# Sous Vide "Guide"/Setup



## mrigney (Jun 6, 2017)

So I posted in the grilling thread about sous vide'ing a steak and got asked for a little write-up on my setup. So, I'll try to keep this short and then if people are interested, I'm happy to answer questions. Sous vide is French for "under pressure." The idea basically is to vacuum seal food/remove the air (put it "under pressure), then submerge said food in a water bath at a given temperature for an extended amount of time. This allows the entirety of the food to eventually be cooked from edge-to-edge at the same temperature as the water bath that you've placed it in. Here's probably the best "Getting STarted Guide:" http://www.seriouseats.com/sous_vide_101

Materials needed are pretty simple. Primarily you need a water circulator. There are two main varieties. The most popular kind is one that clamps or sits in a stock pot, cooler, or other vessel. The two most popular of this variety are the Anova Precision Cooker and the Joule. Anova has been around longer (and is what I use), Joule is the "new kid" with some fancy bells and whistles (you can submerge it in water, it's magnetized, completely controllable from an app, etc).
Anova: https://www.amazon.com/Anova-Culina...654329&sr=8-1&keywords=anova+precision+cooker
Joule: https://www.amazon.com/ChefSteps-CS...=1499654375&sr=8-2-spons&keywords=joule&psc=1

Both work fine and are solid units. Can't go wrong. The other style is a self-contained unit that incorporates the circulator with a "pot" of some sort (https://www.amazon.com/Sous-Vide-Su...TF8&qid=1499654424&sr=1-17&keywords=sous+vide. I'm not a huge fan of these b/c you're limited on size and have a new kitchen appliance to store. Not fun.

Sous vide'ing is great for a number of different foods. Generally it is really good at a few things. 1) Cooking foods that need to be cooked to a precise temperature edge-to-edge (e.g. steak). 2) Foods that dry out easily (chicken breast). 3) Foods that become better when cooked for a long time. I'll try to give an example of each.

1) Steak is the classic example here. I usually drop my steak w/some salt and pepper into a freezer bag and submerge it into the water bath at 128F. Let it cook in there for about an hour and a half (but it can be 1-3 hours really). Take it out, pat it dry, then throw it on a rip-roaring grill for about 90 seconds per side solely to sear the outside and get a nice crust.


2) Chicken breast is the jewel here. Typically you cook chicken breast to 165F. This allows yout o nuke all salmonella instantly. Turns out, you can cook at a lower temp for a longer time and kill all the bacteria and keep your chicken from drying out. So, salt and pepper your chicken breast (I think bone in works better), seal it up in a freezer bag or vacuum bag, and throw it in at about 150-155F for 3-4 hours. YOu can actually go as low as 140-145 as long as you cook it for 4+ hours, but I think the texture is funny. At 152, it's still moist. Again, I typically sear it for a minute in a pan when I finish.

3) I've done cow tongue for 2 days in the sous vide. Made for some awesome tacos. 




I've also done veggies (carrots work great). And then, you can also do larger cuts of meat. Last Thanksgiving, I bought a whole NY Strip, cut it in half (2 5# chunks) and put in the sous vide at 128F for about 4 hours. Seared it on the grill. Also smoked a turkey. Turned out like this:



Let me know if you have questions!


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

This may be a dumb question, but what if you were cooking for several people who liked their steaks cooked to a different temp?


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## SGrabs33 (Feb 13, 2017)

Looks tasty and great write up. I've heard a lot about these in the BGE forum. I like the set it and forget it mentality and the fact that's it's really hard to get something wrong(over or under cooked).

I think it would take a few drinks to swallow down that beef tounge.


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## g-man (Jun 15, 2017)

^ so hard to find tongue. I always wonder what they do with it. Beef hot dogs?

For those that want to try this without buying stuff, get a small cooler and place some tap water. Then add boiling water and a oven thermometer to get the desired temp (120F). Add the steaks sealed in the ziplock bags and close the lid. Watch the temp, if it drops below 110, add more boiling water.

It is great if you are hosting a party, since the steaks will be cooked/ready and the grill is just to make it look good or to cook it well done for that one guest (don't invite them again).


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## mrigney (Jun 6, 2017)

G-Man is right...Cooler is great for a cheap set it and forget it.

For people who like their steaks more cooked than medium rare? Well...I've converted my wife But in all seriousness, I'd probably cook it to 128F in the sous vide, then just leave it on the grill for an extra minute or two...you could also stick them in the oven for a couple minutes at the end. Or, if it's your kids (like mine), I just stick it in the microwave for a few seconds to nuke it

The beef tongue is surprisingly good. My wife wanted to gag when I was preparing it...but after you chop it up and put it on tacos? Tastes just like any other kind of beef!


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## J_nick (Jan 28, 2017)

Ware said:


> This may be a dumb question, but what if you were cooking for several people who liked their steaks cooked to a different temp?


