I’ve become interested in sous-vide and have played around with doing it “mash style” on my stovetop. I’d like to simplify/automate a bit and am curious if anyone has come across good info about buying a circulator or other equipment for this?
I know Drew talks about doing this quite a bit, but unless my search skills stink, I couldn’t find any recent conversations related to using them for cooking (rather than mashing). Yes, I know – asking for non-beer info on the brewing forum. Hey, at least I posted in the right category
I got an anova circulator last year when they were doing their great sell off of the previous model and I love the damn thing. It’s much better and more reliable than anything I could cobble together on my own.
What in particular are you looking for? I can say right now - get one and grab both the chef steps and anova apps for the phones because they give you a ton of guidance.
I like cooking pork loin sous vide since I like it pink. I get a pork loin cut it into “chops” and add spices. I then seal 3-4 pork chops in a vacuum bag - you got one of these for your hops don’t you - and freeze. I cook sous vide on an a hot plate controlled by a fermentation controller - you got one of these too? I may or may not finish the “chop” on a hot skillet.
I’m too ignorant to even know what I want yet. I just know I don’t want to try and do it by controlling a flame periodically over the course of an hour
I was already looking at the Anova based on reading The Food Lab and other articles by Kenji Lopez-Alt. What you’ve said makes me convinced that it will probably help me execute more easily and learn a lot more, which is exactly what I’m looking for.
That’s awesome! I don’t happen to have a vacuum sealer, but I know a lot of folks do that for hops. I picked up a few of those food safe silicon bags on Amazon so I could reuse them.
Fortunately both of my temp controllers are hard at work currently, but that sounds like a good option for folks who could spare one for an hour or two and then put it back. I’m at the point where I have separate “beer things” and “kitchen things” because otherwise my kids or my wife will misplace one of my “beer things” after using it in the kitchen and my brew day takes a bad turn
Re-reading this and thinking about the recipe though, I think you just gave me the idea for the next thing I’m going to cook. Pork done to the right temperature is fantastic!
For someone just dipping their toes in a decent unit should cost you less than $200. Entry level.
Boneless chuck ribs done pastrami-style for 48 hours at 138F- Amazing.
A vac-sealed steak done at 132F for six hours is as fresh six weeks later in the fridge as it was when bought. Simply sear on both sides for 30-60 seconds.
Easy to write the date, description and exact process on the bag too so you know what you did.
I was trying to snag one of these on Amazon Prime day they had the bluetooth model marked to $143 and I had a (nonworking) code to save $30. After that fiasco Amazon credited my account $30, but of course the Anova is back up to $180. I guess I’ll just watch it and if it drops again snag it.
Finally pulled mine out today in anticipation of a pork tenderloin tomorrow. We decided to cook some poached style eggs which were a cinch. 173F for 13 min with a fridge temp egg. Came out perfect, but took some effort to open the shells. Tenderloin is tomorrow, shooting for 140F for at least 2 hours and then sear.
Ran a seasoned pork tenderloin with chopped garlic in it today at 140F for 2.5 hours. Then quickly seared in the pan as fast and hot as possible. Came out fantastic.
Ran some soft boiled eggs this morning, 173F for 18 minutes and they came out perfect. Then ran a pork loin at 143F for 3 hours. After searing it also came out perfect.
