I got my Anova today!

[Kaido]

I want to see how the steak turns out.

Tasted good, but was very chewy. Not sure if I left it in too long, or not long enough. I definitely over-seared it, got a little carried away with the blowtorch there :biggrin:

Fresh from the Anova, it looks like somewhat revolting gray meat:

Some cast iron love with the Searzall remedied that in short order:

Don't forget to do the sides!

The Searzall really fills all the nooks & crannies to get a perfectly even sear:

Left it on the cast iron a little too long, not much pink left haha:

Whipped out the Dalstrong for the slicing:

Kenji pretty much nailed all the details, props to him for an amazing guide! He's right, it does make a much thinner crust (I do like a good crust). Next time I will make 3 changes:

1. Double the time (see how 2 hours fares)

2. Sear for less time (I did 45 seconds on the first side, then played with the Searzall for awhile on the second side, so it was in there way too long without being flipped...very time sensitive if you have a thin piece of meat!)

3. Get a much thicker cut

 

[Kaido]

Quick video of the Searzall...figured if I was going to blow the house up, might as well record it for Youtube Usually you spend more time on each second to get the Maillard reaction going, but I wanted to see how it'd react to the olive oil first. It does flare up, but never caught the steak or oil in the pan on fire, so I feel it's pretty safe to use (again thanks to Kenji for making sure first haha!).

https://vid.me/vjQZ

I will say the fat is the best ever. I usually plow through the fat when I'm eating a steak just because, but it was actually soft & tasty from the Anova, om nom nom!

 

[Spoooon]

Tasted good, but was very chewy. Not sure if I left it in too long, or not long enough. I definitely over-seared it, got a little carried away with the blowtorch there :biggrin:

Fresh from the Anova, it looks like somewhat revolting gray meat:

Some cast iron love with the Searzall remedied that in short order:

Don't forget to do the sides!

The Searzall really fills all the nooks & crannies to get a perfectly even sear:

Left it on the cast iron a little too long, not much pink left haha:

Whipped out the Dalstrong for the slicing:

Kenji pretty much nailed all the details, props to him for an amazing guide! He's right, it does make a much thinner crust (I do like a good crust). Next time I will make 3 changes:

1. Double the time (see how 2 hours fares)

2. Sear for less time (I did 45 seconds on the first side, then played with the Searzall for awhile on the second side, so it was in there way too long without being flipped...very time sensitive if you have a thin piece of meat!)

3. Get a much thicker cut

Well, no one said the quest for perfection was easy. Looks like you'll have to get more steaks and try again.

 

[Kaido]

Well, no one said the quest for perfection was easy. Looks like you'll have to get more steaks and try again.

Yeah I gotta stop by the butchers & get some thick Ribeyes this weekend :biggrin:

Still, the cost difference was amazing. Went to the Cheesecake Factory the other day & got their cheapest steak ($19 I think?) and it was literally the worst steak I have ever had. It was probably the size of a jumbo Snickers bar to begin with, and ridiculously chewy. I can get a steak four times that size for 75% of the price from the grocery store.

The one big benefit I saw to the Anova last night was that it's basically set & forget - no babysitting required. I haven't even paired it up to my phone yet...just set the temp & set a timer on my cell phone to remind me when it's done. I got an Instant Pot electric pressure cooker for Christmas (basically a high-speed crockpot) & this will make a great combination for fast, low-effort cooking (especially for things like meat in the Anova & veggie/starch sides in the IP).

Time is my big problem right now...full-time work plus night classes means I'm up at 4am & home at 8:30pm, so anything I can do to shave off some cooking time for a fresh, hot meal is a huge benefit! I'm into meal prep, especially on weekends, but it's nice to not have microwaved food all the time for sure, and this tool lets you do it - all you have to do is set the temp, drop the food in, and come back to eat when it's done :thumbsup:

 

[notposting]

Two points:

Wait, did you just get an Anova? I thought you had one this whole time.
The domain in your sig is expired.

 

[CraKaJaX]

God this thread makes me hungry. I guess for now I'll settle for a granola bar......

 

[Kaido]

Two points:

Wait, did you just get an Anova? I thought you had one this whole time.
The domain in your sig is expired.

