak, you’ll just need to sear it a bit longer or, take your rare steak out, crank the sv to well temp and sear the same. I would imagine most sv can get to temp in less than 5-10 min, You’d need to experiment a bit with how long it would take the steak to get to your desired temp.

I don’t think that would be the method I would choose.

I don’t notice texture/tenderness differences until I get around 12 hour + in the bath. It’s very minimal past that though.

Thanks. You answered the question. I think I'll buy one, try the 12 hour well done, and see if its really that much better than a regular cooked one. If it is, I'll buy another for the med-well, well done yahoos. If not, I'll just buy one a sear the well done one longer. Thanks for the input.

I have a blackstone griddle to break in first though .

 

[jdh5484]

Again it's the temperature of the water that determines the doneness.

I understand that. My question was really how long it would take to go from a med temp water to a well done temp water ... ans from Heavy was probably 5 to 10 mins, then however long to cook. That really puts it out of the time frame for the same meal. Probably.

 

[jdh5484]

Sous Vide Power Precision Cooker Amazon product

this is the first one I had. It’d still be around but I got drunk and tried to do 20 steaks in a cooler and it tipped and shorted out. I got 2 more of a similar make on a groupon like 3 days after mine failed out of pure chance.

easy to use, accurate, smaller price tag.

Who hasn't !