Sous Vide

[JimMIA]

I had the same problem about searing, and also found that the pan doesn't get hot enough on the grill. I ended up buying a outdoor propane gas burner and it has worked well.

Thanks.

I initially solved the problem by returning indoors and increasing both the amount of heat on the cooktop and the amount of exhaust fan. That solved both the heat and exhaust problems, but I still had a lot of spatter, including spatter into the exhaust fan which I'm sure is not a good thing.

But the sear was perfect and the steak was amazing.

DW suggested an alternative and I'm going to try that before investing in Grill Grates. We have a portable electric two-burner that should generate plenty of heat. I'm going to take that outside, use my grill top as a table and try it. It will be a bit of a hassle to go through just to grill a steak, but it should work.

 

[JimMIA]

Look at a product called Grill Grates. This helps achieve higher temperature for searing. People swear by these things.

https://www.grillgrate.com/

Thanks. I'm going to consider that if my Plan C doesn't work. For my grill, it would be $140, so I want to try another alternative first.

 

[JimMIA]

Plan C was griddle on the BBQ. It worked, but not as well as I had hoped and took longer to get a sear that I wanted. So I ordered GrillGrate from Amazon. If that's not better, I can always send it back.

The steak (Costco NY Strip), however, was spectacular!

 

[mrodgers]

Look at a product called Grill Grates. This helps achieve higher temperature for searing. People swear by these things.

https://www.grillgrate.com/

You're confusing burn marks on meat with searing. I don't want any burn marks from the grates on my meat.


I want to try sous vide, but I'm not rich enough to waste the money to buy if I don't like it. I still can't wrap my head around cooking for hours then searing when all I do is the same searing and it's done (sometimes over done.) Most of the pictures or videos I see I am always wondering why they are saying they seared the meat when they barely turned the color from before the sear.

Less than 3 minutes and I have a delicious perfectly cooked steak. I don't know why I would want to add several hours to that, nor how I would not overcook by taking it to temperature, then sear it for 3 minutes.

 

[JoeA]

You're confusing burn marks on meat with searing. I don't want any burn marks from the grates on my meat.


I want to try sous vide, but I'm not rich enough to waste the money to buy if I don't like it. I still can't wrap my head around cooking for hours then searing when all I do is the same searing and it's done (sometimes over done.) Most of the pictures or videos I see I am always wondering why they are saying they seared the meat when they barely turned the color from before the sear.

Less than 3 minutes and I have a delicious perfectly cooked steak. I don't know why I would want to add several hours to that, nor how I would not overcook by taking it to temperature, then sear it for 3 minutes.

No, I am not. I know the difference between "burn marks" and searing. The claim to these grill grates is they conduct heat much better and achieve a higher surface temperature, and higher heat = searing. You can sear on the grates if you want "burn marks" or reverse them for a flat surface.

I am active on a Traeger forum and the pellets grills only get to 450 or 500, depending on model; a lot of guys use these to get a hotter surface temperature for searing.

 

[JimMIA]

You're confusing burn marks on meat with searing. I don't want any burn marks from the grates on my meat.

Neither do I, but the grates have two sides. One side is grates up, the other side is flat for even searing and won't make marks.

I still can't wrap my head around cooking for hours then searing when all I do is the same searing and it's done (sometimes over done.) Most of the pictures or videos I see I am always wondering why they are saying they seared the meat when they barely turned the color from before the sear.

Less than 3 minutes and I have a delicious perfectly cooked steak. I don't know why I would want to add several hours to that, nor how I would not overcook by taking it to temperature, then sear it for 3 minutes.

The difference with sous vide is not time -- it's uniform doneness from edge to edge. When I cook steak at 133F, the meat 0.01 mm from the sear is perfectly medium rare. And it's that way all the way to, and including, the center.

DW broiled a filet last night and it was overcooked on the outside and raw in the middle.

I also think sous vide delivers better taste because the meat is cooking in it's own juices internally, but I haven't done enough scientific research to confirm that. (I'm used to my DW's tasteless filets from Trader Joes, and those are not a fair comparison with the taste of NY Strip).

Another benefit of sous vide is that you can't overcook anything. You set the temp, and it can't go any higher.

Sous vide cooking is also not hours of drudgery. You set it and forget it until time is up. And if you're busy when time expires, no big deal. Take it off when you are ready; it won't overcook.

