Go to the Article: Bags and Other Packaging
Firstly, may I say the jar idea is pure genius. I use a vacuum sealer that sucks the air out. The downside is that it draws all the liquid out of the bag. I have considered freezing the stock prior to sealing would this work? And how would I go about solidifying oil based liquids? Would you suggest a gelatine that will hold the oil and then disperse when the temperature rises?
I get my bags from Doug Care. Cost for larger ones about 7 cents each. Same size bag for a Foodsaver is around 40-50 cents each.
A discussion of vacuum sealing would be helpful too. A hand held one for under $80 has major problems with liquids and reusing the same bag. And the bags are expensive just for one time use. Snokel sealers for about $100 from Doug's bags works pretty good execept if you let it suck some liquids. I think they are about the same as the far more expensive Food Savor. Hunting stores sell a $300 sealer which I think is a snorkel type. No experience with that. The above I used for sous vide for about 3 years and then got feed up with the wasted time trying to get a seal. So I bought a VacMaster VP 112 for under $600. I have gone thru 3 cracking lids but the manufacturer has sent me new ones each time. I suspect they were have trouble with the lid handing the weight via its design and materials. Last one I have has had no cracking problems for the past 6 months. Very happy with the VacMaster and its major side benefit...food lasts longer in fridge and freezer cutting our grocery shopping bill by about 25% or more. More than pays for the the more expensive machine. Now if I can just find a small blast chiller for under $300...
You can either fill vacuum bags and prop them up in the freezer until solid, then just vacuum seal before they melt. Or freeze liquids in ice cube trays then bag them. When I got my circulator a friend told me to immediately freeze an ice cube tray full of stock, and one filled with olive oil, that way I could just throw a few cubes into a bag with a fresh chicken breast and seal it before the oil or stock melted.
I've frozen liquid components and then vacuum sealed them, it works great. Oil doesn't seem to be as big a problem for me with the machine for some reason, just vac sealed carrots in olive oil tonight, and barely any made it past the seal before it was closed off.
You may want to include some comments about BPA in canning jar lids. Recently produced ones don't have it but older ones do. I've recently seen some on store shelves that still have BPA. Ball states that the lids and packaging say "Made in America" if they're BPA free. I've also seen some newer packaging that explicitly says BPA-free as well.
Can you guys offer a little guidance on selecting a chamber vacuum for the home? I'm specifically interested in the Polyscience 300 series. Has anyone tried it out? Still not exactly "affordable" but they're getting cheap enough that I could see myself splurging.
Those are great machines for home use. If you have the space it will do most anything a larger machine will do. Its main limiting factor will be the size of the chamber.
We felt that because the level of BPA in lids was insignificant, it wasn't worth mentioning and causing unnecessary concern.
Regarding the sealers, you get what you pay for. The FoodSaver units are relatively cheap, but they don't work that well at all. I never trust the top seal on the bag. I end up having to cut the bag extra long and leaving the top outside of the water bath. I recently bought a Vacmaster 215 and I couldn't be happier. Unless you completely mangle the bag, the seals are foolproof. Also, the bags are much cheaper on the chamber sealers, so if you are planning on cooking sous vide long term, it helps to lower the overall cost. The cost of bags is so cheap comparatively, you start thinking of new ways to use the bags. Recently, I made a big batch of pizza sauce and sealed up individual pizza portions and froze them.
Cheers Andy. Good advice
Your link for the sous vide custard doesn't work.
Which link is not working for you?
We have definitely considered taking a more in depth look at chamber vacuum sealers. It is a hard item to sell, as most people don't have the room for them in their homes. However, if you can afford one and have the space they are an amazing asset.
I tried to see the recipe for the custard and I got 404.
Been looking something higher quality than ziplock, but don't know much about plastics. Do you guys have any thoughts on these Elkay bags?
Made from LDPE and rated up to 200F. Also cheap, I found them online $30 (with shipping) here
They also make a 3-gallon size, which I've been looking for for larger projects (short ribs, pork shoulder etc). The 3-gallon size looks like it is made form the same material, though the product description doesn't include a temperature rating. I intend to call on Monday to find out more info...
Are the most of plastic bags containing high-density polyethylene, low-density polyethylene, or polypropylene?
Just above the photo of mason jars there is a link to custards. It opens a pop up for creme brûlée. The video works. The "see the recipe" link does not. Still broken 6 days later.
