Sous vide steaks question??
- Thread starter Tom Paris
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hawkeyetraveler
HB Heisman
Kenji Lopez Alt does a good job in the link breaking down what happens over time. Seems like after 4 hours things start to soften. 24 hours it will be not steak like. Guessing 8 hours it might be a little too soft, but you are starting frozen so maybe it would be ok?
Sous vide steak over time
Sous vide steak over time
Can you program your cooker to start at a specific time? One thing I have considered doing on work days, but haven’t gotten around to testing yet, is filling the tank with ice that will keep the food below 40 degrees as the ice slowly melts during the day. And then set the cooker to start two hours before I get home.
I can’t set a timer on it but I like the ice idea. Maybe I’ll try it with a couple of sirloins and not a ribeye or porterhouse!
Does it have wifi? Maybe you could use your phone to turn it on from work.
I think they’d have a soggy texture. It’s usually not recommended to soak for over 4 hours. Might be worth trying with a cheaper, older steak if you have one in your freezer. I wouldn’t experiment with a $15-$20 ribeye.
What about one of those outlet timers people use for Christmas lights to delay the start?
I don’t think 8 hours is too long at all. Just make sure you don’t marinate it because the marinade will turn the steak to mush with that long on a cook.
I've never tried this sous vide technique. In fact, I don't even know what it is.
It's a machine that heats water to a very specific temperature and holds it there.
Useful for many culinary applications.
Thanks. I have seen the term thrown around here for years. Was too lazy to look it up.
It is very useful because you can set the water (you put the food in a bag that goes into the water) to 132 degrees and it cooks the steak through 132 degrees tip to tail. You then pull it and finish with a sear. I don’t use it for steaks anymore. It is most useful I think for chicken and pork tenderloin because you cook the chicken to 150, and the tenderloin to 135 and it is safe as it is pasteurized cooking over a longer time, like 2 hours.
Just do it in the dishwasher
$80-$130. It’s also helpful to have a large metal bowl. We use the metal rank from our pressure cooker. I bought a food sealer as well. Season or marinate, seal. Set the Sous Vide to the exact temp. Walk away. Sear. Eat. I normally won’t Sous vide a good piece of meat. My preference will always be Treager or grill.
I’m starting to expand my BBQ skills, which are slightly above rookie level, so I rarely Sous vide anymore.
It’s the only way I cook large pieces of meat. I make awesome prime rib in it. Pork loin. Turkey breast. Steaks.
I cook chicken to 140 and it comes out more tender and juicy. The chart below shows pasteurization times for poultry at a range of temperatures. This is based on cooking time after the meat reaches the temp internally, so you have to add that amount of time to your total cooking time. I usually cook chicken breast for about 2 1/2 - 3 hours and then give it a quick sear in a skillet.
Yeah, I don’t like the texture below 150. To each his own. Here is the full article for anyone interested in chicken breast.I cook chicken to 140 and it comes out more tender and juicy. The chart below shows pasteurization times for poultry at a range of temperatures. This is based on cooking time after the meat reaches the temp internally, so you have to add that amount of time to your total cooking time. I usually cook chicken breast for about 2 1/2 - 3 hours and then give it a quick sear in a skillet.
The Food Lab's Guide to Sous Vide Chicken Breast
Cooking chicken breast sous vide is hands down the best way to ensure it comes out tender, juicy, and full of flavor. Here's our complete guide to making sous vide chicken breasts.
www.seriouseats.com
I never bothered with using sous vide on regular chicken, but I always use it on gizzards to get the perfect texture for deeo fried or stir fried gizzards. And I always use a sous vide as my first step in cooking the perfect turkey where I first sous vide, then smoke and finally place it under the broiler to crisp the skin.
Until this moment I never even thought about using a sous vide for an entire turkey.
Now I’m curious about the logistics of making sure the entire bird teaches proper temp. There is a lot of meat and a lot of air voids that won’t transfer heat efficiently.
What kind of bag to you use for a whole turkey? Or do you section it first before putting into bags?
If the bird is submerged it will cook evenly - I would just have to look up the recipe on line. I might be nervous about smoking it and over cooking it after the bath. Definitely would crisp the skin in the oven though. Same thing I do to oven sear a prime rib.
Are you talking about cooking it while it’s submerged in water without being sealed in a bag? Because I would think you’d want to cook it in a brine bag, which is going to have air pockets no matter how tightly it is sealed.
