Anybody else cook sous vide and have any recipes they'd care to share? I just got an Anova I'm starting to experiment with.

Chefsteps.com and seriouseats.com are both great resources for technique and recipes.

I have had an anova for a year now and have loved it. Great tool.

I've been doing Sous Vide for a couple of years. Absolutely love it. Some of the best meals I've ever done have been via the Sous Vide.

The ridiculous thing I'm doing that made me request this forum involves sous vide, but it will be a choke of weeks before I have time to do it. Pumped about it.

I bought an Anova about 6 weeks ago and haven't even taken it out of the box yet, but I'm excited to try it soon.

I've seen CTCBear post about Serious Eats / Kenji in two different places too, and I'm a big fan too. I basically start there for any recipe that I'm curious about.

I got an Anova for Christmas and so far so good. Everything comes out very tender. I usually sear whatever I'm cooking with a cast iron skillet afterwards. I'd advise seasoning your meats more than normal or marinating as I've had a few things that tasted under seasoned. ChefSteps is great as others have said!

ATXBear said:

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I usually sear whatever I'm cooking with a cast iron skillet afterwards.

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I agree with this and would suggest putting the skillet in the oven at high temp for 5-10 min before placing on high heat stovetop.

No Huddle said:

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ATXBear said:

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I usually sear whatever I'm cooking with a cast iron skillet afterwards.

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I agree with this and would suggest putting the skillet in the oven at high temp for 5-10 min before placing on high heat stovetop.

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that will be a smoky mess in the house, though!

bularry said:

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No Huddle said:

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ATXBear said:

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I usually sear whatever I'm cooking with a cast iron skillet afterwards.

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I agree with this and would suggest putting the skillet in the oven at high temp for 5-10 min before placing on high heat stovetop.

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that will be a smoky mess in the house, though!

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Turn on the vent!

I just do all my cast iron searing outside on a propane burner. Gonna get a Searzall soon.

I've got a searzall. Not worth it. Grill or cast iron pan work better. Searzall is pretty fun though.

The searzall is a lot of fun, but I dont like it to finish meat after sous vide. I enjoy using it to add color to roasted meats and veg.

Also great for melting a top layer of cheese on a plate of nachos.

My favorite is to get the egg as hot as I can and finish there. 2nd would be a ripping hot cast iron.

100% relevant:

RebelT said:

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100% relevant:

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That was awesome. I'm a big fan of the afterburner (chimney). Almost certainly gonna have try the forge though strictly for the lulz of excess.

Did my first sous vide ribeye last night.

Was very good. Very similar to when I reverse sear, but overall, still very good..

I also feel like I perfected my sear method last night -- had the best crust of any final sear I've done.

Pastrami. Slammed and went hard. Details to follow.

Not a big sou vide fan for home cooking. It's great in restaurant cooking to server many folks. That how you get consistent. Someone mentioned Serious Eats earlier. Check out Kenji...that cat know what he's doing... YES...science. If you boys are interested in red meat protein, try his way of doing it. It's totally antithetical, but will blow you away. You cook your steak in the oven at 250 till the med rare and then sear. Good stuff Also, you basic cast iron pan is the best way to cook a steak IMO.

So sous vide is the perfect way to make octopus, for which I have an addiction. I cooked one with garlic, lemongrass, cilantro stems, and fish sauce for 4 hours at 84C. Then cooled in an ice bath, dried, seared, and sliced. Then put in a Thai salad with sour, unripe green mango and shallot with lime juice, fish sauce, mints, and cilantro. Super tender and tastes great!

Hum. Never thought about doing an Octo,, but it makes perfect sense. Did you do a big one, or baby ones?

Weighed a little over 2.5 lbs. Cooks down a fair amount.

J.R. said:

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Not a big sou vide fan for home cooking. It's great in restaurant cooking to server many folks. That how you get consistent. Someone mentioned Serious Eats earlier. Check out Kenji...that cat know what he's doing... YES...science. If you boys are interested in red meat protein, try his way of doing it. It's totally antithetical, but will blow you away. You cook your steak in the oven at 250 till the med rare and then sear. Good stuff Also, you basic cast iron pan is the best way to cook a steak IMO.

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I'm not sure if this post is intended to be serious or not....so many contradictions...

