I got my Anova today!

[Kyle]

Ordered on 2/13, just receive shipping confirmation today so not too bad- they had emailed me saying 21bz days so happy it didn't take that long.

 

[zinfamous]

Ordered on 2/13, just receive shipping confirmation today so not too bad- they had emailed me saying 21bz days so happy it didn't take that long.

nice. I was hoping the same was true for me, but it wasn't. it actually took ~25 days for me to get ship confirmation, so you are good to go.



...tomorrow is chicken. first one for me, but it looks extremely simple, like most other standard meats.

Sunday I am going to slice up some beets, toss in some thyme and salt, chill after the water bath, the spritz lemon juice on them

what say you?

 

[Kyle]

Nice-chicken was one of the main reasons I wanted to get the Anova- that and fish. I haven't even begun to look @ recipes etc

I rarely cook veggie though maybe that'll change

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Nice-chicken was one of the main reasons I wanted to get the Anova- that and fish. I haven't even begun to look @ recipes etc

I rarely cook veggie though maybe that'll change

This chicken recipe was the first thing I made sous vide and it was good.

 

[zinfamous]

This chicken recipe was the first thing I made sous vide and it was good.

I'm going to try that, probably this weekend--I thought I would do it last weekend, but was a little too involved for the time I wanted to spend on it.

however, I did try chicken for the first time. Very simple, just tossed some salt and pepper and a shake of one of my Penzy spice mixes into the bags, and cooked at 135. Quick sear in butter afterwards.

I swear--you can read about it on pages like that all you want, testimonials from everyone that does this at home, but you really don't understand what this does for chicken until you do it yourself. It is truly remarkable.

I had the juiciest, flavorful chicken breast that I have ever had.

If I don't try that recipe, I am going to simply do the same as I did before, then fry in duck fat.

yum. duck fat. Maybe try a general fried chicken method, though I'm not sure how well battered chicken does when fried in duck fat compared to oil...

Either way, I'm going to brine it on the next go.

 

[Howard]

Either way, I'm going to brine it on the next go.

Try the (wet) brine on your second try with poultry, but on the third time, try a dry brine.

With a wet brine, I recommend starting out with a 0.75% w/w (my preferred taste) solution overall, with your total volume of water including the water weight of the chicken flesh (assume 75% of the flesh is water). This is what's known as an equilibrium brine because you are putting in enough salt so that when equilibrium concentration is reached throughout the chicken, you are at your desired saltiness. This is handy because you don't have to worry about how long to brine something, and in fact with an equilibrium brine you should let it brine for at least 6-8 hours depending on the dimensions of the thickest part of the meat.

e.g. if you are brining 2 kg of chicken breast in a topped-up 5 kg bucket, you would need 33.75 grams of salt.

With a dry brine, I would start with 0.75% w/w salt based on the water weight of the flesh, and salt evenly on both sides of the meat and allow to rest in the fridge at least overnight. If done properly, there should be very little exuded moisture under the meat.

Important: if you SV meat but don't plan to eat it right away, salt it prior to final prep, not prior to SV. The meat "cures" over time with the salt and a lot of people don't like this texture.

 

[echo4747]

Well, The Anova I ordered on 2/25 arrived yesterday (3/8). Today I used it for the first time. I did strip steaks (just a little salt,pepper,dash of garlic powder, sprig of fresh thyme on each side and vacuum bag sealed) I set the Anova for 131 deg dropped the bags of steak in for 3 hrs. during the the last hour did some baked potatoes (conventional oven) and started a red wine mushroom demi-glace sauce http://www.foodandwine.com/recipes/red-wine-mushroom-sauce

After I took the steaks out of the Anova, I dried them and seared them for 30 sec per side . Whipped up a nice chef salad. Plated everything up and ate. For my 1st time, the results were excellent. Steak was very flavorful and extremely tender.The only thing you would get any better at a fine restaurant is the ambiance/decor .

Next up: boneless/skinless chix breasts... then a nice roast beef next weekend.

 

[Kyle]

My Anova was delivered a couple weeks ago, however due to some unexpected circumstances, I wasn't able to use it until today- I have a couple chicken breasts swimming in a 140F bath now- just doing a basic salt/pepper/a little olive oil and will brown on stove top when I take them out. I'm hoping to try salmon tomorrow.

 

[Kyle]

Wow...chicken turned out amazing - I just did salt/pepper but it was cooked perfectly. I didn't get a great sear on it but really this was just an experiment/testing - gotta say I'm really impressed. If I end up trying salmon tomorrow I'll post how it went (seems that's a lot easier to fuck up).

 

[marincounty]

And people think I'm a nerd. All of you turn in your man cards immediately.
Real men don't eat quiche, wtf is this sous vide shit? Enjoy the microorganisms.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

And people think I'm a nerd. All of you turn in your man cards immediately.
Real men don't eat quiche, wtf is this sous vide shit? Enjoy the microorganisms.

The nerdiness with sous vide goes deep. Here, dip your toes in the shallow end:

http://www.douglasbaldwin.com/sous-vide.html

"Micro-organisms?" pffft. Not a concern. If you follow the basic rules, sous vide is one of the safest cooking methods available.

 

[Kyle]

"Micro-organisms?" pffft. Not a concern. If you follow the basic rules, sous vide is one of the safest cooking methods available.

Speaking of which...I think I'm going to give salmon a shot today however am seeing conflicting info re: temp to cook it at- the guide you linked to says it needs to be cooked @140 for a set period of time for safety reasons, however it seems most people prefer it cooked to a lower temp - what have you guys tried? I'm leaning towards just going w/ the lower temp.

*edit* - nm, just saw the part re: freezing the salmon first to kill most of the bugs - I'll just do that and cook it to a lower temp

 

[zinfamous]

chicken at 135 or 140 is amazing. it's the most eye-opening experience have had with sous vide so far.

Last weekend? Fried chicken. ....was amazing. The 140 cook allowed the deep frying to finish in about 2 minutes--until your preferred browning/crust, anyway. breasts come out tender and juicy.

I dabbled with this recipe from Ad Hoc--primarily for the O/N brine.
http://www.thekitchn.com/thomas-kellers-fried-chicken-r-80197
I made the fortunate/unfortunate move to season the batter with a more traditional Taiwan street popcorn seasoning (special pepper salt + chilli powder). While it tasted great, was a bit of a conflict with the lemon/bay/thyme brine. It was, however, delicious. For garnish, I chopped up and fried some spring onions after the chicken was done.

 

[torpid]

Ad Hoc chicken is great. I have not tried it with the anova but I've made it three times without. Always a hit.

 

[Ns1]

Wow...chicken turned out amazing - I just did salt/pepper but it was cooked perfectly. I didn't get a great sear on it but really this was just an experiment/testing - gotta say I'm really impressed. If I end up trying salmon tomorrow I'll post how it went (seems that's a lot easier to fuck up).

Why does that look bland as fuck

That pic is to food porn what Paula dean is to real porn.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Why does that look bland as fuck

That pic is to food porn what Paula dean is to real porn.

It's skinless, he used only salt and pepper, and didn't brown it much. He can address all that later, but it tasted good.

 

[Howard]

It's skinless, he used only salt and pepper, and didn't brown it much. He can address all that later, but it tasted good.

Ns1 fails to realize that the chicken breast was stuffed with a whole white truffle.

 

[zinfamous]

Ns1 fails to realize that the chicken breast was stuffed with a whole white truffle.

The thing about chicken, it does come out looking absolutely wretched when it has finished the cycle. pasty, pale, doughy....just blech.

The first time you do it, it's easy to assume that you have ruined the meat.

~one minute total butter treatment in pan seems to fix everything, though.

 

[Ns1]

The thing about chicken breast, it does come out looking absolutely wretched when it has finished the cycle. pasty, pale, doughy....just blech.

FTFY

dark meat never looks like that.

 

[Kyle]

Why does that look bland as fuck

That pic is to food porn what Paula dean is to real porn.

Yeah I didn't brown or season it much - again, was the first run and was mainly just testing it out - but again, it was delicious and incredibly juicy.

 

[Kyle]

It's skinless, he used only salt and pepper, and didn't brown it much. He can address all that later, but it tasted good.

yeah pretty much this

 

[zinfamous]

FTFY

dark meat never looks like that.

the breast definitely looks the worst, but I would say that the thighs I have prepared look rather unappealing, as well.

 

[echo4747]

Yeah I didn't brown or season it much - again, was the first run and was mainly just testing it out - but again, it was delicious and incredibly juicy.

I did chicken breasts at 142 deg and they were still very juicy. If you want a nice color sear on your chix breasts; just before you sear it, brush a little corn syrup mixed with a bit a water added then sear as usual. The sugars in the corn syrup caramelize and give you a nice color.

Just did a bottom round of beef(salt & pepper only) at 130 deg for 8hrs. then seared it slicely it very thin and piled it high on kummelweck rolls. Best beef on weck I've ever had.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

Last night I made bone - in fried chicken breasts. Once they were done I patted them dry and into a flour and spice mixture similar to what Tyler Florence does at his restaurant, then into a buttermilk and hot sauce dip then into the flour again. I deep fried one at a time for about 3 minutes each, then finis! It was quite enjoyable.

 

[Kyle]

I've since cooked chicken thighs (amazing) and picked up a king salmon filet yesterday (also amazing).

Today I have a package of "kalbi" chicken breasts from the local butcher - the 2 breasts are in a vacuum packed sealed bag already with the seasoning/marinade- any reason not to just toss that in the bath instead of opening and separating them in to separate bags? I'm assuming it'll be fine, just seems most sites I've seen always just have 1 piece per bag.