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Taking the Course Together, Module 1

michaelnatkin

I asked before the holidays if anyone was interested in taking the course together (virtually) and it sounds like there are at least a few of us who'd like to give that a try. So let's make this the week for Module 1, which starts here. Everyone is welcome to join in. I'll throw out a couple of questions to get the discussion going, but please add more. I just watched the videos through again, and here are my questions for you all:

- What was the most surprising or interesting thing you learned in Module 1?

- Have you cooked anything sous vide so far? If so, please tell us your favorite, and share a picture if possible. And if you haven't yet, tell us what has captured your interest and made you want to take this course?

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michaelnatkin

... and now to answer my own questions:

(1) I think the most interesting thing for me is learning to think of sous vide almost entirely in terms of temperature control, not vacuum packaging. This makes a ton of sense, as for many recipes the vacuum is just a convenience, but controlling the heat is the key to making a great dish. Once you start thinking this way, it opens up a world of possibilities for cooking sous vide.

(2) I've cooked a number of things SV this week, including cauliflower with chili oil and Sichuan peppercorn, green beans for a simple salad with feta and olives, 63 C eggs for bibimbap and beets in a spicy brine for a first try at making corned beet (not beef) sandwiches. A few pics below. I do love the convenience of cooking this way, it makes it so easy to have a bunch of components prepped so that putting a meal together is a cinch, and the flavors are amazing because everything stays in the bag.

borgech

For me, there was something both surprising and interesting in Module 1. Surprising was the realization that people have been cooking "sous vide" for hundreds of years. I knew that ancients wrapped food in leaves etc, but making the connection to sous vide was quite surprising and has changed the way I think about the "ancient" cooking techniques.

Most interesting would be the section on creativity where cooking times and temps are altered for short ribs yeilding different flavors and textures. I personally think this is one of the most useful aspects of sous vide cooking. For example, the egg: I can make a perfect poached egg for a salad or soup, or more custard like for a pasta dish (really, my favorite) just by altering the temperature by a few degrees.

My favorite protein preps so far, pictured below, have been the egg many different ways, scallops (60* for 10 min) and beef tenderloin (57*).

susan_fox_33805

@Chris I love your rig in the last shot - is that your mechanical creation? As for Module 1 the most interesting to me was the one on textures. I'm eager to try the 72-hour short rib. Also, the method of identifying tank items via tape, temp, times was a good unspoken tip that reminded me there's no need to cook just one item at a time.

One equipment question: I found setting the timer tricky and think I must be missing something. The manual said to set the temp, double tap the menu, then set the time. If I do that the timer starts counting down immediately, of course, while the bath heats to temp. Tried resetting the time once the bath reached temp and couldn't get to the timer menu. So I resorted to old fashioned stove timer. Figure I must be missing something because there's no way to know how long it will take for the bath to reach temp in order to add that additional time to cooking time ... plus, just seems inefficient use of circulator.

seijoed

I've pretty much prepped every protein I can find over the last close to 2h years this way.

I use the sous vide as a step or part of the cooking process, to me it has become the perfect sous chef at home. I change most things I find protein wise to use a sous vide step instead of traditional cooking.

Having taken quite a few cooking classes the process of doing things sous vide has taught me far more than anything about how proteins work. - It has made me a better cook using regular methods as well.

The parts about Maillard initiation, the little effect one extra degree has on texture vs. core temp reachability,

I have about 1.5 years worth of cooking pictures here - https://plus.google.com/112827635720941213700/posts?tab=XX 

What I am most interested in right now is proper large scale handling, prepping, cooking, chilling, re-fire and plating procedures.

Some pictures:

Mason_Perry_34060

Module 1 was very interesting and I flew through it in like a few hours since I couldn't stop watching! The most suprising thing was 1. thinking about sous vide as a superior way to deliver the final temperature to a piece of protein and 2. learning the versatility of the chamber vac (I know some of what I saw wasn't from Module 1 but I was learning to chamber vac everything before bathing it. I especially like the instant pickle capability!)

As far as cooking Sous Vide, it has been on 24 hours a day since I recieved it, it's truly amazing and I do think it will become as ordinary as a microwave oven. Here are some pictures of what I have made so far, highlights are EVERYTHING! It's has all been pretty much the best version I have ever had (short ribs definitely stood out)

Mason @2kmgastronomy

prince_of_porcelain

For me, the most interesting part of module 1 was the short rib demo showing the different textures that were achievable through long cook times. I can't wait to try out some of these time and temperature combinations. While the videos are fantastic, I do want to try it myself to experience the taste and texture differences.