1. Correct. Just got it on the Father's Day sale.

2. That would be because I never update it :biggrin: Updated, thanks. Also added a link to my food wiki :thumbsup:

 

[CraKaJaX]

1. Correct. Just got it on the Father's Day sale.

2. That would be because I never update it :biggrin: Updated, thanks. Also added a link to my food wiki :thumbsup:

To add a note, said granola bars in previous post is from his food wiki....

I added coconut and raisins as extras. Good stuff :thumbsup:

 

[notposting]

1. Correct. Just got it on the Father's Day sale.

2. That would be because I never update it :biggrin: Updated, thanks. Also added a link to my food wiki :thumbsup:

Score! (both the sale, and the extra link!)

Anyway, just like other cooking, neither sous vide (aside - other manufactures better get on it before Anova corners the market ) or the Searzall/torch are "automagical".

But it is definitely more predictable and once you get a certain cut "locked in" it is soooo repeatable - and as you mentioned, hands off, and also a huge margin for error. I love it.

You'll have that steak to 11 soon enough



(seriously though, when the next thing on the list is a mini-fridge for dry aging, you start to wonder where or if it will end...)

edit: beehive. I lol'd and my kids were like wth?

 

[Kaido]

Score! (both the sale, and the extra link!)

I updated the Sous Vide wiki page as well:

http://catch42.pbworks.com/w/page/93649340/Sous Vide

 

[notposting]

Side note: did you see that the Baking Steel Griddle is available for pre-order? Pricy but fills a lot roles. Hmmmmm...

 

[Imported]

Side note: did you see that the Baking Steel Griddle is available for pre-order? Pricy but fills a lot roles. Hmmmmm...

I so want this.

 

[DrPizza]

Side note: did you see that the Baking Steel Griddle is available for pre-order? Pricy but fills a lot roles. Hmmmmm...

Price seems ridiculous for what it is. Plus, the guy at serious eats should get get a better cast iron frying pan, and a better stove. 550F after 15 minutes and doesn't have enough heat retention? Sounds like one of those tiny apartment sized stove tops. My son measured our temperature once; after taking it out of the oven (set to 500, I had the cast iron in while the oven preheated), and a few minutes on the stove top, it was well over 800F. And, large enough that you could flip a good sized steak onto a section of the pan that the steak wasn't already on.

 

[Kaido]

Interesting video on using meat glue at home:

http://sploid.gizmodo.com/video-meat-glue-turns-cheap-cuts-of-steak-into-a-fake-1710126929

The basic idea is that meat glue fuses meat together. It has legitimate uses (as mentioned in the video, like fusing bacon to a filet), but a lot of times it's used to take scrap & turn into to fake steak. He cooks it sous vide to eliminate the bacteria issue & said it was actually pretty good. It's available from the Modernist Pantry if you're so inclined: (just make sure to wear gloves!)

http://www.modernistpantry.com/transglutaminase.html

A little bit more of an expose on the stuff:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXXrB3rz-xU

Neat tho for things like re-using meat scraps, making caseless hot dogs, etc.

 

[Kaido]

Okay, round 2: sirloin filets

I got three half-pounders. First one just finished up (90 minutes @ 135F, doing a 3-hour & 4-hour as well). Did a very short 40-second sear per side @ 700F on cast iron. Didn't really provide a crust, so much as made it look nice (the meat comes out a gross-looking gray on the outside). EXCELLENT results. Super juicy & meaty! I think having a thicker steak helps quite a bit.

It basically has a prime rib effect: soft, pink, juicy, and deliciously meaty. I do like a good crust though, and you do not get much of a crust on a sous vide steak. I think for smaller steaks like NY Strip, Alton Brown's cast iron method in the oven is excellent because you get an awesome crust with some pink inside, but if you want a larger steak that you can actually eat, sous video is the way to go. I can eat a lot more steak sous vide-style because it's almost like eating a thick marshmallow - super soft & easy to eat. Traditional steak is a lot chewier & I can't eat as much because it physically feels thicker & is more work to chew on. They are kind of different genres of steak - sous vide steak is awesome, but I wouldn't cook it for every single meal because it would depending on what I wanted at the time (softness, crust, etc.).

