nav[aria-label="Primary Navigation"] { padding: 0; & ul { list-style: none; width: 100%; display: flex; flex-direction: row; justify-content: start; align-items: start; gap: 30px; padding: 0; & li { margin: 0; } & ul li { list-style: none; } } }

New to Chef Steps

Mason_Perry_34060

I just thought I would introduce myself and say hi. I am new to chefsteps and fairly new to Sous Vide cooking. I am 28 am a Paramedic/Firefighter and cooking has become an obsession. I look forward to sharing my experiences with everyone, I like to take a lot of pictures since they are worth a thousand words. Hope you guys enjoy as much as I do. Tonight I am cooking a tasting menu ala sous vide, I prepped everything today. Here are some pictures.

Thanks to Chefsteps for this great website and instruction.

2kmgastronomy

Find more posts tagged with

Everything Else

Comments

Patrick_Ancillotti_6135

We need some finished plated food pictures!

Mason_Perry_34060

Ask and ye shall recieve, not sure how many I can post per comment....

Enjoy

Oh best filet and ribeye I have EVER had and I am a steak freak (ribeye is my favorite cut but this filet was the best filet i have ever had), my wife said the filet was the best she has ever had. I can't wait till the night time temps get in double digits so I can sear over lump charcoal, then I am sure that will be the best steak I have ever had.

Might make more burgers for dinner tomorrow night they were that good, only thing that didn't work well was the carrots, I didn't cook them long enough, asparagus was excellent I personally liked them better than roasted, my wife said they tied with roasted over charcoal. Short ribs are still going, having some dinner guests over on Friday night for a 5 course Sous Vide meal which is when we will have the short ribs and of course I will take many more pictures.

Ok pictures.....

Mason_Perry_34060

Pics continued

Plain Chicken Breast

Teriyaki Marinated (wife's favorite)

Devil's Spit Marinated (my favorite) it looks burnt that was just the sauce, it didn't taste burnt

Salt Pepper EVOO Breast

Who doesn't love bacon!!! (This was my second place)

Mason_Perry_34060

More Pics

Carrots needed more time

Asparagus were great

Last picture is watermelon that was treated in the vac master. The top pair (the light ones) are regular watermelon. The bottom pair (dark ones) were sealed in the vac master with some watermelon juice (I used a third of the watermelon for juice and the other 2/3 were infused with the juice from the first third.) The vaccum removes the trapped air in the watermelon and then when the air is purged back into the chamber of the vac master the other watermelon juice is forced back into the melon where the air was. The result is watermelon that is about 500% juicier and the texture is more meaty. It's hard to explain but after having it neither myself or my wife really want to eat regular watermelon again. The same is true of the steaks, I don't think I will order a steak again unless we go to a real steak house which I think will also be rare since for the price of a dinner for two I could probably cook a week worth of 5 star sous vide meals at home. I also get to control exactly what's on the menu which means I always get to eat what I want. I hate going to a fancy restaurant and being stuck with a pre fixe menu.... anyway next big meal is Friday more pics will follow.

Mason

Chris_Young_80640

@Mason Perry Very nice, thanks for sharing! Look forward to seeing the result of the five-course dinner. Here's a tip for getting an even better ribeye steak—presear it raw before packaging it, just a bit, then cook it, and give it a brief final sear. You'll find you get a much richer flavor, a more intense crust, and less overcooking just beneath the surface. We'll have a demonstration of this technique up shortly as we round out module 2.

Mason_Perry_34060

I know, sadly the ribeyes I had were already frozen in ziplocks before I got my chamber vac, next round of steaks will be preseared!

Brendan_Lee_56950

I did the presear method on a few ribeyes last week, it definitely made a huge difference and I was really impressed with the crust that was able to form so quickly after the sous vide cooking.

Patrick_Ancillotti_6135

@Chris: Good tip! I'll give that a try with my next steak batch!

susan_fox_33805

I love these pix, Mason, do keep them coming. The ones showing sealed before and after are especially useful. I'm a total neophyte at sous vide so it's good to see portion size and how tightly they are vacuumed. I have a Food Master that I haven't used in some time - but if I remember correctly it does not give the option of controlling the amount of vacuum seal. Some photos on the site gave the impression that for some foods the chefs used looser seals than for others. From all I've read, though, I doubt it matters that much.

Chris_Young_80640

@Susan_Fox After a certain point, the level of vacuum sealing really doesn't matter that much. Why? Because there is only so much suck. No matter how much air you get out of the bag, the atmosphere will push down on it with the same force. How snugly the bag will be pushed around the food by atmosphere depends on how much gas is left in the bag, and the difference between getting 99%, 99.9%, and 99.99% of the gas out of the bag makes surprisingly little difference.

