Retherming Sous vide - not meat

Question for you guys -

I cook most of my proteins Sous vide, and if they are large, Sous vide then break down into portions then retherm for meal prep.

However, I am wondering the best way to retherm the other components of my meal - grains and vegetables.

I much prefer roasted vegetables to Sous vide - can I traditionally roast them, vacuum seal, then pop in my water bath at the tail end of retherming my protein? Or would it be better to cook them Sous vide then take from cold and heat/color in a hot pan?

The same applies to grains lik rice or quinoa. I cook them, and break down into portions. Would they reheat properly Sous vide at the end of the protein retherm, or best in a hot pan?

I’m trying to get more into the meal prep habit, but looking to strike a balance. I don’t really love pre-cooked and re-microwaved Foods. It would be nice to have most things batch cooked the way I like them, retherm everything in a water bath depending on what combination I’m in the mood for, and garnish and dress appropriately. My primary concern with conventional cooking, chilling, bagging and retherming is food safety - especially if I’m prepping these for the week.

That also reminds me - will texture be affected if I Sous vide a protein with salt, or maybe a compound butter, and chill/hold to retherm later?

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tshewman

Roasting veg (love'm). Reheating in the oven works best (IMHO). So, roast, store (or eat ;-)..) and retherm via oven. Eat allot of quinoa and retherming in a bag is an excellent way to keep it reasonably god. Same with rice, etc. For the latter, I do try to take the amount I want to store out before adding any final touches (e.g. acidulated butter, herbs etc) and when I retherm in the bag, I dump them in a small pot to finish with the herbs, butter etc. BTW - you can also retherm in the deli containers (they float) but then you need to take them out and stir occassionally. Lastly, if chilling after SV, your product should not be negatively affected. The only way that could happen (that I can think of) is if there is too much salt etc used.

Lou_34544

So far, so good. I’m iffy doing Sous vide with butter, chilling, and retherming however.

Also, I made the lentils from the chefsteps recipe and they were great. Should these be stored in the cooking liquid or drained off? Can one make rice Sous vide this way as well? It was very convenient

tshewman

any butter should be added near the end of the cook. I usually pour product into a pan or large warm measuring cup and add the butter and stir. The other thing that I've done is throw a small amount of butter for the last 3-4min before pulling from the bath. Still needs a stir though. Yes you can do rice, but it does take longer than stove top. Can also do quinoa (pic below). I typically leave liquid in as its needed for the retherm (often add a few grams when retherming)

Lou_34544

Great stuff to know. All was going according to plan until my Anova finally kicked the bed this week! But I have had it since the initial Kickstarter campaign.

I’m trying to streamline things as much as possible for easy meals without resorting to eating microwaved leftovers and this is all really helpful. In lieu of butter I may just freeze some herbs in olive oil and pop them in the vacuum bags.