Tell me something you wouldn't ask 20 years ago without telling me something you wouldn't have asked 20 years ago.
Yes, but it will still be submerged because I would put some weight "nets" on it to keep it under water. The meat would cook to the same temp as long as it is submerged and cooked to the correct amount of time. If it was to float to the surface there would then be a problem.
I use ziplock bags for the whole turkey. If you get a smaller turkey under or around 15 lbs you can use the cheap and easy to find at Publix 2.5 gallon. If you get a larger turkey you need a 5 gallon which I buy on Amazon.
How I do it is partially defrost the turkey enough to get the giblet bag and neck out of the carcass. Then you stuff the carcass with veggies and fresh herbs. I usually do a couple of shallots cut in half, one sweet onion cut in quarters, about 2/3 of a head of garlic cloves peeled and hard ends cut off, three celery stalks and three carrots plus a small bunch of fresh sage (a whole package if you buy from Publix) and a much smaller amount of fresh oregano, rosemary and thyme. Stuff them in as much as you can but it doesn’t matter if the carrots and celery slightly stick out. (BTW if looking for more flavor add some cut up hatch or poblano chilis to the carcass as well. I prefer it but only do it when I’m cooking only for my wife and I).
Then add the turkey carcass to the ziplock bag along with two boxes of turkey broth and a heaping teaspoon or two of better than bouillon turkey (preferably but you need to buy it on Amazon as well I never see it “in the wild” but you could add btb chicken if forced to do without the turkey). Get as much air out of the bag as possible by keeping just one corner open and slowly pushing it down into the sous vide bath when the sous vide water is almost to the corner of your bag seal it up and then make sure the top of the bag is outside your pot (and you do need a LARGE stock or canning pot for the sous vide bath). Then sous vide it for a min of 18 hours at 142, preferrably about 24 hours.
Once it has sous vided, take the turkey out (still stuffed with veggies) and put on a cooling rack and let it come back to mostly room temp over two hours. I frequently even put a fan on it as you not only want the meat to cool down so it absorbs smoke (most meat stops absorbing smoke and it only lays on the surface once the internal temp goes over 135 degrees), but you also want the external skin to dry as much as possible. Once it’s on the rack, pat it as dry as possible with paper or cloth towels then put a small amount of lemon juice back on and coat with your dry rub (I do a mix of Cavender’s Greek, Tony Cachere’s Bold Creole and Badia’s Southern Poultry seasonings). Let it dry or sit for at least two hours.
Once the turkey has cooled and dried then time to smoke it. I do my own mix of 25% only hickory pellets, 25% only black cherry pellets, and 50% CookinPellets Apple Mash which is a blend of hard maple wood and dried apple fruit. It’s a light fruity smoke but with a hint of that “bacony” hickory and works great with poultry. Then I cook at 175 or 185 for roughly two hours until the internal breast temp hits about 140-142 again. Take it out and then take it to the oven under the broiler at “broil”/highest temp possible and brown off the skin. This is really the only time you have to baby it because depending on the size of the bird and how dry you got the skin it can take anywhere between five mins and maybe 20 mins. 10-15 mins is probably average but I would definitely start checking it every couple of minutes after five as you want a nice medium brown not burnt skin.
This is hands down the best turkey I’ve ever had and I’m not just saying it because I “invented” the above technique on my own. It beats the rightfully famous Terry Black smoked turkey in Central Texas as it’s just as juicy but more fall off the bone and with a more pleasant fruity and bacony smoke than the acrid Texas post oak he uses for six hours. And of course it beats the pants of any fried or baked turkey I’ve ever had whether at home or by professional chefs.
Here’s where you can get the other stuff I mentioned if you can’t find it locally.
And I forgot to mention the other steps with the liquid. You’ll have a lot of perfectly seasoned and flavored turkey stock. I split it into two unequal portions because most people prefer a milder just turkey meat gravy while others prefer the more flavorful and rich but iron-y giblet gravy. I reduce both liquids in about half to almost a third with the larger pot simmering with the turkey neck and the smaller amount with the giblets. I then make a large batch but just one batch of duck fat roux using equal proportions of duck fat and cake flour. I just eyeball it but if you’re looking for exact proportions for the finished gravy you want about 1 cup of liquid to four tablespoons of finished roux. You’re probably going to end up with at least four cups of liquid probably five so make about 16-20 tablespoons of roux.