The other thing to realize is that your package will always loosen as it cooks. Again, why? Because water starts to evaporate from your food and is contained by the packaging. The pressure of that water vapor inflates the bag slightly.

susan_fox_33805

@Chris I bet what I saw were bags loosened from cooking. This is good to know. Tonight I'm graduating from sous vide eggs to pre-seared locally grown and butchered steak.

Mason_Perry_34060

@susan_fox I always error on the easy side of the vaccum sealing (IE less as I can always increase in pressure) I also for this very reason ordered bags slightly larger than my chamber vac so I can trim and reseal if needed, that way I am not wasting an entire bag if something goes wrong.

Mason_Perry_34060

So after not eating all of the bacon wrapped chicken breast I cut it in half today and built a pannini around it with some sourdough lettuce tomato onion ortega chile and provolone I ate it for lunch and the chicken was just as juicy and delicous as it was when it came out of the water bath. Sous Vide even makes leftovers amazing, no more dried out chicken!

Les_36013

Hi everyone,

I'm new to the concept and having just received my kit I'm looking forward to using it tonight.

Starting off with Rump Steak and after seeking cooking times from various places I'm slightly confused by the wild differences in times. Some sites suggesting 3-4 hours for medium rare others longer and a couple short and sharp.

Perhaps someone might like to offer an explanation of the differences.

I love my steak rare so tonight, erring on the side of safety, I'm going to try 50 mins @ 56C

will let you know the outcome.

Les

prince_of_porcelain

Hi @Les and welcome! I'm not an expert, but can share my thoughts. Basically, it will depend on the size of your steak, and the texture you want to end up with. If you have a 6-8oz steak, the time will be much shorter than if you have a larger roast. The time that you cook it won't result in it cooking more than rare (Personally, I consider 56C to be on the low side of medium rare, but check out the pics in the course to determine what level of doneness you are going for - module 1 - consistency, temps are in F, not C. There is the same chart with C, but I always have trouble finding it, so I just do the conversion). Anyway, more time won't cook the steak any more past rare, but it will change the texture of the steak. Depending on the effect you are going for you could leave it in longer or not. In general, the shorter the time, the more chew it will have because less collagen breaks down. Rump steak is, I believe, what I'd consider round steak. Generally a slow and low cook cut, so it may benefit from a longer cook time to become more tender. Check out the module on creative possibilities to see the difference in texture vs. cook time for short rib. If it was me (and I haven't done a round steak yet, just how I'd design an experiment), I'd have two steaks, put one in for 4 hours or so, and drop the other about 3 hours and 15 minutes in. Then you can compare the two times side by side. Both will still be rare / medium rare. Might even be interesting to try a long cook - 24+ hours on this cut, but I'd let someone else weigh in on that. Besides, if you're eating tonight, that won't work. Not sure where you're from (Australia/NZ?), but 4 hours might be pushing it to for tonight's dinner. Good luck and enjoy!

Jack_Mayer_85396

The recommendation seems to be "cook from frozen" and pre-sear before vac bagging. Also, a 10 min rest in the freezer after SV cooking and then a final post-sear. So this suggests to me that the process might be: home from the market, blot dry, stash in freezer for 10 minutes, pre-sear, quick chill, vac bag and freeze. Then, when its steak night, cook SV straight from frozen to target temp, remove from bag, blot dry and rest in the freezer for 10 minutes, then final blow torch and eat! Anyone see any holes in the concept? Thanks!

Mason_Perry_34060

If I get meat from the butcher and it has been refrigerated I don't freeze it at all before the presear, I just sear it then let it cool to room temp to prevent moisture from entering the vac sealer. I just cooked a rib roast that I bought and froze in december and it was delicious, I have some rib eyes I bought around the same time that I will let go a year to see if there is any degridation in quality,I doubt it. You also say quick chill after the presear is this in the vac bag then in an ice bath? You could just throw it in the freezr for 5 min before vaccing.

Also if you haven't tried frying (with a quick freezer period) as a searing method give it a try, it's the best method I have found, it's hard for me to sear any other way now....

Jack_Mayer_85396

@Mason, thanks. Yes, what I meant was cooling the meat after the pre-sear and before vac bagging. Usually I just put the meat in a vac bag and without sealing, it stash in a slushy ice bath. As only the first mm's on the surfaces will be hot, It does sound simpler to pop it in the freezer for a few minutes before sealing and thoroughly freezing. How much extra time do you allow for cooking from the frozen state?

Mason_Perry_34060

30 to 60 minutes depending on size

Jack_Mayer_85396

Thanks!

Mason_Perry_34060

No problem, I think I have only cooked 1 protein sous vide that wasn't straight out of the freezer. We buy in bulk about once a month and portion and freeze everything.