Working ok for you now?
I imagine I am not alone in excitedly waiting for less expensive chamber vacs to come to market, but we're not there yet and I wouldn't blame you for waiting for the market to expand.
Ok, so if I lack a chamber sealer how do I do a good job of sealing in liquids or perhaps compression sealing fruit like the watermelon or pineapple examples on your site?
Any thoughts on the use or performance of the silicone bags from lekue for sous vide?
I had the VP112 and used it nearly daily for 2 years. I was moving it around between my kitchen and the Church kitchen I volunteer in quite a bit and it started having issues. The lid started to crack and then the seal wasn't holding the vacuum as well. I sold that at a loss and bought the VP215. This is an order of magnitude better than the VP112. I use it daily and move it around to/from the Church kitchen a couple times a year. I've used over 2000 bags (and I cut some of them into multiple smaller bags) with the VP215 and it is still working as well as it ever has. Plus not staying closed when the cycle is over has saved on some food costs (closing the VP112 with food in it when things were hectic and forgetting about ituntil the next day when I opened it to use and found the "room temperature all night" food in it).
I have a question about using canning jars. I was making some triple cooked fries and decided to do the sous vide part in quart canning jars. I filled the jars with the cut potatoes, glucose, salt, and baking soda combination. The solution was hot when I poured it into the hot jars and put on the lids and submerged into the water bath. When I went to take out the potatoes 3 of the 4 jars had broken. I have used the jars for canning in the pressure cooker many times, also have made the creme brulee recipe and it was flawless. Would the baking soda somehow compromised the jars?
maybe they broke due to the pressure that build up inside the jars as you started with a hot solution and probably closed the jars too tight!
That's a great idea!
I have the waring gun type. It works good but the bags are pricey. They claim they are reusable and cleanable, but I have not been able to get one clean enough to use it over again.The system does work very well though, and the nozzle has a removable reservoir to capture liquids.
What are the white balls that you guys have floating in some of your sous vide baths? What's their purpose and where do I get them?
Using the mason jars for creme brûlée is pure genius!! I have in the past used ramekins in my sous vide and just elevated them above the water line.... guess what I am making in a couple of days
The white balls are Ping pong balls! No paddle required. They help contain the heat and are easier to reach through than a tight lid especially if you're in and out of the bath with any frequency. ~m
Looking forward to using the Joule. What brands of bags do you recommend? Can you use the joule in clear plastic food storage containers?
Congrats for the classes i just join the Premium account and this is my first class, i have a question : Why place the bag in waterbath with the seal open?
We'll be releasing a video about this in the next few days, but basically you leave the bag open so that when you submerge the food in the water, air will escape from the bag due to water pressure. Once you try it, you'll easily see what we mean -- you put the food in, the bag seals snugly around it, and you can just hang the top of the bag off the edge of the pot. Thanks for joining Premium! Great to have you!
We use Ziplock gallon freezer bags most often, but we also use some sous vide–specific bags from FoodSaver. You can find more details here: https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/a-complete-guide-to-sous-vide-packaging-safety-sustainability-and-sourcing
I concern about the safety of the use of plastic bags. I have seen some recipes that requires sous vide cooking around 90°C, but, I am not sure if boiling a plastic thing for that long time is chemistrically safe. What if it yields some bad stuff?
Is it safe to use ziploc style bag for cooking for example poultry? Because whole bag will not be submerged into the water during cooking period and the top part of it will be contaminated with raw poultry. How to handle that safely?
I am planning on using stainless steel containers. Can I put a chicken breast into it and fill it up with olive oil(such that there no air pockets), and then sous vide them. Any thoughts on this setup? Please advise - thank you
Learned something today I bet everyone but me knew. When vacuum sealing on my FoodSaver, I just let the sucker go until it does the best Hoover it can do and sucks everything tightly flat. However, today I hit the seal button after it starts to vacuum and it stops sucking mid cycle and seals bags and spits it out. Wow, no more crushed shrimp or scallops and a great way to seal those bags with liquid. No more hamburger juice in my seals. If something has alot of liquid, I drop the heavy end of the bag in a drawer in front of my Food Saver, insert bag and it starts doing the vacuum thing. I hit the seal button just as juices start to flow upward against gravity toward the seal. I hit the seal button and bingo, I have a sealed bag with liquid in it. I bet I am the last person to figure this out.
