So after about 2 hours of prep and a mountain of hand washed dishes since my dishwasher is still waiting for a special order part, I prepaired my first formal Sous Vide tasting menu consisting of 5 courses for 6 people. I thought long and hard about what to make (the 6 people consisted of inlaws and they can be picky and i wanted to please everyone, but I also wanted to cook food that I liked since it was my dinner as well.)
1st Course: Sous Vide short ribs with au jus (48 hours at 140 F, Cut off meat and seared w/ grapeseed oil on cast iron griddle over high heat
Rsults: Comments included: "Amazing" "Best Short Ribs ever" "Ew I hate short rib but I could eat these all night" "What restaurant did you get these from?"
Conclusion: Super Super easy, the only thing I would change is stuff more meat into the bag or invite less people over so I get to eat more, it was such a tease. I am not sure if it was the bones in the bag but the flavors were phenomenal! I am going to the store to buy more tomorrow, they were that good.
2nd course: Coconut Curry Soup with Sous Vide Shrimp and Quick Shrimp Dumplings (15 min for whole peeled deveined shrimp in butter and salt and pepper at 134F then dropped into hot soup to carry over until cooked)
Results: Everyone cleaned their bowls, even my wife who isn't terribly fond of shrimp, the mild spicy curry and rich coconut went perfect with the tender Sous Vide shrimp. My brother in law even asked for seconds.
Conclusion: Weirdly this dish took the most time since I made the stock from the heads of the shrimp and then made the dumplings from scratch. It was worth it but in the future I will definitely triple or quadruple the recipe to make enough stock and shrimp to freeze for a faster soup, same with the dumplings, flavor wise it was spot on. I wanted to do some spherification with this dish but the powders didn't get here in time, I think with that element it would push this soup over the top.
3rd Course: Simple salad to cleanse the palate : Mixed baby lettuce with grape tomatoes, strawberries and homemade vinaigrette
Results: Perfect amount to cleanse the rich coconut curry flavors, everyone wanted the vinaigrette recipe
Conclusion: Genius! Not only did it cleanse the palate but it gave everyone something to do while I pulled the chateaubriand out of the Sous Vide and seared it. Otherwise there would have been a delay from soup to main course as I seared and plated.
4th Course: Sous Vide chateaubriand approx 2 pound roast 134 F for about 4 hours, seared then sliced into 6 portions, served over smashed potatoe with whipped horseradish
Results: I made the whipped horseradish topping as I seared the meat, it was milder than I would have liked but even non horseradish lovers ate all of theirs. The steak was the most tender I have ever seen as they were cut from the roast after the sear. Amazing that none of the steaks lost any liquid at all! Perfect sear on the hot cast iron griddle with a little grapeseed oil and perfectly medium rare from edge to edge, my father in law couldn't believe it was that perfectly cooked. Everyone including my sister in law who isn't a huge steak fan ate every single piece they had. The crispy potatoe was a perfect contrast to the tender juicy moist buttery steak. Next time I will make myself some more assertive horseradish sauce but I will carbon copy the chateaubriand it was perfect. My mother in law couldn't belive that the best steak she ever had her whole life only cost 7 dollars.
Conclusion: My mother in law wants me to cater for her parties, and wants to drum up investors so I can cook full time....not sure about that but the steak was perfect, definitely a keeper.
5th Course: Super watermelon (chamber vacced watermelon in a bag with watermelon juice)
Results: My brother in law ate all of it off the cutting board because he said it was the best watermelon he had ever had, he also drank all of the juice out of the chamber vac bags after I had served dessert. I did one round of watermelon in grapefruit juice and everyone liked it the best. The texture and flavor of both the plain and grapefruit were amazing, it will be hard to eat regular watermelon after this.
Conclusion: 5 minute dessert that can be made ahead of dinner and plated while guests finish their main course, this was the easiest of all the courses to prepare but it was a perfect ending to an amazing meal. Best short rib they ever had, best chateaubriand they ever had, and best watermelon they ever had.
Great meal, I can't believe how good everything turned out (this was a frist time making any of these recipes and everything was stellar.) I will use my Sous Vide every single day, it's that useful and really that easy. I don't want to sound lazy but this was one of the easiest steaks I have EVER cooked. For christmas I cooked 10 bacon wrapped filets on my charcoal grill for my wifes work party and it was a hassle to cook all the steaks to a particular doneness and I had to stand outside in the snow to baby sit the grill to make sure I had no grease fire issues from the bacon. Out of 10 steaks they were all good except for one that was underdone (90% isn't too bad) HOWEVER. If I had my Polyscience Chef they would have all been cooked perfectly none of them under done, and honestly I could have enjoyed the party instead of freezing to death outside. (plus the Sous Vide steak is better than what I can produce on the grill alone)
Ok here are the pictures, thanks to my lovely wife for taking them and helping me plate! XOXO
Mason @2kmgastronomy