I've done some sous vide in the past in a makeshift rig, and it worked surprising well. Enough to get me interested and to commit to spending the bucks on a Polyscience Creative rig. I'd recommend anyone on the fence start this way too, because it's really not that hard. One of the things that sold me on the benefit was using my makeshift setup for bison tenderloins. Although a very lean piece of meat, the steak was perfectly cooked - moist and flavorful, not dry at all.

I don't have any pics of my new set up yet, but I'll post a few to show you how I got started. This was my very first attempt at sous vide:

Going back to grab these pics, I re-read a little of what I wrote at the time:

"The Perfectly Cooked Egg is not an abstraction. It's real, and even you

can do it. Let me rephrase. Even you can attempt it. Cause that's

what it's all about. The attempt. And the eggs. You could go buy a

thermal immersion circulator to pull this off, but that's easy (and $400

+). Granted, then you would own a thermal immersion circulator and

that's pretty badass, so if you want to go that route, go right ahead.

I'll admit I'm jealous."

Reading that again makes me laugh, because now, less than a year later, I do own a thermal immersion circulator.

Mason_Perry_34060

@Michael you had a good point about conveinence and easily putting a meal together, and I agree it seems like things come together easier and faster becuase I am not having to baby sit whatever is in the water bath. It has also made me a better prepper and planner, I write out lists and organize what I need to do a lot better. It seems in the past I just winged it and now everything goes in a much smoother flow as I just cross off tasks. I also moved into a new house with a gigantic kitchen so that didn't hurt either.

@Brian I was going to start with a homebuilt rig (I have made about 4 different smokers from small weber BBQ to nearly walk in sized) Based on weather this time of year and the fact that I had researched this for months I knew that I would be using this method for cooking for years to come. That just drove me to buy something that was meant to be an immersion circulator, I looked at Sousvide Supreme but it seemed small and no circulation was a downside so I ponied up and got a Polyscience Professional Chef unit knowing it was made to be used everyday in a professional kitchen (mine has been on for over a week straight since I got it) and I also managed to get a chamber vac for about halfprice through a holiday sale. After using these two pieces of equipment I wouldn't have gone any other route. I know I will use these every day until they break and then I will replace them. I use both more than I use my microwave.

@Michael next week as one of the questions can we get everyone to post their favorite sous vide recipe? I am dying to try eggs but I can't seem to stop filling it with meat that takes 2 days to cook!

michaelnatkin

@Mason Perry - I totally agree with you, this style of cooking goes hand in hand with working organized. And I really do think we are at a point where it is going to catch on quick. Once you see how it isn't some kind of outer space cooking, just a common sense way to make better food easier, it is pretty irresistible.

Re the questions, please don't feel limited to the ones I threw out there! Those are just meant to be conversation starters, ask anything you want and keep the conversation going.

Re eggs, a great place to start is 63 C for 45 minutes. That gives a really versatile texture similar to a conventional poached egg with a looser, but cooked white. The lovely thing about it is they comes right out of the shell when you crack it, none of the hassle of peeling soft-boiled eggs. If you like the white slightly firmer, you can give it a quick dunk in boiling water on a slotted spoon. They are fantastic on pasta, rice, toast...

borgech

@susan fox: It is my creation! Using many websites, including of course, Seattle Food Geek's instructions. A friend and I decided to try and tackle it ourselves, as $250.00 price tag + the learning experience seemed better to me (still in graduate school) than the currently available units. So far, so good.

Mason_Perry_34060

@Michael I will be trying eggs tonight after the Carnitas come out, I think soft poached over rice with some of my Japanese seasoning will be outstanding! Ill post pics!

seijoed

How many of you have been having to field food safety questions? - Something I'm looking forward to in the modules.

There are tons of threads on it on smoker forums, egullet and various other places - most of it terribly misinformed.

seijoed

For the homecooks - what are the largest dinners you have cooked sous-vide?

How much extra or less planning did you have to do?

I've cooked for 25 so far, 4 courses (Combined with use of my oven)

Mason_Perry_34060

I have cooked a 5 course meal for 6, all but the salad was a sous vide preperation. I would like to cook for more as I don't see much extra work, just more plating which isn't a big deal.

Just out of curiosity can every post what exactly their set up is. and what if anything they would change and or do differently. Like 3 parts 1. vaccum equipment/water bath setup & food holding 2. searing setup or process 3. faults and or improvements or things you have learned so far

To answer my own question:

1. Vaccum/waterbath/holding I am using a Vacmaster VP215 Chamber vac to seal all my food and a Polyscience Professional Chef in the standard 20L polycarbonate tank with lid that is cut out to fit the circulator. If I am holding food it goes into a 50 Quart Ice chest filled with appropriate temperature tap water (this works suprisingly well as it loses a little less than 1 degree F per hour, and I leave space to pour in fresh hot water.

2. Searing setup/ideas I have been searing on a cast iron griddle that covers two burners on my range. I normally heat it to 500 in my oven when I am prepping so I can just take it out and place it over the burners for a few min and start searing, this frees up all 4 of my burners and the smoke from the last sear stays in the oven. When the weather gets better I will be searing exclusivley over chunk charcoal. I plan to lower by grill grate to sit directly ontop of the charcoal for maximum heat, but with a fresh foot of snow that isn't gonna be for a while.

3. Faults/thoughts/ideas I am still learning but the ice chest thing worked WAY better than I thought it would. I drop in my probe thermo and monitor the water but I only lose about 1 degree F an hour, and i haven't held anything for more than 3 hours so really no difference in cooking temp. (I was holding short ribs and corned beef at 140F while I cooked steak at 134F and veggies at 85C, it worked great, I also left teh hot water in there for about 5 more hours to see how much it would drop and it started at 140F and 8 hours later was at 130F and I added hot water once about 2 hours in)

Other than the ice chest and keeping the griddle in the oven to preheat I haven't done or found anything remarkable except amazing food.

The chamber vac has been awesome for sealing sosu vide food as well as for freezing and storing leftovers. I have a huge deep freezer in my garage so I freeze everything which is nice when meat goes on sale.

The last group question I have is favorite recipes, I admit steak and burgers are the only thing I have made more than once but the repeated consistency is astounding, I know that steak and burgers along with short ribs will be some of my go to recipes, what are your favorites so far?

Mason @2kmgastronomy

Mason_Perry_34060

I would just like to add that this discussion is awesome, it's like an online college class since we get to interact with the other students, however this always makes me 1. Hungry and 2. amped up to cook!

seijoed

My setup.

1. Vaccum/waterbath/holding I have a Vacmaster 215c for sealing, love the infusion, pickling and compression I can do.

I use Cambro containers for the rigs, I have two of them, both modeled after Seattle Food geek but with 1500W elements so I have no problem keeping it warm. I haven't held large amounts so far, I've been chilling and re-heating or finishing in other ways. (This is something I'd also like to learn)

2. Searing setup/ideas I now sear in about 1cm of smoking hot oil in a cast iron pan and finish with an Iwatani torch.

I frequently set of the smoke detectors in the house

For the holding, I ended up building a second bath...

Mason_Perry_34060

do you have a link to the food geek setup/plans? I am contemplating turning my ice chest into a plug in bath to hold food for service.

seijoed

http://forum.chefsteps.com/discussion/59/my-current-dyi-baths

That contains a few pictures as well, the big difference from seattle food geek plans is I use a fountain pump and the 1500W Cambro element.

Mason_Perry_34060

Sweet thanks! @Seijoed

So @Michael I had to try a soft boiled egg, I will let the pictures tell the story. 63C for 45 min was perfect!

This was after I had carnitas for dinner.....

Mason

michaelnatkin

@Mason Perry the last picture really says it all

michaelnatkin

Hey, @Chris just published the first quiz! We'd love it if you guys would take it and let us know of any problems you run into before we share it with a wider audience:

http://www.chefsteps.com/quizzes/quiz-number-1

Mason_Perry_34060

8/10 do I pass?

michaelnatkin

Hey, on Monday watch out for a new thread with the culinary challenge of the week - I already know what it is going to be and I guarantee it is a fun one.

Mason_Perry_34060

I have to wait till Monday!

prince_of_porcelain

I started my 72 hour short ribs tonight. I'll start the 48 hour tomorrow. Looking forward to Saturday's dinner! MCAH recommends 72 hours at 58 or 62 C, rather than the 54 from module 1. After some debate, I'm going for 54 C.

jim_53915

I recently started to cook sous vide and I love the precision and how easy it can make dinner for a busy house. The course design is great, I especially loved to see the time and temperature effects on the short ribs. More of those types of additional video content would be great to see moving into the other courses. I'm still just playing around with dinner at home but would like eventually be able to execute sous vide plated meals in a catering setting. The more I cook sous vide the more it seems ideal for catering.

trev_teich

Foods looking good @Jim

jim_53915

@Trevor Thanks! I feel I need to work on presentation more, but my main focus is the execution of technique.

Brendan_Lee_56950

@jim what's the dark round piece in the third picture to the right? It looks almost like a plum.

jim_53915

@Brendan Lee I believe your talking about the picture with the steak? If so it is blue fingerling potatoes cooked sous vide @ 185F for 2hr

Brendan_Lee_56950

Nice. It looked like a very deeply roasted plum but the shape of it confused me since it looked so plump still.