Pork Chop Fail

I fear this will be a newbie question, so sorry in advance...

I often sous vide a basic pork chop with a slice of shallot, some butter and a sprig of thyme. When I assemble, seal and cook immediately, its lovely. Last week I assembled, sealed, put two in the fridge and 2 in the freezer. I cooked the refrigerated ones the next day and they were utterly inedible. The shallot permeated the meat and created a really off putting flavor.

I wasn't expecting this and I'm curious about the chemistry at play. I assume there is no rescue for the two in my freezer.

Find more posts tagged with

All About Ingredients

Comments

whenric

The temp to cook pork (140f/60c) is too low to ‘soften’ the flavors of the shallot. You’re essentially getting raw shallot flavor. If you want a nice shallot flavor in with the pork you should sauté it first.

Good luck!

Francois_346702

Hi Kristin,

I also think it has something to do with the temperature... The juices of your shallot probably infused your meat in the fridge, and then when slowly heating in the bag in the waterbag, perhaps fermented slightly (any "sour taste" there?), and the shallot or onion juices are very acidic as well, so that also is problematic when slow cooking meat, as it can also alter the flavors of the meat (I had the case in a recent experiment I did with duck slow cooked in Kombucha, it was a disaster)... Apart from garlic that works well raw in a bag with meat, like Wes, I recommend you cook any other alium (onions, shallot, etc) before putting in bag, and not to store those raw ingredients with animal proteins for long... Think about a beef tartare that you keep in the fridge for an hour or two. The taste evolves very quickly, and that is because of the acidic components of the mixture...

Hope this helps

fisher23

For sous vide, I prefer powdered onions n and garlic because sous vide temperatures for protiens are usually not high enough to get ride of the harsh raw flavors.

montebello1964

Warmed-over flavor:

https://www.seriouseats.com/2017/08/what-is-warmed-over-flavor-leftover-chicken-meat.html

Brandon_Byrd_40557

WOF isn't an issue with vacuum sealed meats.

jsnyderb

I think this is the same thing that happens to leftover/prechopped onions that are left in the fridge, they just get nasty. I would have guessed that vacuum sealing them would prevent whatever's going on but obviously that's not the case. In my experience, garlic powder doesn't do this so maybe try that? I hate onion powder but if you're into that it would probably work too for overnight storage.

montebello1964

Vacuum packing doesn't actually remove all the oxygen, contrary to what is commonly assumed. Particularly the Foodsaver-type devices most people have.

Brandon_Byrd_40557

True, but you're still not going to develop warmed over flavor in pork overnight with a Foodsaver.