Sous vide!?!


 
Chris Allingham

Chris Allingham

Administrator
Staff member
How do you come down on the popularity of sous vide these days? Over the Easter holiday, my nephew said his Dad was using sous vide to make burgers, then finishing them off on the grill.

Really?

What's your take? Don't be shy, tell us what you really think. Do any of us need a sous vide when we've already got one (two, or three) of the best grills money can buy? :D
 
Sous vide and burgers are words that do not belong in the same sentence. Suffice it to say, I do not own a sous vide machine. You don't need one either.
 
Thanks Chris.

IMO, you both should borrow a SV device from someone and really give it a shot. Burgers done SV are completely in another realm. So are steaks and just about any other cut of meat. No worries, the SV wouldn't supplant any of your outdoor cookers. They actually can work well together. Take a top round roast, SV it for 12 to 18 hours, drop it in an ice bath and then smoke it indirect ? OMG. It's amazing.

Seriously, you should look into it. BTW, with SV, you can safely take your hamburgers to midrare and enjoy them with no worries about bacteria.
 
Jamie Purviance said:
You don't need one either.
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lol! I got one a year ago. I don't use it often, especially not frequently enough that it has yielded a better piece of meat. But in our household it is not uncommon on any given day to know at what time everyone will be home for dinner. So for me that is the practicality of Sous Vide. Occasionally.
 
I have a sous vide, and like BFletcher, not enough use. Having said that..... I made peppercorn crusted tenderloins at XMas for 13 people in the family, sous vide in a picnic cooler covered with ping pong balls, and seared off over a hot charcoal fire. Huge hit. Only real issue with a sous vide is that all of the food gets cooked to the same temp. Doesn't work well if some want theirs medium are and somebody else wants extra well done.

Yes, it's different. Little to no smoke (yes, I know, here, that's anathema,) but you can do all kinds of cooking to a specific temperature. I haven't done it yet, I'm told sous vide scrambled eggs are heavenly.
 
JKalchik said:
I have a sous vide, and like BFletcher, not enough use. Having said that..... I made peppercorn crusted tenderloins at XMas for 13 people in the family, sous vide in a picnic cooler covered with ping pong balls, and seared off over a hot charcoal fire. Huge hit. Only real issue with a sous vide is that all of the food gets cooked to the same temp. Doesn't work well if some want theirs medium are and somebody else wants extra well done.

Yes, it's different. Little to no smoke (yes, I know, here, that's anathema,) but you can do all kinds of cooking to a specific temperature. I haven't done it yet, I'm told sous vide scrambled eggs are heavenly.
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I'm kind of with you on the different temps thing, but the same issue exists with a grill. I guess you might try to find one hotter spot to cook someone's well done steak, but I'd wager what usually happens is that people set up pretty uniform heat (as best they can) and they either throw the well done steak on first to give it a head start, or they leave it on longer to cook more. There are two ways to address that issue with SV. If you have the time, throw one steak in 1 hour before at a higher set temp. Have the water level fairly low. After that hour, the well done steak will be at temp, add cold water to lower the temp to where you want the other steaks to be, then put those steaks in and let them go. Another alternative, and one that I use more often is to cook all the steaks to the same temp. First one out of it's bag goes on the kettle to start the trek to well done. Leave the other steaks in the water. When the well done steak is getting close, pull the others, sear and you're done.

As for "smoke", that one kind of depends. On something like burgers/steaks over a charcoal grill, that flavor develops rapidly, at least to me. There's very little difference in charcoal taste between a steak that has been seared over charcoal for 1 or 2 mins per side and a steak that was cooked over the coals for 8 or 12 minutes. Now, for something like a butt or brisket ? Sure, you'd need some quality time in the smoke. You SV first, let it cool down, then throw it in the smoke for 5 or 6 hours.


FWIW, I was a raging skeptic at first. I saw people talking about boiling their damned meat in a bag and said that it wasn't for me. Then I tried it. I became a convert rather quickly.
 
I’m SVing a second TriTip on Saturday through the shared Anova unit of my brother. I agree, borrow until, you decide if it’s worth it. I’m happy to have one “in the circuit”
 
DaveW said:
You're welcome. When you catch the bug and end up writing a "SV with Weber" cookbook, throw a little something my way :-)
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Every recipe ends the same way:

"Setup Weber grill for direct cooking. Sear <insert SV meat here> over direct heat for <insert minutes> or until golden brown & delicious!" :D
 
Chris Allingham said:
Every recipe ends the same way:

"Setup Weber grill for direct cooking. Sear <insert SV meat here> over direct heat for <insert minutes> or until golden brown & delicious!" :D
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That makes sense. It's amazing that those machine can hold meat at a stable temperature for hours. There is a practical value in that, for sure.
 
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