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  • Sous Vide cooking

    { redacted }
    Last edited by Walter Sobchak; 10-21-2011, 09:22 AM. Reason: none
    You're actually pretty funny when you aren't being a complete a-hole....so basically like 5% of the time. --Art Vandelay
    Almost everything you post is snarky, smug, condescending, or just downright mean-spirited. --Jeffrey Lebowski

    Anyone can make war, but only the most courageous can make peace. --President Donald J. Trump
    You furnish the pictures, and I’ll furnish the war. --William Randolph Hearst

  • #2
    sous vide preparations are currently en vogue. It's a great way to cook proteins but unfortunately for me I don't see room in my budget or in my kitchen for an immersion circulator.

    FWIW, all the proteins at Communal and as far as I know at Forage are done sous vide, and then finished in a variety of ways when ordered.

    Comment


    • #3
      Originally posted by OhioBlue View Post
      sous vide preparations are currently en vogue. It's a great way to cook proteins but unfortunately for me I don't see room in my budget or in my kitchen for an immersion circulator.

      FWIW, all the proteins at Communal and as far as I know at Forage are done sous vide, and then finished in a variety of ways when ordered.
      Is that something restaurants advertise on their menus? What's a good way to find out some places that cook their food this way?
      Kids in general these days seem more socially retarded...

      None of them date. They hang out. They text. They sit in the same car or room and don't say a word...they text. Then, they go home and whack off to internet porn.

      I think that's the sad truth about why these kids are retards.

      --Portland Ute

      Comment


      • #4
        Originally posted by OhioBlue View Post
        sous vide preparations are currently en vogue. It's a great way to cook proteins but unfortunately for me I don't see room in my budget or in my kitchen for an immersion circulator.

        FWIW, all the proteins at Communal and as far as I know at Forage are done sous vide, and then finished in a variety of ways when ordered.
        It is indeed.

        SG, if you want to try something in the area, Crush has a much lauded beef short rib dish that is terrific. It's cooked for 48 hours and the meat tastes unlike any other I've ever tried. The dish my wife got also had something in it cook sous vide (the pumpkin, I think?), but my understanding is that it used much more common for proteins.

        The health department locally was cracking down on its use in restaurants and there are all sorts of steps you have to go through now to use it. There was an article with Jason Wilson (Crush) in one of the local papers discussing the whole ordeal, but I can't seem to find it now.
        So Russell...what do you love about music? To begin with, everything.

        Comment


        • #5
          Originally posted by Green Lantern View Post
          Is that something restaurants advertise on their menus? What's a good way to find out some places that cook their food this way?
          A lot of times it is mentioned on the menu.
          So Russell...what do you love about music? To begin with, everything.

          Comment


          • #6
            Found that article:

            Under Pressure

            The health department is cracking down on sous-vide cooking. One chef already has his head above water.

            IF YOU EAT at restaurants that make top 10 lists in magazines like this one, you’re familiar with sous vide (French for “under vacuum”), a cooking method in which vacuum-sealed fish, meat, and veggies are submerged in a water bath and heated slowly at a low temperature. The problem: Whenever food is packed in a way that closes out oxygen, a nasty bacteria—the kind that leads to botulism—can grow. Seal food sloppily, and you might have a problem.

            As food writer Rebekah Denn first noted on her Eat All About It blog this September, the King County health department is jumping into the sous-vide fray, certifying restaurants in the food-prep method. Jason Wilson, chef and co-owner of Crush restaurant in Madison Valley, was the first to go legal. (West Seattle’s Spring Hill has also begun certification.)

            A few months back, Wilson sent inspectors an HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) report, basically a play-by-play of the exact procedure that Crush uses whenever cooks prepare sous-vide dishes. The health department returned it with revisions, and Wilson’s second draft is now on the verge of being approved. The chef estimates that certification has cost him about 90 hours of work and $400.

            King County Public Health consultant Hilary Karasz says sous vide is far from top priority. Of the some 10,000 restaurants the health department inspects, the 50 or so cooking under vacuum are some of the least worrisome. “They’re typically high-end, well-run restaurants,” says Karasz. They also tend to be small. Crush seats 66 while Spring Hill can accommodate just 77 diners. Woodinville’s Barking Frog —head chef Bobby Moore recently won a lamb cook-off for a loin prepared sous vide—seats 70.

            And that, says Wilson, is why the county’s certification procedure and Seattle restaurants aren’t a perfect pair. “HACCP were intended for large-scale operations,” he says, meaning 300-seat restaurants where large quantities of food are vacuum packed, sometimes days in advance. “It’s not really applicable on a small scale.” He believes the health department should simply create sous-vide guidelines, as they do with hand-washing or bleach-solution ratios. But unfortunately for the restaurants that still need to be certified, the department has no plans to take HACCP off the menu.
            http://www.seattlemet.com/eat-and-dr...ous-vide-1209/
            So Russell...what do you love about music? To begin with, everything.

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            • #7
              Originally posted by MarkGrace View Post
              Interesting stuff.

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by Space Ghost
                Do you think there is a big difference in taste between a roast prepared "sous vide" and one that is slowly cooked at a low temperature in the oven?
                My understanding/limited experience is that it has little to do with taste and more with texture, evenness of cooking, and precise control of internal temperatures. The taste is going to be more influenced by how you finish it. For example, you can sous vide a cut of steak but then giving it a sear to finish and any sauce or compound butter are going to complete the taste.

