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Restaurant or catering setup.

seijoed

Reading a bit about this - many seem to recommend running 3 or at the very least
2 baths. What are the normal temps one usually see for 3 baths?
I assume that when doing this core temp timing is the key critical issue and why
many professional recipes can seem a little "timing critical" as if the author was under pressure....

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Brendan_Lee_56950

Nice. pretty much what I had envisioned so I'm glad it works well.

Mason_Perry_34060

@Brendan I take 4 ice chests one for cold items and iced down on the way over, one as a hot holding/cooking bath, one for clean plates one for hot items. I load all the dirty plates into the empty ice chests and put a little water and maybe some ice on top of the dirty plates, Not only does this keep stuff from getting caked but if there is enough movement of ice it will actually clean most of the dirty plates on the way home. I rinse and place in teh diswasher then I just hose out the ice chests.

Brendan_Lee_56950

I have never done any big parties outside of my own home but I feel like it's only a matter of time before I get those requests so this is very helpful. As for cleaning I was thinking about those big sturdy rubbermaid tubs filled with some soapy water to store plates/pots/pans so stuff doesn't get caked on during the ride home.

seijoed

The cleaning part is very smart.

Yes, I bring spices too - forgot that.

jim_53915

that's the correct way of thinking going into a catered event, always assume they wont have what you need. I also find it is more comfortable cooking with my own equipment than others.

I usually have:

Folding tables- 2

proofing cabinet sheet trays & sterno for reheating

butane burners 1-4 depending on how many items to reheat

Cooler for cold items

2 large spoons 1 slotted 1 regular

2 spatulas - 1 silicone 1 metal

garbage bags large black & medium white

towels for hot items

1 box non latex gloves

paper towel roll

my knife kit(a large tool box): contains any and all knives, hand blender, and back up spices i.e. salt, pepper, xanthan gum...

I always work out of the garage when possible so the house remains clean. A note for clean up, I take along a roll of white kitchen garbage bags to load all dirty pots and pans as I finish with them. They then get loaded in the truck and washed back at the kitchen. It speeds up clean up time and doesn't make a mess in their kitchen.

Mason_Perry_34060

@Johan haha I feel the same way, I could cater in the middle of the desert like you could...

seijoed

Reading that - I guess I don't trust people to have anything I need in their kitchen

seijoed

@Jim - I can see if I can find any, I don't do it professionally by any means - I tend to put the following in the car.

2-3 Saute pans

1 or so sauce pots

Metal pots for mixing

Knives and steel

Plastic spoons for tasting

A fold up table

Cookie sheets with a rim for easy cleanup

Then I do veg and such ahead of time and chill, leave in bag.

2 baths

As much as possible left in bags that I just put in a suit-case.

If it is darned warm outside an ice-box

-- Oh, and a korean butane burner is awesome - you can get good heat that way.

jim_53915

@Johan_Edstrom do you have any pictures of your catering set up?

@Chris currently I cater using metal proofing cabinets and sterno as a mobile makeshift reheating oven. would reheating using this method defeat the purpose of sous vide?

seijoed

96 Trans Am with the 8. Found it standing on a lot in Munich

Mason_Perry_34060

What kind of car?

seijoed

Oh, I like wine, I used to live close to Italy - I'd go down for the weekend in my tuned pace car before I got all married and that.

Mason_Perry_34060

Im not gonna lie, I like wine as much as I like chicken. Give me an ale over wine any day. I have a friend that brews several kegs a week, needless to say he is a "close" friend. He makes me a brown ale that is 11% ABV

seijoed

Yes, because the wino is a whole nother scale of complexity. That I refuse to do.

I've taken a few pairing and wine classes, my wife is better at it.

