My son has been learning sous-vide cooking. Searing indoors over a pre-heated cast iron pan, he'd get a great sear but lots of smoke billowing off of the pan.

So we decided to research oil smoke points (which are pretty reliable) and a thermometer to try to manage this. Beef tallow smokes at around 400F, relatively low. There are oils avocado can go to 510F+ before they break down. So using a higher heat oil will help (You'll still get some beef tallow rendering that could smoke.)

The goal was simple on paper, manage the pan's surface temp so that we stayed below the smoke point (around 500F) for as long as possible while still getting a good sear. And a little smoke is OK.

A no-contact thermometer ($8) was perfect for this, you could watch the pan temp go up and see where it was peaking.

First measured his normal method. Turns out he was getting the pan near 740F and that was causing instant smoke.

Medium-low preheating got us reliably around 500F starting temperature. Then drop in some AVO oil, get the steaks in, good sear, near zero smoke, but the pan would drop to around 400F as the steaks absorbed some of the energy.

Next we decided to try overshooting the starting temp a bit so cooking would take place in a range starting at 620F (little smoke) and we would end at around 450-500F (no smoke). This yielded the best results, golden brown, crispy crust, not burnt, and just a little smoke at the start of the sear.

Tl/dr: For indoor searing, starting pan temp of around 620F is the sweet spot for perfect crust and almost no smoke.

Hey all: unfortunately someone left the door to the upright freezer cracked open overnight and about $200 worth of meat defrosted (still chilled but definitely not frozen), along with a host of other products that are just trashed.

Several of the cuts are steaks, pork chops, etc. I know in general it isn’t safe to refreeze defrosted meat, but if that meat will be sous-vide whenever it DOES get cooked, are we safe to refreeze, assuming the SV process will kill any potential bacteria that may have arisen from the defrost/refreeze?

Thanks!

I would love to hear ideas on what I might be able to prep in my sous vide (besides the turkey). I’m having a fairly large group and would love some ideas to get ahead of the cooking.

been wanting to sousvide for months now, and have some time this weekend to try sousvide, but not sure what cut of meat to start with.

was thinking either thick pork chops or a ribeye, paranoid about can't get the cooking time right on first try. there any tips for sousvide? and already have bags and gasbye vacuum sealer i've been using for meat storage, suction has held up fine, the prep side is set and just need the right protein.

what cut is the most foolproof for a beginner? thanks

So I have a plan to sous vide some chicken legs this week. I’ve done some research on frying sous vide chicken, but I’m getting kinda mixed signals. Some places say to sous vide in the buttermilk marinade, some say don’t and buttermilk later. I was just wondering if anyone had personal experience with doing this what y’all recommend.

My wife and I wonder if it’s possible to sous vide the thicker chops for tenderness, then bread and brown them for flavor. Anyone ever try this? Thanks

55c for two hours, 1 minute each side in a ripping hot grill pan.

I can't believe I ignored cooking sous vide because I thought it was wanky. I'm eliminating the dreaded grey band one cook at a time.

I was wondering what are your thoughts on freezing before / after cooking sous-vide since salting before freezing is generally not a good idea.

Any experience or things you do frequently that gives good results. How do you find it affects the texture ? Any pros and cons ?

Back with part 2 of my romantic dinner series! This time I went with a classic: confit de canard. (Part 1: https://www.reddit.com/r/sousvide/s/JrNCIP3ge5)

Last time my butcher gave me way too much meat, so this time I went to the poulterer instead. Luckily he gave me an actual portion for two people.

I dry cured the duck legs for 24 hours, then cooked them sous vide at 68°C (154°F) for 36 hours. With thyme and 2 cloves of garlic (arrest me for it) and 2 teaspoons of duckfat. To finish, I crisped them up in the oven at 220°C (430°F) until the skin was golden and crunchy.

For the side, I roasted potatoes in the oven in duck fat. I used the fat that came out of the bag after the sous vide, so nothing went to waste.

The meat was incredibly tender and fell off the bone, while the skin still had a proper crunch. 36 hours is a long wait, but it's completely hands-off, and the result is well worth it.

So this far I made, Cote de boeuf, Ribs (not posted) and Confit de canard, what other dishes could you recommend?

Yes, yes it will.

Is it less work than making the sauce the traditional way? Debatable.

The only modification I’d make next time is to pre-mix the cheese and yolks in the bag before dropping in the bath. The sauce came together 90% but wasn’t perfectly smooth like you’d get via the double boiler method (rare cheese crumble in the sauce). I made the recipe a second time and mixed the cheese and yolks in the bag before dropping into the bath and the sauce came together much smoother.

Ingredients (serving for two) * 50g guanciale * 50g pancetta * 50g parmigiano * 50g pecorino * 4 egg yolks (could use 5 if you like it extra saucy) * 200g bucatini (reserve pasta water) * olive oil / neutral oil

Toss the guanciale and pancetta into a pan with a little bit of neutral oil and crisp it up for ~5-10 minutes and set aside (reserve a few tbsp of grease).

