So my Sous Vide cooker just arrived. I figured over the weekend I would try to make some steaks per what I could find online, but I was wondering if /ck/ had any creative recipes to share. For instance, a friend of mine has told me that sous vide is excellent for making pork chops.
I've also heard that sous vide is supposed to be great for BBQ (e.g. 72 hour short ribs), but for heat conservation/energy efficiency purposes, it's a good idea to get a beer cooler and cut a hole in that for the sous vide cooker. Does /ck/ have any opinion on this?
>>7131647
Sous vide isn't really the best way to be creative with your meals unless you've got a shit ton of time and you're willing to make it a huge project.
Salmon 12m @ 120F is one of the most delicious things I've ever eaten.
Short ribs are best 48-72h @ 129F. Make sure you get the chuck short ribs; the belly ribs have much less marbling and much more external fat.
Shrimp 30min @ 135F comes out wonderfully flavorful.
Oh, and one more thing. If you take nothing else from this post, take this.
DON'T ADD SALT TO THE BAG FOR LONG COOK TIMES. As an example, the salmon comes out perfectly fine with salt but the short ribs come out with the texture of a ham. But anyways, it'll give the meat a cured texture that can be desirable in some cases but not in others.
squid and octopus are both fucking amazing sous vide
big fan of very long cooked short rib, cheek, oxtail
and yeah not just salt but other stuff like aromatics you want to go easy on. took me a while to remember that a little bit of garlic can blow your head off if it's in there for a bajillion hours
If you have an anova then you don't need to use a beer cooler. The anova will regulate the temperature itself. I've done the 48 hour rib recipe with mine and it comes out great. Tried doing steak the first time with it but I messed up the sear at the end. Still came out pretty good. Going to try short ribs next.
>>7131927
The beer cooler would not be for temperature regulation as in keeping a consistent temperature but while keeping said consistent temperature while using low amount of energy.
When I was browsing slickdeals, the person said that using the Anova for a year in an open pot for an hour used 400 watt hours, while a 24 hour short rib done in a beer cooler used only 500 watt hours. (Or, basically, the beer cooler was about 20x more energy efficient to cook in).
>>7131936
Who cares? Those energy uses are so low that even the "20x more costly" one is negligible.
>>7131938
If I want to do 72 hour short ribs (a common online recommendation), at about 25 cents per kilowatt hour, that would be 28.8kwhr, or 28.8 * 25. Now that's about $7.20 to just cook it. Even worse, you have evaporative loss in an open pot, which means you have to add water periodically, which further reduces the temperature, which means more water.
I guess it depends on the portion size and what you're cooking. One hour for a steak is one thing.
I also hear a beer cooler is better because with a cheap metal rack you can fit a lot more food in there while making sure the water has adequate room to circulate around everything for proper cooking. But I'm still reading up on it.
>>7131936
Jesus christ we're talking about cents here
>>7131944
>Now that's about $7.20 to just cook it
....which is pretty much nothing for a meal that you're spending that kind of effort on.
>>you have evaporative loss in an open pot
Agreed about that 100%.
I wasn't knocking the idea of using a beer cooler. I was pointing out that the energy savings doesn't mean much.
>>7131944
Where the fuck do you pay 25 cents per kwh?
Consider moving out of that shit hole immediately.
I pay 9.562 cents per kwh.