Just a suggestion because I've never done it before. I would Sous Vide them to the same temperature then have a direct heat (sear station) then a indirect section. Sear them all then if people want them more done then set them on the indirect side. But in reality if they want them more done than medium rare, cook them a hamburger :lol:


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## mrigney (Jun 6, 2017)

Prime Day Deal today on the Anova Sous Vide Cooker: $99 w/Prime....https://www.amazon.com/Anova-Culinary-Bluetooth-Precision-Cooker/dp/B00UKPBXM4/?tag=kenjilopezalt-20


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

mrigney said:


> Prime Day Deal today on the Anova Sous Vide Cooker: $99 w/Prime....https://www.amazon.com/Anova-Culinary-Bluetooth-Precision-Cooker/dp/B00UKPBXM4/?tag=kenjilopezalt-20


That's really tempting - near the lowest price ever for that model. I wonder how much nicer the wifi-enabled one is. Do you use the bluetooth? Some of the reviews say the range is lacking.


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## mrigney (Jun 6, 2017)

I honestly never use the Bluetooth capability. I just set the temp when I clamp it on to the pot I'm using and then let it go til I'm ready to take the food out.


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

mrigney said:


> I honestly never use the Bluetooth capability. I just set the temp when I clamp it on to the pot I'm using and then let it go til I'm ready to take the food out.


Ordered. :thumbup:


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

Reroute... I was reading kolbasz's post about the Rachio deal through Alexa, so I decided to see what other Alexa deals they are offering. They have the 2nd Gen Anova for $129 if you order through Alexa:

​
It also appears they are offering an additional $10 account credit for ordering an Alexa deal over $20 from that page...

​
It was too hard to pass up the newer model for an extra $20, so I ordered it and canceled my first order. The 2nd Gen is the new wifi-enabled one, and I think it is 900W vs 800W.


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## mrigney (Jun 6, 2017)

@Ware...nice! It would be nice to have the extra 100W just for those times when you're trying to heat up huge amounts of water (like when I did the whole NY strips in a 20 quart ice chest...worst part is waiting to heat the water up to temp).

So I tried something new yesterday with the sous vide. If you're a coffee drinker, especially an iced/cold brew drinker, read on. Saw this idea somewhere earlier this week. Basic idea is that cold brew removes a lot of the acidity from the brew, but it also takes a really long time. Is there a way to create a similar tasting coffee faster using the sous vide to brew at what amounts to warm, but not hot temps.

Took 1/4c. of coarsely ground coffee (not sure how much the bean/roast matters. I used a Blue Mountain bean I get from Costco that falls somewhere in the medium roast range). Get a large jar that can hold the grounds + 4 c. water and that has a tight fitting lid. Put the grounds and 4c. cold water in the jar and mix it up.

Meanwhile, get the sous vide up and running and set at a temp of 150F. Once it's there, set the jar (or jars) in the water bath and let it go for 2 hours. Pull it and then strain it through a coffee filter into whatever you want to store it in (put mine in mason jars) and put in the fridge. Should be able to store in the firdge for at least a week.

Did mine last night, put it in the fridge before I went to bed, and then poured it over ice this morning. Thought it was good enough to do again. I"m sure I"ll try tweaks (temp, time, bean type, amount of grounds, etc).


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## j4c11 (Apr 30, 2017)

Poached eggs made at 167 for 13 minutes are awesome. Just pop it out of the shell onto a pice of toast.


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

I did some filet mignon earlier this week. My searing skillet wasn't quite hot enough, so I ended up overcooking them a bit, but it was still good. It was kind of crazy how you open the bag and they smell like a fully cooked steak - I suppose because they are. :lol:


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## ericgautier (Apr 22, 2017)

Ware said:


> I did some filet mignon earlier this week. My searing skillet wasn't quite hot enough, so I ended up overcooking them a bit, but it was still good. It was kind of crazy how you open the bag and they smell like a fully cooked steak - I suppose because they are. :lol:


Have you done a reverse sear on the pellet? Wondering if it is the same effect?


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

ericgautier said:


> Have you done a reverse sear on the pellet? Wondering if it is the same effect?


It's very similar, but the sous vide will no doubt yield a more uniform temperature profile during the "indirect" portion of the cook. Is it required to cook a good steak? Probably not, but it's pretty cool.


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## ericgautier (Apr 22, 2017)

Ware said:


> It's very similar, but the sous vide will no doubt yield a more uniform temperature profile during the "indirect" portion of the cook. Is it required to cook a good steak? Probably not, but it's pretty cool.


I just can't wait the 2 hours for a steak. :lol:


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

I think it can be more like an hour for most steaks. Here is a random article about steak sous vide times/temps.


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## ericgautier (Apr 22, 2017)

Ware said:


> I think it can be more like an hour for most steaks. Here is a random article about steak sous vide times/temps.


Oh, I've tried it. My BIL has one and when we visit, he always makes steaks for us. We also tried ribs once. That took about 12 hours, then another hour in the oven on broil to get the sauce to char. :thumbup:


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## mrigney (Jun 6, 2017)

Yeah....an hour is fine for steaks. If you're going sub-130F temp, you really don't want to let it go more than 2.5 hours...too much time in a bacteria growth zone after that (although I admit to having done it w/o issue....but then again, I"m a risk-taker). If you put the steaks on, light up your charcoal and get it roaring hot so that you can take it out of the sous vide right at the hour mark, it really doesn't take a whole lot longer than if you'd lit the grill ,let it heat up, and cooked the steak entirely over the charcoal.


