#Sous Vide

[daily-deliciousness]

Sous vide porterhouse steak

[trivialbob]

This afternoon I prepared chicken in my sous vide. While while the poultry cooked (90 minutes, 150 degrees) I looked for a side dish. This package of Knorr pasta has been in the cabinet for a long time. Time to try something.

I have experimented using the sous vide for things other than meat. While protein is cooking I've added added a second bag to the water. Some vegetables I tried turned out okay though they usually require a different temperature than the meat.

Some time ago I used the sous vide to infuse gin. The process takes a few hours instead of a few weeks. The results pleased me.

In another plastic bag today I added this Knorr pasta and water. I removed the air, sealed the bag and shook it vigorously to get the powder mixed into the water. First mistake -- Immediately I realized I should have used less water than the instructions called for. In the microwave or on the stove some water boils off. In the sous vide bag nothing escapes. I figured I would have to strain the pasta when it was done.

Mistake number two was leaving the mix in the hot water as long as the chicken.

The chicken turned out nicely. It always does with the sous vide. The Knorr mixture had separated into two layers. On the bottom was pasta that appeared to have been pureed so finely an infant could not have choked on it. Floating over it was a cup of chicken broth. I tasted the pasta, found it disgusting and washed it down the drain.

I will try again sometime. Less water and a shorter immersion time should help. These Knorr packets are inexpensive. There's little cost in experimenting.

Now I want to infuse some more gin.

[copperbadge]

Friiiiiied chicken! 

[ID: A plate covered in paper towel, on which are draining numerous chunks of golden-brown fried chicken, crusted with flour breading and dotted with pepper and onion seasoning.] 

I’ve been struggling with fried chicken not because it’s difficult, but because no matter what I tried, I couldn’t get the breading to stick to the chicken the way it does in recipes or in restaurants. I know some restaurants have pressure-fryers, but I’ve seen enough how-to videos to know you don’t need one of those to make it happen. 

I now have an immersion cooker, and I know that Shake Shack’s nuggets are sous-vide cooked and THEN breaded and fried, so I thought I’d try it. I reasoned that while the breading doesn’t stick all that well to Shake Shack’s either, their chicken is juicier and more flavorful, so I might as well give it a shot.

So I deboned and skinned a couple of chicken thighs, sous-vide cooked them at 155 for two hours, then took them out of the cooking bags, let them cool on a plate for a bit, and chucked them in the fridge. This morning I got them out, chopped the bigger bits into smaller bits, rolled them in an egg wash and then seasoned flour while I heated the oil, then fried ‘em. 

They came out WILDLY better than anticipated; the breading did stick, because the chicken was cooked so no moisture was leaving it and steaming the breading off the surface from the inside, which is the usual reason this happens. The sous-vide thighs were extremely juicy and because the chicken only fried for long enough to brown the breading, the exterior wasn’t super greasy. The cold chicken heated in the time it took the breading to brown, and there was less spatter because see: less moisture. 

Proof of concept! So now I’m going to try a few variations -- I’d like to brine the chicken first for that “pickley” flavor, and I’m going to try it with breast meat (my preferred meat), and also try some wings. I think sous-vide, deep-fry, and then toss with sauce could make the ballingest chicken wings ever. 

[zerofuckingwaste]

The very first step towards zero waste is not, in fact, completely eliminating trash.

Instead, it's just being mindful of what the fuck you're actually throwing away every day. I'm keeping a piece of paper taped above my trash bin, and every time I throw something away, I write down what it is.

Then, I take one item- just one!- and figure out a concrete way to eliminate that waste. For example, I do a lot of sous vide cooking, and previously used a vacuum sealer and a plastic roll to seal all of my foods for processing, and before that, the water immersion method with plastic bags. I did my research into using silicone bags for sous vide, and found these guys:

They're these huge goddamn silicone bags with no top that can fit a whole fucking brisket. I shit you not. Since sous vide requires water to cook, they leave the top of the bag open, and water displacement naturally pushes all of the air out of the bag, leading to a perfectly sealed, perfectly cooked meat at the end of the day. Fucking fabulous.

Instead of tossing my vacuum sealer, though, I donated it to my local Buy Nothing group, along with my remaining plastic rolls. I have no other use for it, but I'm sure someone else can find a good use out of it, without me contributing to further waste.

Now, every time I cook sous vide, I produce no extra plastic waste, both my setup and cleanup are expedited, and I feel good about it. It's one win, but they add up.