Sous vide is certainly not for everything. You can theoretically cook just about anything sous vide, but why would you? I haven't tried cooking veggies sous vide because I see no sense to it. And, as discussed above, I didn't like the way my scallops came out -- I'll just pan sear them in the future.

Sous vide is just one option.

 

[prestoncaldwell]

You're confusing burn marks on meat with searing. I don't want any burn marks from the grates on my meat.


I want to try sous vide, but I'm not rich enough to waste the money to buy if I don't like it. I still can't wrap my head around cooking for hours then searing when all I do is the same searing and it's done (sometimes over done.) Most of the pictures or videos I see I am always wondering why they are saying they seared the meat when they barely turned the color from before the sear.

Less than 3 minutes and I have a delicious perfectly cooked steak. I don't know why I would want to add several hours to that, nor how I would not overcook by taking it to temperature, then sear it for 3 minutes.

The "sometimes overdone" is key to why sous vide is perfect for steaks. Sous vide gives me absolutely flawless meat temp every single time. I've had varying levels of success with other things. I've generally found that I have to sous vide seafood at 5-10 degrees F higher than suggestions on the internet say to cook it.

Even my wife who made fun of me for buying a sous vide now appreciates it, especially on a steak night.

 

[Deb]

I think I ready to upgrade to a vacuum sealer. Any reasonably priced suggestions?

 

[LuvOrlando]

I think I ready to upgrade to a vacuum sealer. Any reasonably priced suggestions?

I haven't done it yet because of me TRYING to avoid more gadgets but there were a few mentioned earlier in the thread, I liked the look of a few.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Came back because I had a pretty bad sous vide fail a few weeks ago and I am wondering if I should try this again.

I picked up two family size packages of boneless chicken thighs in the Wegmans wrap, which I like for the immersion for individual size portions. I cooked it in the sous vide but when I opened the chicken it smelled putrid so into the trash it went.

I now have the 2nd pack and am trying to decide if I should give it another try or write off the package as just too big, it's 4.7 lbs so maybe not enough surface area?

 

[mrodgers]

Didn't catch it was a bumped thread...

 

[LuvOrlando]

This is the part that I don't understand about Sous Vide. When I cook a steak, all I do is sear it, about 1.5-2 minutes per side. It's over cooked to get a good sear. Thus I can't wrap my mind around cooking it to temperature, then sear it and it doesn't come out way over done. It makes no sense to me.

The device cooks the inside slowly to the perfect temp with zero toughness and then the searing is just for texture and optics

As someone who has been known to ruin amazing steaks by not being careful enough if one is thinner than the others this makes the dish perfectly, all are done at the same time and all I need to do is sear it in a bit of butter, garlic and rosemary. I have also never need able to master a plain pork chop without any toughness so it's a big improvement to just open it up and sear it with olive oil in a nice steak spice blend.

 

[tasha99]

You're confusing burn marks on meat with searing. I don't want any burn marks from the grates on my meat.


I want to try sous vide, but I'm not rich enough to waste the money to buy if I don't like it. I still can't wrap my head around cooking for hours then searing when all I do is the same searing and it's done (sometimes over done.) Most of the pictures or videos I see I am always wondering why they are saying they seared the meat when they barely turned the color from before the sear.

Less than 3 minutes and I have a delicious perfectly cooked steak. I don't know why I would want to add several hours to that, nor how I would not overcook by taking it to temperature, then sear it for 3 minutes.

Sous vide is ideal for thicker steaks--1.5-2+" or so. Unless you want it really, really blue, they take longer than 3 minutes. Basically, sous vide is good for steaks that you would do a reverse sear on (or non-reverse)--steaks that take both stove and oven to get right indoors. When I buy thin supermarket steaks, I don't bother with the sous vide. Of course you can make a good thick steak without sous vide, but it makes it so relaxed to just have it in the water bath, and pull it out on your own time to sear (vs. when the thermometer in it in the oven beeps). It's why restaurants use it--not as exact timing and the same result every time.

 

[LuvOrlando]

I abandoned the chicken in the sous vide, took it out and will just do the oven instead and use it in salads.

I think it could have worked though, since the chicken I took out was only at temp about 40 min and most of it was hot/ no longer pink so maybe I'll try another day once I know what I'm doing because salmonella soup is not the goal.

I put a defrosted pork loin into the sous vide instead, thinking 2 hrs may be enough and if not there will be oven chicken.

This is what bugs me about the method, cooking with it is not really all that clear for practical use