To make the roux just take equal proportions of duck fat and cake flour (if you’re poor do butter and AP flour) and cook in a pan or creuset oven at medium whisking constantly until the flour has browned to somewhere between a light and a medium brown. You are NOT making gumbo so don’t take it to chocolate brown, it should be much lighter like an etouffee roux.
So once the two liquids have been properly reduced, take the turkey neck out and let it cool enough to touch so you can pick it for the meat. Add the meat back to the liquid WITHOUT the giblet and hit it a couple of times with your stick blender until all that’s left of the meat is little bits. Do the same stick blitzing with the giblet gravy until all that are left are small bits of solid giblets. Then make two little prep bowls/pinch bowls/custard cups of cornstarch slurry which is a teaspoon of cornstarch and about a third of a cup of hot water. Whisk the slurry until mostly combined and add one slurry to the giblet liquid and one slurry to the neck meat liquid. Stir the slurries into the hot liquid until combined and then immediately add the appropriate proportion of the finished roux. Stir in and then eyeball and taste the consistency, if it is too loose just reduce it a bit if too thick then add some heavy cream until it hits your preferred thickness. And remember when it’s hot it will be much looser than at room temp. You want to end up with a rich thick gravy not a chalky paste. TA DA! That’s it. You’ve made a great turkey with duck fat gravy and a giblet gravy at the same time.
Nope I leave it whole. When it’s finished after sous viding and smoking you’ll have to be careful not to accidentally pull it apart because it’s going to be at fall off the bone stage.
So to carve it in the fancy way and get this result
How To Carve A Turkey, With Step-By-Step Photos
This Thanksgiving holiday, you'll actually know what you're doing with that carving knife.
www.huffpost.com
You won’t even need to cut away the big muscles just use your hands and lift and the thighs and breasts will just lift up and off the bone (that’s what he said). Seriously, if you followed my directions just kind of delicately lift the muscles off the skeleton. Then use either a vibrating knife or a super sharp Japanese style knife to slice the whole muscles into appropriate proportions.
hawkeyetraveler
HB Heisman
This seems wonderful, but a question for you:Nope I leave it whole. When it’s finished after sous viding and smoking you’ll have to be careful not to accidentally pull it apart because it’s going to be at fall off the bone stage.
So to carve it in the fancy way and get this result
How To Carve A Turkey, With Step-By-Step Photos
This Thanksgiving holiday, you'll actually know what you're doing with that carving knife.www.huffpost.com
You won’t even need to cut away the big muscles just use your hands and lift and the thighs and breasts will just lift up and off the bone (that’s what he said). Seriously, if you followed my directions just kind of delicately lift the muscles off the skeleton. Then use either a vibrating knife or a super sharp Japanese style knife to slice the whole muscles into appropriate proportions.
I have seen a number of professional chefs say to never sous vide a whole bird because you can’t get the cavity up to temp and you risk bacteria production in the cavity. I suppose this works because the cavity is filled with broth so the temp transfers easily across the etire bird?
Also, have you ever tried sous vide + smoking it like a day before? Seems like you could just finish the last step day of…guessing a broiler for 10-15 mins would bring the entire bird up to a good temp? That would take work off the plate for someone like me that doesn’t have a temp controlled smoker. I have to keep an eye on the temp to a degree and it distracts from other prep. That’s why I historically piece mine out, sous vide and then deep fry the pieces. I would prefer to smoke, but is too much for thanksgiving chaos.
Yes, I imagine there might be a concern if you just tossed an empty bird with a big cavity in a bag filled with air, but here I fill it first with solid material so there’s very little air anyways and then completely fill it with broth. It doesn’t matter if there’s a little air because the long time at a temp too hot for bacteria to handle kills off everything.
I have sous vided and smoked a turkey about 12-16 hours before Thanksgiving when I brought one to my sister-in-laws. As you mentioned we finished it in the oven. Although rather than broil it I baked it at an about 200 or so until it came up to 135 and then broiled it. It ended up with good smoke and concentrated turkey flavor but was more on par juice wise with a well fried turkey but not as dry as baked or just smoked. So still well worth doing but the original technique IS better.
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hawkeyetraveler
HB Heisman
I am totally going to give this a try. Thanks again for the step by step instructions, appreciate the time it took to write that!
