[Calisport]

I was pleasantly surprised that Aldi has some sous vide items in the refrig section like Thai Chicken and others near the meats.

[La lamy]

The concept of sous vide is good, but there's been many warnings about the dangers of heating plastic for BPA and Phthalates leaching into food. These can be “endocrine disruptors,” and have been found to affect hormones, such as estrogen and testosterone, which can cause reproductive and other medical problems. They may be especially dangerous to children, potentially impeding normal growth and development. If you are curious about this you may want to google "is it safe to heat my food in plastic".

[kannon]

Originally Posted by La lamy

The concept of sous vide is good, but there's been many warnings about the dangers of heating plastic for BPA and Phthalates leaching into food. These can be “endocrine disruptors,” and have been found to affect hormones, such as estrogen and testosterone, which can cause reproductive and other medical problems. They may be especially dangerous to children, potentially impeding normal growth and development. If you are curious about this you may want to google "is it safe to heat my food in plastic".

While I agree with you that dangerous chemicals in our foods are a serious concern, the use of high quality plastic bags that do not contain BPA or other dangerous chemicals along with the low(er) temperatures used, makes sous vide a safe cooking practice.

[vmstygar@gmail.com]

Had 2 Anovas over the past 4 years. Both failed. Think I'll try the Yedi. Thanks for the review.

[admiral72]

Originally Posted by asianthree

Our son sent us a commercial sous vide over 9 years ago. Used in high end restaurants for years. We have used it couple time a week since the day I unboxed it. Steak mid rare is always perfect. Eggs Benedict for 12 without ever leaving the conversation is priceless.

2 years ago we received a new commercial with temp increments of .2. Makes it even more precise. Mine comes with the commercial bath, one for smaller items, and a large for cooking for a crowd. Everything breaks down and stores in the large bath.

Still using the first one, along with the new. We had steak and lobster for 8 on NYE, and except for the 15 minute prep, and the minute to high sear steak with a torch, then plate everyone at once. I got to spent the entire evening with our company.

Not much has changed in the last 9 years, my recipes came from restaurants, for years, but now online and cookbooks help those who are new to cooking sous vide welcome to the best way to cooking

Can you tell the name of your units?

[admiral72]

Originally Posted by laryb

I've been using my Anova sous vide for 3 years now, and just did a sirloin tip roast that I finished tonight. I put it in for 26hr at 130º. Removed it from the Anova and placed in ice water bath for 20 minutes. Removed from bag and put in fridge uncovered for 1.5 hrs to dry surface. Coated with grapeseed oil and sprinkled with Kinders "The Blend", and browned over the grills infrared burner. I sliced it thin with my slicer. You don't have to refrigerate it after removing from bath, but it makes it a lot easier to slice like shaved steak. Did the same a couple of weeks ago with a cheap bottom round roast with the same results.....tender, moist and flavorful meat that rivals much more expensive cuts. So far my favorite has been a tri tip, and chicken breast is phenomenal. Also works great for more expensive cuts as it cooks the meat from edge to edge to exactly the degree of doneness you like, and since it's an already tender cut, 1 to 4 hours is all that's needed. Now, 26 hours sounds like a lot of work, but all your doing is setting the temp and time, and coming back to it 26 hours later. There are recipes for vegetables, ice cream, even creme brulee. Try sous vide. You'll like it

try Mayo instead of Grapeseed oil

[gjbakke]

To get a great video of sous vide check out YouTube. Search SVE everything they do a great job. Also they compare different machines and tools.
You have to try Beef shanks.
Tomahawk steaks come out perfect. The length of cooking makes the food safe with the perfect temperature. Yum

[asianthree]

Originally Posted by admiral72

Can you tell the name of your units?

First one is a self contained vollrath. It’s amazing. Our son managed 3 high end restaurants, once a year staff could order equipment for personal use.

For years I had no clue how much first one cost, but this last one with discount was over $1100 (I was not to see that invoice in box). Once a year I get free service on both. But I am gifting the first one to our daughter, she has a huge kitchen and the space for it. We entertain with up to 20 for dinner, so worth every time saving perfectly cooked dinner.

Cost has come down dramatically. New unit is easier to handle. I am sure you can order commercial units, but can’t imagine cost without a severe discount.

[Sherrilee]

Ok that just made my morning!!!

