Sous vide recipes?

D

doggor

Veteran X
So I got a sous vide temperature controller and I'm now playing with it. What are some good recipes?

Right now I've got an abalone in it with some garlic butter and salt and pepper. I've got it set at 120 and will keep it there for about 36 hours.

I'll update this with the result. But I'm looking for other good recipes.
 
The book 'under pressure' is a great cookbook that's completely focused on sous vide. It's pretty spendy, but you might be able to find a pdf online somewhere.
 
i can't imagine somebody having an immersion circulator at home. last time i priced those out they were just over a grand on the bottom end.

also i'm fairly sure the time it will take something the size of an abalone to come up to 120 degrees evenly is way less than 36 hours. that seems fairly pointless and potentially very dangerous to me. particularly since fish and shellfish don't require long cooking periods to break down connective tissue in order to tenderize, but also because it's like 35 and a half hours longer than it probably needs.

sous-vide isn't a method of cooking to just choose arbitrarily, particularly because if you're ignorant or careless about what you're doing you can grow botulism.

if you actually want to learn a little about food, why it reacts the way to does when you cook it, and how to best choose a cooking method for a particular type of food i would very much recommend Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking.
 
I picked up this thing
Sous Vide Cooking : auberins.com, Temperature control solutions for home and industry
It controls the power going to a rice cooker or crockpot. I've got it on a crockpot. It doesn't circulate water but the smaller volume I'm doing doesn't seem to be a necessary thing. There is also another all in one unit out there that isn't to bad either, Sousvide Supreme http://www.sousvidesupreme.com/default.aspx?RD=1 . And I've got a Foodsaver vacuum bagger for the bags.

I'm not worried about botulism as I can see the vacuum bag. If it shows signs of leaking or blowing up then I'll dump it. Also have you cooked an abalone before? If not done properly traditional methods will turn it into rubber. Most of the references to cooking abalone in a sousvide refer to farm raised abalone. These are much smaller and also much more tender as they don't have to "work" living their lives in a sheltered pool. Recreational abalone have to be 7" at least and in general get the shit knocked out of them in the rough northern Pacific coast. This makes them tough. Because of this a long slow cooking time seems to be a pretty ideal situation.

While bacteria are a concern I did practice good hygiene techniques. If it seems off I'll pitch the thing and start over. If I fucked up the other 2 in the freezer I can always grab another three pretty easily.
 
You can't see botulism. It can and does grow in a vacuum and it will develop if given more than about 4 hours to grow at temperatures less than 121 degrees. Given that you don't have an actual circulator, the water temp in your rig is going to fluctuate. I would think twice about eating that if I were you.

The basic idea is that if you set your temp control to 120 degrees, and assuming it works and holds your water at that temperature, your food will reach but not exceed that temp at a certain point in time. Obviously the food can't be more hot than the liquid you're cooking it in. After that point there is literally no benefit to continued cooking, as the temperature will not change, proteins will not continue to break down, and your food will not tenderize. The only way to actually make your food more tender is to go beyond 160-170 degrees where the connective tissue collagen begins to break down into gelatin. This is the falling apart tender stage which is achieved by 'low and slow' cooking methods. Obviously you don't do this with seafood but if you want to give it a shot, go nuts.

Regardless, once your abalone hits 120 degrees (lets say its a huge one and it takes 6 hours), the other 30 are pointless from the point of view of developing flavour, and inherently extremely dangerous from the point of view of cultivating potentially paralyzing toxin.
 
Ratorasniki said:
You can't see botulism. It can and does grow in a vacuum and it will develop if given more than about 4 hours to grow at temperatures less than 121 degrees. Given that you don't have an actual circulator, the water temp in your rig is going to fluctuate. I would think twice about eating that if I were you.

The basic idea is that if you set your temp control to 120 degrees, and assuming it works and holds your water at that temperature, your food will reach but not exceed that temp at a certain point in time. Obviously the food can't be more hot than the liquid you're cooking it in. After that point there is literally no benefit to continued cooking, as the temperature will not change, proteins will not continue to break down, and your food will not tenderize. The only way to actually make your food more tender is to go beyond 160-170 degrees where the connective tissue collagen begins to break down into gelatin. This is the falling apart tender stage which is achieved by 'low and slow' cooking methods. Obviously you don't do this with seafood but if you want to give it a shot, go nuts.

Regardless, once your abalone hits 120 degrees (lets say its a huge one and it takes 6 hours), the other 30 are pointless from the point of view of developing flavour, and inherently extremely dangerous from the point of view of cultivating potentially paralyzing toxin.
Click to expand...
Botulism generates gas as a byproduct of its existence. Which is why bottled foods have that button on the top. When you see the button is popped it means bad shit has happened to it. In a vacuum bag I can see if there is any additional air in there. If there is I'd toss it. Also botulism pretty much has to grow in a sealed environment since its an anaerobic bacteria. Another fun fact you can denature it if you bring it over 140F. Anyhow fuck it I ate it and I lived.

Regarding making meats tender I think you missed a step. The break down of collagen is one way of making meat tender but there are additional ways too. I was hoping that there was an enzymic reaction that would do this. In beef there is one, which is keeping it below 122F.
Slow-Roasted Beef :: America’s Test Kitchen :: Recipes
From the article,
"Keeping the meat’s internal temperature below 122 degrees as long as possible allowed the meat’s enzymes to act as natural tenderizers, breaking down its tough connective tissue (this action stops at 122 degrees). "

Either I missed the temp or there isn't an enzyme in the abalone that will allow me to do this. Since I just tried it and it was tough as shoe leather. The flavor that developed was quite impressive, as normally abalone is pretty mild. By doing this in a sousvide the natural flavor was greatly increased, I'd compare it to the flavor of a dried abalone. Poaching it with butter and garlic wasn't the best accompaniment in this manner either, I think the better idea would be to flavor the bag with ginger and chicken stock.

Also, Rat, have you ever cooked abalone? Most recipes either pound the shit out of it and then fry it or they boil it until its a limp dick that is pretty flavorless. I'm trying to find a method of cooking it where I can actually taste the flavor of the abalone and I don't have to spend and hour pounding the fucking thing.

tl;dr
In the end cooking the abalone in a sous vide at 120 deg did nothing for it. The ab was tough.
 
doggor said:
Also, Rat, have you ever cooked abalone? Most recipes either pound the shit out of it and then fry it or they boil it until its a limp dick that is pretty flavorless. I'm trying to find a method of cooking it where I can actually taste the flavor of the abalone and I don't have to spend and hour pounding the fucking thing.
Click to expand...

it's called sushi/sashimi
 
I'm not going to argue with an internet article. I'm glad you're fine.

I do get abalone in at the restaurant from time to time, but I find that they don't sell. i've done things like ceviches with them fairly recently.
 
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