Sous vide cooking

[breadstick]

I've been looking into sous vide cooking and tried my first meal (seasoned chicken with the dorkfood controller and crock pot) and it turned out simply amazing.  Naturally, my 2nd cook had to be 10 lbs of pork chops and 80 lbs of chicken with the controller, fish tank heater, and big cooler.  The pork chops were seasoned with salt and pepper and seared on the grill.  My wife agreed that it was the best pork chop she's ever had.  It was literally falling apart on the grill.

 

So glad I've been nerding out about this for so long and took the plunge.  After the chicken finishes tonight, we won't have to cook for about two months, other than vegetables and searing the meat.  If you're on the fence, do it.  Best meat I've ever had and nearly effortless.  If you want to know more, post below and I'd be happy to answer questions.

[Dan]

How long did it take to cook the chicken? I've read that it can take up to 90 hours. 

[amazingkevin]

I've been looking into sous vide cooking and tried my first meal (seasoned chicken with the dorkfood controller and crock pot) and it turned out simply amazing.  Naturally, my 2nd cook had to be 10 lbs of pork chops and 80 lbs of chicken with the controller, fish tank heater, and big cooler.  The pork chops were seasoned with salt and pepper and seared on the grill.  My wife agreed that it was the best pork chop she's ever had.  It was literally falling apart on the grill.

 

So glad I've been nerding out about this for so long and took the plunge.  After the chicken finishes tonight, we won't have to cook for about two months, other than vegetables and searing the meat.  If you're on the fence, do it.  Best meat I've ever had and nearly effortless.  If you want to know more, post below and I'd be happy to answer questions.

you've woke up my taste buds and now my mouth is watering!

[wombatie]

I have never heard of it...................

 

Marg

[breadstick]

Chicken cooks much faster than you think.  We vacuum sealed four LARGE chicken breasts in each bag and used a heater and cooler, so we were able to do about 8 bags of chicken at a time.  Breasts took an hour and a half and the thighs took about 2 hours.  We cooked 80 lbs of chicken yesterday.  Bagging is the time consuming part.  Vacuum sealing is key.  A lot of people just use water displacement and Ziploc bags, but we did so much at once so we could freeze it all and just pull out bags, thaw, and sear the outside for dinner.

 

A lot of people do ribs for 72 hours and long cooks like that.  It's supposed to take cheap cuts of beef and make them taste like expensive cuts.  Trying a rump roast for 12 hours pretty soon.

 

If you're on the fence, It's definitely worth it.  We have a restaurant supply store near us so we buy things in bulk when it's on sale to put in our big freezer.  This is basically the setup I have.  Paid about $160 on Amazon for the setup (already had the crock pot and cooler).  Look for dorkfood DSV review on Youtube. Dave Cheung does a great video on it.  Well well worth the money, especially when you taste it. I'd paste the link but internet explorer at work won't let you copy and paste from youtube or Facebook.

[Scrappile]

Interesting, never heard of it before.

[Dan]

I think I'll stick to the grill.

[Lucky2]

I'll be sticking with the grill also, I can't imagine cooking that much in advance.

Len

[breadstick]

I basically started this to be a time saver.  My wife works 0700-1700 and I work 0730-1630, but I go to the gym before work.  We go to bed around 2030, so if we cook dinner when we get home it's basically the rest of the night (the kids help but can't do anything remotely complicated in the kitchen).  This way, we have a LOT of meat cooked.  The boys can pull something out of the freezer during the day, warm it up and make some vegetables, and a delicious dinner is done when we get home.  After dinner, I can go to the wood shop and she can make soap in the basement (her side-business).  This makes everything much easier for everyone and I cooked everything for the month in a few hours.

 

I love my grill, too, but if you see the difference in a medium rare steak in the sous vide cooker and the grill, you might be converted.