[TNLAKEPANDA]

I have been using Sous Vide for quite some time. Mostly for beef. It’s fool proof way of cooking to the perfect temperature! I was wondering how you finished off the pork tenderloin? With stakes I usually use my cast iron pan and butter or my Ninja Grill.
More people should try Sous Vide cooking especially if you don’t like to cook LOL

[pdatc]

Guga has a YouTube channel called Sous Vide Everything that’s definitely worth watching. There’s also several Facebook groups for Sous Vide that have some great tips and recipes. When I smoked a pork butt I freeze the leftovers and reheat via sous vide. You can’t tell the difference between reheated and fresh off the smoker. Great thread!

[Caymus]

I use mine mainly for ribeye.

One word of caution. Do not put the water container directly on a natural or manufactured countertop. There are reports of cracks forming over a longer cooking period. Always place it on some sort of cutting board or barrier.

[Zass38]

This year I became a convert also. However, from a different approach. I purchased a Suvie cooking appliance. This unit does all of the cooking a tone time for two people. The unit is computer controlled such that I can place all of the ingredients for a meal into the machine in the afternoon, set the cooking temperature and times and then set a timer for when we want to eat. At the ent of this time, the meal is ready. See the unit description at Suvie | Your Countertop Kitchen Robot.

[Boomer]

Mr. Boomer has a book Sous Vide for Everybody: The Easy Foolproof Cooking Method That’s Sweeping the World — published by America’s Test Kitchen. . .

In the introduction, it says you can use high quality freezer bags that do not contain BPA and mentions Ziploc by name.

Later in the book, there is a short section (a page and a half) titled “Plastic Safety and Sous Vide.”

(When Mr. Boomer started into this, the safety of hot plastic was one of my first questions, too.)

ATK says that you don’t need a vacuum sealer.

I recommend this book to anyone interested in learning about sous vide. It clearly covers any questions — and has easy recipes and gorgeous pictures.

ATK’s Sous Vide for Everybody works as an introduction, a reference, and an inspiration — all in one place.

Boomer

PS: Of course, we use the internet for cooking info, too. In fact, I just ran across an article about cooking in an RV with sous vide. We are not RVers, but I found the RV sous vide idea interesting. Not a lot of space is needed because you do not need a vacuum sealer.

[DeirdreFoster]

Originally Posted by Boomer

For a long time, Mr. Boomer had been telling me we should try sous vide.

But, I kept saying, “BLECH!. Why would we want to float sealed-up hunks of meat around in water while we pretend it is cooking. Sounds, to me, like a recipe for food poisoning. And, besides, it probably comes out looking weird.”

Well, to illustrate just how far my influence sometimes reaches, a few weeks ago, one of those sous vide contraptions appeared on our doorstep. Seems like ATK had an irresistible deal.

So far, it has been beef tenderloin, salmon, chicken, and on New Year’s Day, the best pork tenderloin ever. . .

We got the pork tenderloin at a butcher shop. (I don’t know why those things always come packed in twos — even at that butcher shop.)

Anyway, the butcher trimmed off that creepy silverskin — or whatever it’s called. We bought the pair, froze one, and off to sous vide went the other.

Oh my! It was the best pork tenderloin ever. Too often pork is tough — perhaps having easily succumbed to overcooking by elder-boomers who grew up being warned about the risk of trichinosis. . .

And pork tenderloin is so lean, that it can often cross over into overcooking even when you don’t mean for that to happen.

This pork tenderloin was so tender, it could be easily cut with a fork. It had the perfect amount of pink inside and had been made pretty with a searing in the cast iron skillet.

We found a recipe for a sauce — with a couple of mustards, tarragon, cream, the drippings from the searing in olive oil, and some other stuff I can’t remember right now. (We used half-and-half instead of cream. That’s wicked enough. But you don’t need much of this sauce to put the finishing touch on the perfectly cooked pork tenderloin.)

Anyway, I am now a convert to sous vide. Mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa. I should never have mocked this cooking method.

But now, we are in a quandary. If we serve pork tenderloin to company, will our fellow elder-boomers think we are trying to kill them with trichinosis when they see pink pork?

Has anyone else here used sous vide?

Boomer

PS: I just noticed a delivery of a vacuum sealer. Looks like we are really getting into this. That’s OK. Sometimes, Mr. Boomer is absolutely right.

I too have stepped into the sous vide world. We currently live in an apartment and searing the meat on high temp after can cause the smoke alarm to go off. Other than that I have been very pleased with the tenderness of the water bath process. I season my meats and seal them before freezing and they are ready to go when I pull them to thaw.