Find the first, easiest thing you can change, and change it. Follow to hear more ways that you can adapt to create less waste.

[aurelius-food-inspiration]

[rmgold-blog]

Agatha All Along thot thought of the day - why make it a point to brew the potion in the sink?

It could have been just as easy to find a big pot - and if they were worried about a nice shot of them all gathered around a "cauldron", why not have the stove be on the island (which isn't too out of the ordinary) or a portable stove or something?

One could argue that it was to bring in the "water" element of Jen's/the potion witch craft - but I feel like it was probably more likely to justify the use of the sous vide.

As Agatha herself said -

(Credit to @marril96 for gifs)

So why bring this up? Teen points out that a sous vide is used to heat (water?) to cook meat evenly, and that his dad loves his.

I don't have any grandiose theories about this really - just that it really sticks out in the episode.

My current thoughts:

It's another point of showcasing just how valuable Teen is to this group. He's had a couple of opportunities to showcase this with Agatha, and it was this very episode that the rest of the witches questioned why he was even here.

The reference to Teens dad was an important clue. I know I'm leaning more on the Teen-is-Nicky train, but this could be a subtle hint (or red herring?) that Teen's dad is Vision. Vision has a couple of scenes in WandaVision where he's cooking or grilling, but Vision himself is also a robot (who is I remember correctly can heat things up? Sue me or sous vide XD)

They use a sous vide later in the show for something. Chekov's Gun.

Has anyone else stayed up at night thinking about this? Just me? Cool.

[stefford]

Sous Vide Pork Leg Roast.

Crackling on sous vide pork? Yes! I have a new toy, an 8 litre sous vide slow cooker. It cooks at any temperature from 43°C to eighty something in zero point one degree increments. 0.1°! Amazing. There are many different types of SV appliances that heat and circulate water around sealed bags of food. Mine is a large slow cooker style with a spinning magnetic impeller to circulate the water…

[icleanedthisplate]

Red Pepper Sous Vide Egg Bites. Starbucks. Little Rock, Arkansas. 4.30.2024.

NOTE TO SELF: Meh.

Currently ranked 25th of 26 April meals.

[adtothebone]

ERMAHGERD BRERVERL JERL TERB SERS VERD

Today was a darn good day to wander around in TJ Maxx.

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

WHEN THE SITUATION CALLS FOR "EXTRA CRISPY" -- SOUS VIDE COOKING IS YOUR ANSWER.

PIC INFO: Spotlight on Sous Vide Octopus, which is slow cooked for 5 hours until ultra tender and then browned up in a hot skillet to get charred and crispy.

MINI-OVERVIEW: "For perfectly tender octopus, this Sous Vide Octopus recipe is a must try! It’s slow cooked for 5 hours, then crisped up in a hot skillet and served with sauce and freshly squeezed lemon juice. So good!

Cooking octopus can be a little intimidating, but I promise the sous vide method makes it so easy. You only need 6 ingredients and it’s pretty much a foolproof way to prepare octopus!"

-- WENT THERE 8 THIS (recipe/cooking blogspot)

Source: www.wenthere8this.com/sous-vide-octopus.

[fullcravings]

Sous Vide Cheesecake

[trivialbob]

Last night's disappointing restaurant dinner left me full, but still hungry. Tonight I'm having a homemade meal. I know I will not be hungry later tonight.

I did the heavy lifting by putting a pork tenderloin into the sous vide for about three hours.

Sheila is only making a chimichurri sauce from scratch. She also has prepared red potatoes and bacon which is now roasting in the oven. When those are done she will sear the pork. None of that takes three hours.

The pre-dinner beer I'm enjoying is courtesy of Sheila. She found Surly's annual "Darkness" the other day and bought one for me. Here is Surly's description of 2023 Darkness:

Our massive Russian Imperial Stout contains waves of chocolate, coffee, cherry, and toffee, plus a non-traditional dose of aromatic hops.

A "massive" imperial stout is an excellent beer to have (just one) on a cool, late-autumn evening while waiting for one's wife to sear the pork roast.

Like my favorite wines this Surly Darkness comes packaged in a cardboard box. It's not exactly the same: You only get 16 ounces of stout versus three liters of boxed wine.

Or litres, as I like to write when I buy my French wines in this manner.

[grungust025]

食べる

[whatthekale]

Steak sammie

[realblacklightvirus]

body temp is so hot you could sous vide a steak with me

dramatic recreation because i would never willingly be in a pot of water.

[ramyeongif]

getting ready for the sous vide