Being able to portion, prepare, and store proteins in bulk without having to check in on it constantly is one of its main advantages. It also is very precise, so it’s hard to overcook something and does cook things very well.
I use it once a month on average, mainly for chicken thigh, beef shank, and pork shoulder. If you don’t need to cook multiple portions, have lots of free time, or prefer to shop, prep, and cook daily then you may end up using it less.
Made mashed potatoes a day ahead for Xmas eve and kept them at temp for 24 hours…squeeze them out of the bag and ready to go.
What I find myself using it for mostly is cooking chicken, salmon and eggs.
It’s not something you can’t live without but it is something that is incredibly useful for certain dishes and is necessary for some specific preps.
I get this in under 10 minutes. 40 minutes??? 2-3hrs?? For a freaking steak? I’m glad you guys have time to plan 3 hrs+ ahead then stand around waiting for dinner. Do you work?
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Sous vide has revolutionized my cooking. I think most of the reasons why have been covered by other comments below. It has some disadvantages and some advantages, just like any other cooking technique. But it does allow you to do things that are impossible, or at least difficult, to do any other way. And allows perfect reproducibility, no matter how inexperienced or incompetent a cook I am lol.
BTW, it’s great if you an cook the perfect steak every time on the grill. You’ve obviously practiced enough. For those of us who haven’t got it down to a science but still want a perfect temp steak 100 out of 100 times, sous vide is a godsend, especially in a party setting. Being able to cook things in advance, and then re-therm, finish and serve (with no loss in quality), makes things so much easier.
Here’s a couple of sous vide dishes from a 5-course dinner party this past weekend:
Confit Moulard duck leg (sous vide for 16 hours, broiled, then Searzall to crisp skin) with ginger-chili glaze, sushi rice, and sous vide Petite Shanghai bok choy in soy-vinegar sauce
Sous vide Pot de Creme with BLiS bourbon barrel-aged maple syrup, Hawaiian black lava salt…this was absolutely to die for!
Recipes from ChefSteps (makes of the Joule immersion circulator), which is an excellent resource: http://www.chefsteps.com
I actually like sous vide because i work. The prep is minimal (shove stuff in bag, attach machine to put, put everything in pot), set it to cook while I’m at work (the Anova allows you to do this wirelessly), and then turn on the grill on my way in to retrieve the meat, and then sear away for color. If you like medium rare steak or well done steak, then sous vide is not useful, as those results can be obtained easily in other ways. But for everything in-between, I get reproducible results every single time. I love how it handled lamb. And it’s a miracle-worker for typically fat-less meat like pork tenderloin, where I still want to hit the FDA minimum temperature, but without a grey brick at the end. It also helps that I get to cook it for several hours in a marinade (I go for kimchee).
Terry, when you say FDA temp on pork, I think you mean USDA. But I’m curious as to what temp that is?
Asking because another aspect of SV is the ability to eat safely at lower temps if you like the texture it results in as the safety temps are really time based.
Chris good point. I do pork chops sous vide. Thick cut, bone in. Three days on a rack in the fridge after being salted (and whatever other herbs come to mind). Cold smoked for 60-90 minutes. Then sous vide around 135 for 6-8 hours. Pat dry and pan-sear to finish. Absolutely sublime.
Sous vide and knowledge of pasteurization tables is an asset for chicken as well. I’ll do chicken breasts for a couple hours and 140 and again sear to finish. Completely different texture than 160 (USDA guidelines). But still safe.
How did I forget that. Sous vide for burgers is great as you can serve them rare if you leave them in the sv long enough to pasteurize.
The USDA reccommendatioms for pork cooking temp are an anachronism in their own right. There just isn’t the same risk of parasites anymore, but the guidelines haven’t changed
You are right - I meant USDA FSIS. They lowered it ?5? years ago from 160 to 145. So I don’t know if it’s fair to say they haven’t changed it “at all”. Yes, trichinella is far less common these days. However, while it true that sous vide could theoretically allow you to get away with lower temps if cooked for a long enough time, I’m not sure we as consumers actually know what the minimum temperature actually is. So then it goes to how much faith do I have in the supply chain and handling of my meat. If I’m at a nice place with high turnover, I’ll let the chef do whatever he wants. But if it’s on me and my big-chain grocery store, I’m far more cautious so I stick with the temps to remove any doubt that everything’s safe.
Actually, the temperature vs time curves for pasteurization are well established in many food safety publications. This is a good summary of how to apply this to home sous vide cooking (Doug Baldwin is the food safety expert at ChefSteps, who manufacture the Joule immersion circulator):
I prefer 138F x 2.5 hours for a nice juicy pork chop! (Specifically, Trichinella is killed in a couple of minutes at this temperature.)
Ok. I guess I hadn’t checked for a while. Mea Culpa. All my stupid temp probes/timers still have the min pork temp at “dry as a bone”
Yeah those pasteurization tables are your friend. And while 145 is the new recommended guideline plenty of chefs recommend serving pork at 140 and under (not way under)
Sous vide is also great because it allows you to (mostly) cook ahead and take your food to a potluck. So I’ve done marinated SV pork loins and then taken them to a party where I could finish them on the grill. So instead of having to worry if whether they were undercooked or overcooked on someone else’s grill at the party, I knew they were done and just needed a quick grill sear on both sides before serving. MUCH less likely to dry out a pork loin with SV.
Bruce
Many thanks for all the continuing contributions here. I really like the idea of pre-cooking meats to finish up at a later time. I’m assuming the low heat cooking lessens the continued cooking you get at higher temps.
Now I’m trying to get my Anova unit to connect with the internet so I can control it remotely and maybe live better with the timing I wasn’t really so aware of with this method. So far it’s not connecting but I haven’t had time to deep dive on troubleshooting.
most already mentioned, but wanted to note my 3 favorite use cases
just noticed someone else mentioned chefsteps-- I also find it a great resource and have made A LOT of the dishes on the site
my number 1 recommendation for a complete meal around chicken thigh is this one: https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/crispy-chicken-thighs-made-simple-with-sous-vide
Adam, I made that one, posted it, and ChefSteps actually retweeted my pic! [whereupon some professional chef insulted it lol]
I also did their recipe for sous vide deboned chicken thigh, apple-fennel salad, carrot puree:
For what it’s worth, I find the wifi/bluetooth connection of minor importance. As a practical matter, I’m going to be there to start the SV cooking and to remove it when it’s done. You can program it
physically on the device, which is what I typically do.
Bruce
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