Since finally getting a decent setup (A crock pot on a controller instead of trying to play with a pot on the stove. My gas stove just wasnt able to go low enough to not overheat without going out. useless for long cooking times.) I've done sous vide a few times with varying success.
The things I've done are: chuck eye roast, silver tip roast, chuck eye roast, flanken (short ribs), boneless rib eye, halibut. Of all of those, the only one that turned out spectacular was the first chuck eye roast. That one came out fantastic, it tasted like a good roast prime rib and was soft like . The others all had various problems which I'll describe below.
For the three roasts, I followed the same basic procedure. Sprinkled with salt, seared in a pan, sprinkled with a bit more salt and oregano, sealed, and then cooked sous vide at 141 for ~48 hours. (Which means itll range from 141 down to 139 before it turns back on.) I have the probe from the controller hanging into the crock pot close to the side, and a regular probe thermometer hanging in next to it for secondary temp monitoring. As mentioned, the first one tasted fantastic. The other two roasts, however, had an "off" taste. I'm not equite sure how to describe it, though, something like how the meat baby food we used when our daughter was a baby smelled. Or possibly a 'livery' taste as described in the ChefSteps video on equilibrium brining. (They said that brining can prevent a livery taste.) I'm wondering if maybe the taste was related to that? Is it possible it needed more salt? Keep in mind, though, I'm using kosher meat which already has a higher salt content to begin with. Any other ideas of what might have caused it? The silver tip roast was especially bad in this respect, very strong on that flavor. The second chuck eye also had it, but not as bad.
The other issue with the roasts was texture. The first one came out what I would consider ideal, but the silver tip was soft almost to the point of being mushy. With that one especially, I felt like I was eating baby food or something. The second chuck eye wasnt too soft, but i think maybe the outer inch or so was overcooked. One thought on that (which maybe affected the taste as well, tho i doubt it.) is that the first time I started it set to 139 for a day or so then decided to up it to 141. Since then, everything was done with it continuously on 141.
My other thought is that maybe the walls of the crock pot get too hot while maintaining the temp or the water and overcooked the outside of the meat. I definitely think that was an issue with the steak and the halibut. Those were both overcooked and dryish throughout, but they were also close to or even pressed up against the walls. The crock pot has different heat settings, high, low and warm. I konw I've used high while getting the water to temp, and I may have left it on high for a bit on the second chuck eye to ensure that it didnt fall too far below temp while the meat was coming up to temp. So that may be what happened to that one, but other than that I've kept it on low during the actual cooking. I think this time I'm going to try it on warm and see if thats hot enough to keep it at temp, I imagine it should be.
The flanken I seared in the oven at 450 then brushed with a maple hickory sauce then sealed and cooked at 141 for ~48 hours. The taste wasnt bad, although a bit salty. I brushed with less sauce than usual but I underestimated how much the sous vide would concentrate it. The may have been a bit of that off flavor that the roasts had, but if there was the sauce mostly covered it up. I dont remember at this point. Texture wise it was pretty good, but still pretty chewy in some places. This again may have been the result of touching the walls. The rest was pretty soft, but I was expecting softer. Either my expectations were off, or it couldve used another 24 hours at that temp.
The steaks I sprinkled with salt then seared over coals in a weber coal starter then sealed em and cooked at 141 for 2-3 hours. I probably should have let them sit a bit longer before sealing, as I kept having a problem with juices coming out and messing up the seal, but I did eventually get em sealed. This may have contributed to the dryness, as well as overcooking from being next to the walls.
The halibut I put in a ziploc bag with olive oil then hung it from the side using the lid to keep it in place. Again, though, it probably overcooked from being too close the walls. Some parts were nice tho.
So, texture-wise, I think I know what went wrong in most cases, being too close to the walls. I'm gonna try using it on warm instead and see if that helps. The silver tip was overly muchy but maybe thats just the cut?
I think my main question is where did that off taste come from and how do I prevent it? I hope I can figure this out or someone knows because I'm gonna try another chuck eye and I want to make sure to prevent that...
