Cooking with the "sous vide" method

[tribecalledfit]

Has anyone tried this and, if so, can you share your experience with it? I was intrigued by an article I saw about "sous vide" on Dr. Michael Eades' website at http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/

[Micke77023]

I have personally never cooked Sous Vide, but I have eaten several dishes at restaurants prepared in this manner. It is unbelievably tasty - the meat stays very moist and tender, similar to braising. From a taste and texture standpoint, I highly recommend it; but only with red meats and heavier meats. I once had Sous Vide chicken breast and that sort of grossed me out.

Best,
Mickey
www.singleguycooks.blogspot.com
www.mickeyashmore.com

[62shelby]

I dont have any experience with sous vide, but I have trouble getting past the idea of having food cooked in plastic, even if it is apparently 'food grade'.

[Posy]

tribecalledfit, I had to go look that up, I’d never heard of it. Sounds like you really need to know what you’re doing at such low heat, interesting though!

Micke, was it gross because it made the chicken too mushy I‘m guessing?

Shelby, yeah I’m not sure about cooking in a plastic bag either. I’ve never tried it but it doesn’t seem like a real good idea does it!

[62shelby]

yeah, Posy, for the expense of it, I would prefer to buy some goose fat, and 'poach' the meat in that, the goose fat has little flavour but seals in all the moisture and flavour, I imagine similarly to a sous vide....

[Tarlach]

62shelby - Sounds like you are talking about confit. It's a good way to cook. You can end up with a very tender, safe and long lasting product.

I don't like sous vide. It takes a lot of time and you run risks with your health.


Clostridium botulinum bacteria can grow in food in the absence of oxygen and produce the deadly botulinum toxin, so sous-vide cooking must be performed under carefully controlled conditions to avoid botulism poisoning.

more - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC91810/

I prefer my steak cooked on the BBQ and I never have any complaints about the end product ;)

[pkafka]

62shelby - Sounds like you are talking about confit. It's a good way to cook. You can end up with a very tender, safe and long lasting product.

I don't like sous vide. It takes a lot of time and you run risks with your health.


more - http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC91810/

I prefer my steak cooked on the BBQ and I never have any complaints about the end product ;)

Bet that steak is tasty, Tarlach!

You guys ever braise meat? similar concept to confit, just not cooking the meat in fat.

-pk

[Tarlach]

We make stew by braising.

The only problem with braising, is that you lose a lot of the meat flavor into the broth. You need to use a lot of other flavors (vegetables/herbs/etc) to end up with a nice end product. The bonus is that you get a good broth too :)

[62shelby]

Tarlach, I guess youre right, I am talking about confit, but I have never cooked that way, only eaten it, lol. Yes, to eat confit feels so nourishing and satisfying. I hadnt thought of the aspect of botulism, I still had issues with the plastic before I could even get there. give me a slow cooker any day, the sous vide seems very fussy.

[pkafka]

O yessss. The broth from a nice braise is quite pleasant. In fact, my friend Mickey takes the broth from a braise, and heats it in a pan with some almond meal - makes a very nice gravy!

Has anyone here actually cooked confit?

-pk

[Tarlach]

We had a go at chicken confit once. It was pretty good.

We did it in lard.