1.) Kenji is probably the loudest proponent of the sous vide method for red meats. He's gone into extreme detail testing it, even working to figure out the proper length of time to leave it in the water bath to prevent the meat from breaking down too much. See this here: http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010/03/sous-vide-steaks-recipe.html

2.) His reverse sear method is fantastic, no doubt, but it also results in substantially less consistency and a more uneven cook than sous vide, with no added benefit of flavor. At a low temperature like 250 in an oven and for such a relatively short time, there is nothing that is going to happen to that meat to add flavor to the situation, and not only that, it also will result in a slightly less juicy steak because additional liquid escapes due to the higher heat and openness of an oven. That is somewhat helpful because a reverse sear will allow for the surface of the meat to dry more thoroughly, which obviously results in a better "crust" on the steak during the hard sear, but overall the differences are extremely minimal. Salting and resting properly prior to bringing to temp via sous vide and then drying with a paper towel and letting sit in the open air for a few minutes before the sear will result in almost identical results, and you end up with a much more consistent cook on the inside of the steak, not to mention a lot less "worry" about the process.

All bets are off when you start looking at something like a prime rib, which needs multiple hours in the oven, allowing for flavors to develop better along the way, but for the short timeframe of a steak, there are really zero additional benefits to a reverse sear over a sous vide.

I do agree that if you're going to go the sous vide/reverse sear method and don't want to bring your grill to temp for the final sear, cast iron is the only way to go.

+1

I've just eaten way too many water bath protein meal at restaurants lately. I am definitely a fan of the Kenji reverse sear. That is the best way to get the perfect color throughout the protein and get rid of the grey ring I hate. For a steak, I'll take the smoking hot cast iron skillet method. lMO, that's it by far the best way to prepare a steak. Whether by it self or some type of pan sauce. I think I've made most of his recipes on his website and certainly in his book. Do yourself a favor and try the Sicilian Pizza. Spectacular and easy.

Anybody else find that certain foods like chicken breast have an overly mushy texture after cooking them via Sou Vides? Cooked chicken breast for the 2nd time tonight and the results we're the same. Have enjoyed cooking other proteins with my Anova.

Cooked lamb chops tonight. Got flank steak ready to drop in at bed time for tomorrow night.

ATXBear said:

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Anybody else find that certain foods like chicken breast have an overly mushy texture after cooking them via Sou Vides? Cooked chicken breast for the 2nd time tonight and the results we're the same. Have enjoyed cooking other proteins with my Anova.

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yes. I don' t think poultry works well in a bath. Always go for the thighs.

The thighs are still poultry....

I think you should just play with time and temps on the breast. Also, I have found that any pre seasoning or marinating that I did ahead of time had an effect on the texture. I don't know why, but every time I have cooked the breast with skin on, it has turned out better than skinless.

I also think that a really hot grill is my favorite way to finish sous vide chicken.

So thinking of getting one of these, which one?

I have an Anova, although I can't imagine that there's much difference between brands

I use it for everything. Steaks, brisket, chicken... I am cutting atm so I make my protein portions for the week in it. Just make sure you get a large professional sized water bin if you plan to cook in bulk.

Really tho it's not the recipe it's just a matter of cooking through low and slow. Then do what you want. I did an entire rack of lamb for example and then grilled to finish. Also did a brisket and smoked to finish. Steaks to medium rare and then cast iron to finish. You get the idea.

J.R. said:

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Hum. Never thought about doing an Octo,, but it makes perfect sense. Did you do a big one, or baby ones?

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It is wonderful for lobster tails as well. Nails the doneness perfectly without over cooking. And you can do it with butter in the bag so it's already ready to eat...

Also recommend anyone with sous vide try the following

1) Buy a large beef short rib (aka Dino rib), it'll be about 2lbs (or buy the whole pack)
2) Cut the meat off the bone so you have a big rib steak
3) sous vide to preferred doneness (i do about 129-131)
4) sear the crap out of it
5) eat like a steak

It'll be one of the best steaks you've ever eaten. It's like a cross betwixt brisket and ribeye in a steak form.

I'm going to buy an Anova, but I'm not sure which one? Wifi or no wifi?

GoBearsGo said:

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I'm going to buy an Anova, but I'm not sure which one? Wifi or no wifi?

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I'd go with the Wifi. You may not use it a ton, but it's nice to have when you need it.