                Comment


                • #9
                  Originally posted by OhioBlue View Post
                  My understanding/limited experience is that it has little to do with taste and more with texture, evenness of cooking, and precise control of internal temperatures. The taste is going to be more influenced by how you finish it. For example, you can sous vide a cut of steak but then giving it a sear to finish and any sauce or compound butter are going to complete the taste.
                  I am not an expert, but in addition to this, I believe it is used on a lot of cuts that are traditionally braised or otherwise slow cooked, like the short ribs Mark Grace mentioned. My understanding of some of the benefits goes like this:

                  In the traditional methods, becasue you are cooking the meat for hours, the meat is, as you would expect, very well done. It has to be cooked like this in order to break down the connective tissue, and the juiciness of the meat is mainly due to this connective tissue, as the meat itself is technically overdone. In Sous Vide, however, you can do the slow cooking at a much lower temperature, so you can cook the ribs long enough to break down the connective tissue, but since the temperature never gets above 140 degrees or whatever they use, it is not overcooked, so you get the best of both worlds.

                  Anyone who knows more about this than me is welcome to correct this. I have never eaten anything prepared with this method, but after reading this thread, I looked up the two (that I know of) restaurants in Charlotte that employ it, and will be giving it a try.

                  Comment


                  • #10
                    Originally posted by Space Ghost
                    WoSG and I don't get out quite as much as we used to, so when we do... it is good to have these recommendations. Thank you.

                    None of you (that are showing interest in this thread) may have the answer to this question, but I'll ask it anyway. Do you think there is a big difference in taste between a roast prepared "sous vide" and one that is slowly cooked at a low temperature in the oven?

                    For example, I dropped 3 figures on a USDA prime-graded rib roast for a Christmas '08 family party, easily the most I've ever spent on a cut of beef. To prepare it, I set our oven on the lowest temperature setting allowed (170 degrees) and roasted that baby until the middle registered medium-rare (130 degrees). It took the better part of the day (about 6 or 7 hours) because it was such a *huge* roast. Wow, did it taste great though. I was so impressed with it, I snapped a picture of the result (attached). It was a uniform pink pretty much from the middle to the outside.

                    It would be fun to experiment with a sous vide machine, but at $450... I could get that Canon 85mm f/1.8 prime I've been slobbering over for more than a year.

                    cheers.
                    I've only eaten sous vide once (that I know of) - Forage in SLC. Food was good. I agree that how the course is finished makes a big difference. I still am partial to herb and garlic crusted rib roast or beer-braised chuck roast, cooked low and slow. Who knows, maybe I'll change.
                    "You interns are like swallows. You shit all over my patients for six weeks and then fly off."

                    "Don't be sorry, it's not your fault. It's my fault for overestimating your competence."

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                    • #11
                      Originally posted by Clark Addison View Post
                      In the traditional methods, becasue you are cooking the meat for hours, the meat is, as you would expect, very well done. It has to be cooked like this in order to break down the connective tissue, and the juiciness of the meat is mainly due to this connective tissue, as the meat itself is technically overdone. In Sous Vide, however, you can do the slow cooking at a much lower temperature, so you can cook the ribs long enough to break down the connective tissue, but since the temperature never gets above 140 degrees or whatever they use, it is not overcooked, so you get the best of both worlds.
                      I think this seems about right. I don't know a ton about it, but from the little I've read I'd add that the vacuum seal helps the meat maintain its structural integrity. Supposedly if you were to cook something that low and long, once the connective tissue breaks down the meat just basically starts to fall apart. Sous Vide allows you to break it all down but still get the meat to hold together.

                      But I honestly don't know much about this other than it tastes good.
                      So Russell...what do you love about music? To begin with, everything.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Alright, Space Ghost, if you are feeling ambitious: http://seattlefoodgeek.com/2010/02/d...-for-about-75/
                        So Russell...what do you love about music? To begin with, everything.

                        Comment


                        • #13
                          Because of the talk in this thread, my wife has now picked Forage as our destination for her birthday next month. I'm excited.
                          Kids in general these days seem more socially retarded...

                          None of them date. They hang out. They text. They sit in the same car or room and don't say a word...they text. Then, they go home and whack off to internet porn.

                          I think that's the sad truth about why these kids are retards.

                          --Portland Ute

                          Comment


                          • #14
                            Originally posted by Green Lantern View Post
                            Because of the talk in this thread, my wife has now picked Forage as our destination for her birthday next month. I'm excited.
                            We'll let you know how we like it for Valentine's Day!
                            "You know, I was looking at your shirt and your scarf and I was thinking that if you had leaned over, I could have seen everything." ~Trial Ad Judge

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by Mrs. Funk View Post
                              We'll let you know how we like it for Valentine's Day!
                              Please do. We thought about it for V-day but we already have reservations elsewhere.
                              Kids in general these days seem more socially retarded...

                              None of them date. They hang out. They text. They sit in the same car or room and don't say a word...they text. Then, they go home and whack off to internet porn.

                              I think that's the sad truth about why these kids are retards.

                              --Portland Ute

                              Comment

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