Grate the cheese and combine the cheese, egg yolks, and a few tbsp of the guanciale grease into the bag. Mix to combine, seal it, and drop it into the bath for an hour at 146°

Cook your pasta and toss with a drizzle of olive oil in a bowl. Remove the cheesy/yolk mixture from the bag and add directly to the pasta and add splashes of pasta water until the sauce emulsifies to your liking. Finish with some freshly grated black pepper.

Letting it rest, will update with pictures of the middle, what do you think?

I have some Grouse I acquired last weekend and am wondering if anyone has sous vide Grouse before? Do you do it like chicken? It is so easy to overcook so I believe it is the perfect candidate for the hot hot meat bath.

Time to start practicing. Boneless skinless turkey breast. Never done one in SV. But reading up, it's going to be 145 for 3 to 4 hrs. Not sure on the time. I do chicken breast at 145 for 2 hrs and there perfect. But being large cuts of meat im going longer time.

I typically cook 2–5 kg of food at a time using the sous-vide method. If I set the target temperature to, say, 55°C, the water temperature will inevitably drop once I add the vacuum-sealed bags. Furthermore, it takes time for the core temperature of the food to reach 55°C, and the water also needs time to heat back up to that temperature. For instance, online sources might recommend cooking pork tenderloin at 55°C for two hours—should I add the food to the water and then wait for the whole setup to reach 55°C before starting the two-hour timer, or should I bring the water to 55°C first, add the food, and then begin the two-hour countdown? I’m not sure which approach is correct. Could you clarify the proper method?

Just did a test with a big 3 pound pork loin. I dry brined it for 2 days and cooked about 30 hours at 140. My goal was to make a proper juicy "ham" (this time with basic sea salt, not nitrite / curing salt)

After salting I blasted the fat cap with a gas blow torch I happen to have, then bagged and cooked.

I wanted to serve this cold, so after I pulled it from the bath I left it in the bag on the counter for about 30 minutes, and then put it in a cooler with ice water. I swear the amount of bag juices went way down while it was "resting".

Served with an apple "vinegrette" (no vinegar here, just acidic apple juice), this was the best ham I have ever experienced. And the cheapest cut I have ever bought (sale). I made the apple sauce by combining about 1 cup of pressed apple juice (got some apple trees) with half a cup of olive oil and 1 teaspoon of dijon mustard, then did the pull through mayo method with an immersion blender. Great sauce for either pork or a salad.

I just think, in this case the resting allowed for both flavor and juice to really get into what is usually a depressingly dry cut.

Has any one done whole packages of bacon so all you have to do is a quick brown?

Salt and pepper seasoned, in the bath at 137⁰ for 2 hours, cast iron seared.

I know/read here that adding butter/fat to the bag has some well-known effects, I wanted to ask what the effects of adding water are?

For context, I recently had some bags that got a bit of water inside (no fat) because I messed up the water displacement, and it felt like it improved the taste for a veggie mix but messed a bit with the texture for chicken breast, but I'm not sure of either. Great thing to add after pan searing in any case, so I'm inclined to try it more often, unless there are reasons not to?

Hi team! I’m planning to sous vide a top round roast tomorrow and want to know three things:
1. Temp
2. Number of hours
3. How thick I can slice this bad boy because I don’t necessarily want hot roast beef.
I plan to sear in algae oil in cast iron.

Thanks in advance!

Trying to equip my kitchen better without buying a device for every specific function. An instant pot seems like a pretty good compromise for pressure-cooking, slow-cooking, sous vide and more if these functions work well.

Seasoned with ghee, salt, msg, go to john, garlic, pepper, and love

I dropped some chicken drumsticks in the sous vide last night - 155 degree. I was going to take them out after about two hours and fell asleep. Woke up this morning, rushed to the kitchen, and they’re still in there. I took them out but are they going to be okay? It’s been like 11 hours 😬

I have a Potluck next Tuesday at the prison I currently work at.
I highlight the Prison because it creates hurdles.

I need to ask if I can sear & slice in the kitchen, but I am assuming I will be told no.

So my idea is to throw together a few Chuck steaks, 137 / 36 (ish)

The question is should I, after SV, sear/slice at home, then re vac into bags and transport in warm water, or transport with a crockpot to keep warm. I have a 9 x 13 crockpot, so I can transport in a cooler with warm water, then serve in the 9x13 to keep warm.

I have more traditional crockpots, smaller footprint, but taller, I can also use, but I'm worried about the upper pieces drying out and the lower pieces drowning.

Thoughts? I had to type this up fast before I leave and didn't want to forget or wait.

Bison is top tier meat. The earthiness is unreal.

Just got my first circulator, the INKBIRD seemed to review well. Tried a couple of Costco sirloin steaks first at 131 degrees for 4 hours. Came out great.

Second try was a cheap bottom round, I did 131 for 24 hours. I just used a simple rub that came up in a google search. Kosher salt, cracked black pepper, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder and rosemary. Chilled overnight, quick sear on all sides. Hand sliced.

Holy shit, came out just like the expensive stuff at the grocery store. Can’t believe I’m just trying this now in my 50s. Very easy, more time in set and forget mode than actual work.

It’s so strange to cook something like this and have no clean up other than dumping and drying out the bucket, lol.