Pressure Sous Vide?

So I had an idea not too long ago, and I was wondering what others think. Basically, it would involve sealing strips of short rib or something, then putting them into a cream whipper. The remaining volume would be filled with water, and the amount of air left would allow the right amount of pressure. The canister would be then be charged, and the contents under pressure. The cream whipper would then be put in a sous vide water bath to cook the meat. My idea was that since the contents are under pressure, the connective tissue and collagen of the meat would break down significantly faster, much how a pressure cooker works. Unlike a pressure cooker, the meat would be cooked to the appropriate temperature for control over doneness. Basically, if this worked, the famous 129 degree short ribs could be made in a matter of hours instead of three days. I will go ahead and give this a try, but in the meantime, I'd like some feedback. Thank you!

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FrankM_3301

In a pressure cooker, it is not the air pressure in and of itself that is the mechanism allowing faster cooking. The increased pressure raises the boiling point so that you are cooking with higher heat. The pressure also forces liquid into the food. So, in your scenario, you could sort of force marinate (Dave Arnold has a pressure pickle technique using a whipper), but unless you increase the heat, I don't think you will cook or break down your short rib faster.

tshewman

If I'm following the theory, isn't it simply dividing up the pressure and the temperature system? So, essentially accomplishing the same with two different systems as opposed to one?

If I understand the concept behind a pressure cooker, the elevated pressure helps to transfer the steam to the product. Since the increase in pressure correlates with an increase in the boiling point of the water so to cook the ribs, they would be cooked in a higher temperature (not lower).

Since the water inside the siphon would need to vaporize into steam, and the pressure raises the boiling point, the temperature would need to be higher than the low temperature proposed.

In short, to create steam to begin with, the temperature has to be high (which means if accurate the low temp rib idea might not work :-(..).

Since the break down of collagen (that we are after) is reliant a great deal on time and temperature, I'm uncertain how much external pressure (relative to the product) would influence the collagen directly. For example, if we pull a full vacuum or half before doing a 72hr SR, I would anticipate the results of the internal meat would be relatively the same, thus the pressure created is more relavent to the cooking temperature and steam transfer and not to the physical properties of the meat. Interesting train of thought though!

david_111729

pressure cooker breaks stuff down faster because the the temps inside can reach 250 degrees. Not sure if the added pressure will contribute to the speed of tenderizing protein at your sous vide temp.

phyllisperkins

Sounds like you are using two techniques which work on almost opposite principles. Either one would cancel out the efficacy of the other or you are in for a huge explosion!

Brandon_Byrd_40557

Low temp under pressure is still low temp. But if you got the ISI hot enough, it could work as a mini pressure cooker. In the Desk Nachos video Dave Arnold cooks dried beans inside an ISI that he heats up with a blowtorch. It's terrifying, but it apparently works. Don't try that at home.