Mason_Perry_34060

@Johan I am doing the same thing but I have 4 large ice chests (Already had all of them) 1 will be for cold, one will be converted to a heated/circulator (maybe 2 depending on cost to build) then the polyscience unit will be the cooker for lobster/sauces. That way the hosts only have to provide the wine to pair with the meal.

seijoed

@Mason for catering - what I usually do is line two roller bags (travel bags) with a hard shell with some towels, then I can pack about 10 peoples dinners in each bag, go out 1.5 hours or 2 ahead of time, fire up the baths, clean, make a mise en place, a plating station, a few areas where I can store things needing cleaning and whatnot else, if you do it right and have say a cold, hot, cold, dinner, cleanser, dessert you should be done with all cleaning by the cleanser and have your baths drained and back in the car.

seijoed

@Chris it is still as always really, really nice to be able to verify things I've been pondering, that is what I love about this forum.

It confirmed a few things for me that I've really been not liking in terms of "outdated" sous-vide instructions I've seen from "older" (It is okay to say that if you are above 40 but feel like 25) people, they never seem to want to take the time to comprehend what is happening, why things don't taste good or why many things we "assume" have no theoretical nor practical anchoring.

Bryce_67761

Interesting

Chris_Young_80640

@Mason & @Johan — Yes, the thing to keep in mind (and I'm sure you both realize this) is that you want to heat at the lowest common temperature.

Mason_Perry_34060

@Johan I had pretty much the same in mind, with the option to refill steaks from the freezer ahead of demand if needed. I would be shooting for 3 baths ideally.

seijoed

@Chris, thanks a bunch. That confirms I wasn't going insane (yet).

I then would have belly, confit or similar things marked - Depending on availability

Steak I can re-fill as suggested earlier, fish to order and finish in a pan, veg - well probably a 25% overhead since I can use that the next day too.

Mason_Perry_34060

Thanks for the info @Chris what you explained makes so much more sense to me.

I would think cooking in advance then chill until needed would be way more efficient for service than cooking to order, since basically all you need to do is bring it with a serving temperature and sear if needed. I am trying to prepare as much as I possibly can in advance so all I need to do is reheat and cook maybe a sauce and the lobster, which means one bath for cooking and the other for holding.

Chris_Young_80640

@Johan — I do not advocate the same temperatures that Bruno suggests. Indeed, those temperatures are very hard to understand and I don't know any working chef (and I know quite a few successful chefs) who use baths set to those temperatures.

In general, I want two or three baths set to the temperatures of foods that must be cooked to order. These will all be tender and/or low-temperature items. If I have foods the must be cooked to a hotter temperature, I will precook and chill them. That way they can be reheated in a lower temperature bath, but the customer still gets what they want.

If I have three baths, I might use 113 °F / 45 °C for most seafoods, 129 °F / 54 °C for seafoods at a higher temperature and certain meats that are best served rare, and then 140 °F / 60 °C for poultry and meats that I want to cook to medium.

With only two baths it would probably be 113 °F / 45 °C and 140 °F / 60 °C. For cooking things to temperatures in-between, I would work out the timing so that I know when to pull them from the 140 °F / 60 °C bath and have them end up where I want them to.

Of course, you might choose slightly different temperature settings based on your personal preference or the demands of your menu.

Mason_Perry_34060

I am working on making a second bath for around 125 bucks, just for this reason.

lelferreira

The main difference between sous vide at home and in a restaurant, is that depending on how many baths you got, you got to sacrifice sometimes the temperature.

Example: at home, I like to cook my pork belly @ 60°C for 40 hours, and because I don't have any other thing to do, I'd spent all this time to cook it. At the restaurant, I have only one bath, so I don't have the time to cook it for 40 hours because I have other things to do. So I cook it around 24 hours @ 65°C. Still gives a very nice resultant didn't waste that much time cooking it.

Brendan_Lee_56950

So many meanings..... most of them dirty.

Mason_Perry_34060

"Warm pink center"

Grace_95227

@Brendan, I get what you mean. Even worse is the word 'pink' - so subjective!

Mason_Perry_34060

133F is my personal favorite, highest I will cook red meat sous vide is like 140F anything above that is like why bother...

Brendan_Lee_56950

Me too, but I don't think we are the "norm" when it comes to that. I know my definition of medium rare compared to most of my friends is vastly different. Up until recently anything with pink showing was considered "rare" to my wife. This is why I hate using qualitative wording to do something that can be measured precisely.