 

[Kaido]

Had to run off for a work-related issue, so batch 2 & 3 ended up being 9-hour cooks @ 135F:

It was a little bit dry...there was a LOT of juice in the bag. Still good though. Apparently I haven't been meeting my red meat quota lately because I feel amazing having eaten pretty much nothing but steak all day

One interesting thing is that eating sous vide meat is non-fatiguing, at least for steak (doing chicken this coming week). Like with BBQ meats, I can only handle so much BBQ at a time, sort of like if you plow down some rich food like cheesecake...you need a few days to air out after you load up. But with sous vide, I don't know if it's because it's not as tough or there's no smokiness or what, but I had no problem killing an entire steak for dinner after having one for lunch, which is something I haven't really been able to do in the past. I mean, it's not like cutting through butter or anything, but it is a lot more tender than normal, which I think makes it more...edible. I don't know what the right word is for this, but it's basically like grabbing a sandwich instead of doing a full Thanksgiving dinner if that makes sense. I don't feel like I just killed myself on food & need to pass out, despite eating a huge amount of meat, which is interesting.

Another great use for sous vide steaks is in tortillas. The softness really helps the chewability for steak burritos, which is something that has always annoyed me in my homemade wraps. Usually it works out better if you do stuff like pulled pork in the slow cooker because then it's super soft, but I'll definitely be giving some cheaper cuts of meat a try using sous vide. Particularly interested in how skirt steak would work out...

 

[HN]

The anova precision is a lightning deal on amazon right now for $119 (for about another 3.5 hours or so)

http://www.amazon.com/Anova-Culinary-Precision-Immersion-Circulator/dp/B00UKPBXM4

 

[slayer202]

hmm kaido those look quite overcooked. second batch looks like they were cooked too long

I finally broke in my unit tonight. I was looking for some pork chops but whole foods had some sad looking ones. Didn't wanna try steak just yet so went with some chicken thighs which might not have been the best choice, next time I'll try breasts. No pics yet because I wasn't sure how they'd turn out. Cooked at 150 for an hour and a half. Quick sear afterwards that should have been a bit longer. Actually I have a crappy picture or two, will post tomorrow. The meat was pretty awesome. Very juicy and tender. Great texture.

I really need to pick up one of those bin/containers

 

[Imported]

I do my steaks at 129 for about an hour.

 

[Rakehellion]

How about searing a steak with one of these?

 

[slayer202]

 

[Kaido]

hmm kaido those look quite overcooked. second batch looks like they were cooked too long

Yeah, having done 4 steaks now (I am steaked-out haha), it was definitely over-seared - it kicked off more of the cooking process than I wanted. The difficult thing is that it's really just a visual crust, and I like a good thick crust, so I'll have to figure out some way to reconcile that somehow. Maybe even some kind of BBQ-style bark on it, maybe pre-barking it, then sous viding it, then doing a quick sear at the end. I dunno.

 

[slayer202]

Yeah, having done 4 steaks now (I am steaked-out haha), it was definitely over-seared - it kicked off more of the cooking process than I wanted. The difficult thing is that it's really just a visual crust, and I like a good thick crust, so I'll have to figure out some way to reconcile that somehow. Maybe even some kind of BBQ-style bark on it, maybe pre-barking it, then sous viding it, then doing a quick sear at the end. I dunno.

I haven't tried a steak yet but I'm almost already conceding to more traditional cooking methods for a regular old normal sized steak. Filet, I can see the benefit

 

[notposting]

I can't remember if you have one, but if you can use a grill (gas would make it easy here ), it's a little easier to take that beauty steak and throw it on a ripping hot grill for some quick charring.

Or get the windows open and the exhaust fan blowing inside for when it hits the cast iron.

 

[Kaido]

I haven't tried a steak yet but I'm almost already conceding to more traditional cooking methods for a regular old normal sized steak. Filet, I can see the benefit

I think I'd go traditional for filet & NY Strip, and sous vide for everything else. I will say that the tenderness is very nice, like if you want to reheat the steak the next day for steak & eggs: