So I bought a sous vide machine, now what? I love the stuff in the restaurants so how do I do that? And as a secondary question, what espresso machine would you invest in?
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In to see responses. Also curious about this method of cooking.
I have to admit, I don’t see the point for a home cook. I understand it for commercial, but the advantages it has just don’t translate.
Tough meats - yeah it is great but I am not waiting 70+ hours for a rack of ribs.
Fish, veg, sound great for a home cook, but I can pretty much approximate sous vide with other cooking techniques (water bath, double boiler, passing, en papillote, etc) without forking out multiple hundreds of dollars for an immersion circulator and vacuum sealer for something I will only use occasionally.
In to see responses. Also curious about this method of cooking.
In to learn what the heck a sous vide machine is and do I need to buy one.
So I bought a sous vide machine, now what? I love the stuff in the restaurants so how do I do that? And as a secondary question, what espresso machine would you invest in?
I have a Jura C5, it is awesome. Coffee and espresso consumption has increased exponentially since we bought it. All you do is add beans periodically and push a button, you can customize the settings to your preference, and it steams/froths.
Check out the website ChefSteps.com, they’ve got quite a few good sous vide recipes with videos and instructions.
I love eggs (soft custard whites + creamy yolk = 40min @63°C) cooked sous vide, but have also cooked beef steak (medium rare = 60 min @53°C) and duck breast (medium = 60min @57°C). Also once with scallops…can’t remember the temp and time though, but it was less than an hour as well.
Damnit, now y’all are making me hungry.
No idea on espresso machines…I use an Aeropress.
We primarily cook our steaks in it. For us, it is a conventicle thing. We can throw the meat in the sous vide and cook it whenever. Our schedules are subject to change very quickly so dinner is all over the place, time wise.
I am indifferent on the taste of the steak. Neither my wife nor I have ever put in the time to learn how to cook a perfect steak. With a sous vide, its kinda hard to not cook a good steak. You simply sear it and its ready.
Ahhh yes…forgot the best part of cooking steak and duck sous vide…using the blowtorch afterwards.
Not one of those dainty creme brulee ones either.
Hey thanks everyone. Exactly what I was looking for in terms of what to start cooking sous vide. Any common mistakes to avoid? Also as far as the espresso machine recs the biggest thing I’ve ben reading is the longevity problem of machines. Should I buy a moderatedly priced one and expect to replace in a couple of years or go for the expensive for ?better build quality?
if you want a ‘whole event’ coffee experience, get a lever machine. we have a la pavoni and love it, but we’re snobs and like the routine/ritual. it’s messy, not fast, and has a steep learning curve, but i love the espresso i can pull from it. we have a good grinder too, it’s more important than the machine if you really want espresso. if you don’t want that much work i got an aeropress to take with me when i travel and i freaking love it. it’s one of the least expensive ways you can get close to, but it’s not, espresso. if you drink americano’s then an aeropress is a great compromise imho. you need good beans for a good product, so again, stick with quality goods.
a mokapot is another option. again, a little bit of a learning curve, but you can make some good coffee with it once you get it dialed in. i have one, haven’t used it a whole lot, but think with a little bit of work it will make a good cup 'o joe.
how much money and how much time do you want to spend on the process are two big questions you need to address, that will help you chose your weapon.
there are quite a few pod machines that people have and use and love, it’s just what do you want to make of the process.
a couple of coffee sites to peruse.
coffeegeek.com
home-barista.com
+1 to what madduck said. My wife is not a morning person, I’m pretty sure she would beat me with any machine that put her farther than a button push away from caffeine. I’m a geek and would enjoy “making” my own, but that have to be a weekend only experience given my schedule. I have an aeropress that I keep at my office and it makes good coffee once you figure out the right mix/temp.
Never done anything SV, but I’ve been tempted to do some seafood stuff. In the same vein as learning to cook, veggies and eggs are the safe bet to start with.
Can’t say anything about espresso makers, I’m a big fan of my moka pot.
No need to spend hundreds…I built this for about $60 and it works great with our large slow cooker. Plug this in to the wall, plug the slow cooker in to this, put the probe in the water, set the temp on the controller and you’re sous vide-ing. Actually a decent slow cooker will work, but you really have to watch the temp.
Eggs are the easiest thing to do and are awesome at 63*
now that is impressive. I’m not to good with electronics but I like the hack. Will start with eggs and see where I can progress. I really want to cook octopus since I had an amazing meal of the sous vide. Also thanks everyone for the advice about espresso machines. I’m going to have to do a bit more research.
Got an Anova unit last year and love it. Some of the fruits of my labor…
Started out simple - carrots with a brown/butter…
Ribeye - cooked to perfection (2hr)
Pork tenderloin…extra juicy (3hr)
Short ribs - so so tender (24hr)
Finally, baby back ribs. They fall off the bone, but lack the smokey flavor (48hr)
That is what I aspire to cook! That looks delectable!
These are used in biology labs all the time…if cooking is anything like cell biology, you just set it to 3I deg C, thaw your…food (media) and then pH it to 7.4
Aside from that, I’ve heard fish is wonderful when sous vid’ed
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No way would I wrap my food completely in plastic and immerse it in hot water for hours upon end. Carcinogens with your steak, m’am?
db
What temp was the ribeye? I normally do sous vide steak at 56-57C/134F. I’d prefer it a little lower, but my family doesn’t like their steak red.