Are there any risky proteins to be careful?

Pre-ordered my Joule, looking forward to getting into sous-vide.

I don't have access to a local butcher, fish market, etc. so I get most of my protein from my grocery stores (mainly Safeway and Trader Joe's). Are there any store bought proteins that I should take precaution in cooking sous vide, due to the lower temperatures?

Should I stay away from cooking store-bought ground beef sous vide? Any types of fish I should stay away?

Thanks.

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Comments

FrankM_3301

You should be aware of the risks, and handle food safely, regardless of where you purchase it, how you handle it, and your cooking method. Low temperature cooking does not change that. It is important to know that food safety is not only about temperature, but the combination of time and temperature...and that it is not a linear scale. One of the advantages of Joule, in combination with the app, and "visual doneness", is that the safety protocols are built in to the recipes. So you will not have to do any calculations. If you are venturing out on your own, so to speak, you'll want to be more informed. There are lots of sources where you can investigate food safety, but Douglas Baldwin is the man!

While virtually any protein can be cooked sous vide, you might wind up preferring some cooked traditionally. Not for safety, but simply because you enjoy the result. For example, lots of folks cook fish sous vide, but more often than not, I prefer it cooked traditionally. At the other extreme, there are delicious textures of beef short rib or oxtail that just can't be achieved in traditional cookery. So, there is a lot of room for creativity and personal preference.

matthewmicahhall

I agree on all points -- just one additional comment. This is a good time to remember the distinction between low temp cooking and sous vide cooking. Some proteins (I'm thinking of delicate ones like seafood) can be noticeably damaged when bagging under higher vacuum, and so you might want to take precautions here, but not for safety reasons. The solution is to use the water displacement method or only pull a light vacuum.

FrankM_3301

I think, in general, sous vide is a misnomer. I try to use the phrase "low temperature cooking" (though clearly, sous vide is now widely understood...and I slipped up above). For all intents and purposes, we are really not talking about cooking under vacuum for the vast majority of low temp, immersion circulator applications.

randy7fx

Sous vide ox tail recipe please Frank?

FrankM_3301

In general, sear oxtail on all sides in a very hot pan...1 - 2 min per side.

Bag (in this case I use a food saver bag and vacuum seal for strength given the long cook).

Cook at 60C for 100 hours.

Cool.

Remove meat from bone.

Then you can do what you like with it...but you have to post pictures so the rest of us can see.

Here is one of my creations: 100 hour oxtail, flavors of kalbi. In this case, I first marinated the oxtail in the seasoning used to make Korean kalbi, also on the plate gochuchang cavatelli and kimchi pickles.

fisher23

Looks great, thank you!

AngelArs_240456

I would stay away from any farmed fish. Not because the Joule can't cook it, but because farmed fish is loaded with toxins.