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## Gibby (Apr 3, 2018)

I always do our steaks this way, takes 6 hours because I have a picky house, I do well done first and work down to medium rare for me. Then sear them all at the same time.

I also do bacon sometimes, 12-36 hours.

I have done poached then deep fried eggs too. They were awesome but have to have a study hand during the deep-frying part.


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## Guest (Apr 14, 2018)

I'll have to retry this at some point. I've done 2-3 ribeyes with my sous vide and just wasn't impressed with the flavor. I salted, peppered and a little bit of garlic and buttered. I seared on cast iron at around 550-600 for 1-2 minutes after and they just didn't have any flavor.


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## mrigney (Jun 6, 2017)

There really shouldn't be any flavor difference, honestly. Theres nothing particularly different about the sous vide process other than temperature control. Should have an affect on doneness, but not really on flavor.

How do you normally cook your steak? Even when you're cooking entirely over charcoal, steaks aren't really on long enough to absorb appreciable smoke. Any chance you just under seasoned them a little?

Also, throwing things out since I don't know you're setup...if you're doing cast iron on an electric stove, probably not near 550. Quality of your sear could also have to do with the size of your pan in relation to your steak (bigger pan = more thermal mass = less change in temp when you drop your steak in). Do you put any aromatics or butter in when you sear? Just trying to think of things that could affect flavor.


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## Topcat (Mar 21, 2017)

I placed an order for a Sous Vide wand/cooker thing-a-ma-bob yesterday. I was playing around on Youtube, and stumbled on the a Video that talked about how great steaks, chicken and salmon came out when cooked this way. I will give it a shot... I think the combo of sous vide and high hear sear on my Kamado Joe grill will net pretty good steaks. :thumbup:


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## Gibby (Apr 3, 2018)

Topcat said:


> I placed an order for a Sous Vide wand/cooker thing-a-ma-bob yesterday. I was playing around on Youtube, and stumbled on the a Video that talked about how great steaks, chicken and salmon came out when cooked this way. I will give it a shot... I think the combo of sous vide and high hear sear on my Kamado Joe grill will net pretty good steaks. :thumbup:


Did ribs first time sous vide last night, they were awesome, that is all.


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## kevreh (Apr 3, 2018)

Topcat said:


> I placed an order for a Sous Vide wand/cooker thing-a-ma-bob yesterday. I was playing around on Youtube, and stumbled on the a Video that talked about how great steaks, chicken and salmon came out when cooked this way. I will give it a shot... I think the combo of sous vide and high hear sear on my Kamado Joe grill will net pretty good steaks. :thumbup:


You might want to go with thicker steaks so the inside doesn't overcook. I like the high sear on my kamado joe. If the steaks are thinner I throw them in the freezer for 10 minutes first (saw this on Americas Test kitchen). Since you can't do this with sous vide the only thing I can think of is to use thicker steaks.


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## Topcat (Mar 21, 2017)

Agreed. I typically have mine cut at 1.5" minimum. I think that will be thick enough? I hope it will. I will play around with different sizes to get a good feel for it.


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## kevreh (Apr 3, 2018)

Cool thing with sous vide is you can set your target temp and hold it there *without overcooking* your steak or other meat. So you may want to undershoot your target temp so when they sear it brings the temp up to your target. Hope I explained that well.


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## SGrabs33 (Feb 13, 2017)

This is for sure still on the list of new things to try. List is too darn long.


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## Gibby (Apr 3, 2018)

Made steaks tonight, seared in my 15" cast iron.


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## TC2 (Sep 15, 2017)

Gibby said:


> Made steaks tonight, seared in my 15" cast iron.


Looks like you have a lot of liquid in there, which will hinder your sear.

I recently came across the Youtube channel "Sous vide everything". They used to use butter for all their steaks but after comments suggested butter doesn't add better flavor, they tried a taste test and decided it tasted better without. Worth considering!


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## Gibby (Apr 3, 2018)

TC2 said:


> Gibby said:
> 
> 
> > Made steaks tonight, seared in my 15" cast iron.
> ...


Tried it once without butter after watching that same channel. However Chef Steps does use better. This time I also added fresh garlic and I have to say these were the best steaks yet.

Note that Sous vide everything was talking about using butter/not using butter while in the water bath, I don't do that.

Chef Steps uses butter just for the searing part, I found that you almost burn the butter before putting the steaks and it makes it sear a lot quicker and the taste is just awesome.


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## Topcat (Mar 21, 2017)

kevreh said:


> Topcat said:
> 
> 
> > I placed an order for a Sous Vide wand/cooker thing-a-ma-bob yesterday. I was playing around on Youtube, and stumbled on the a Video that talked about how great steaks, chicken and salmon came out when cooked this way. I will give it a shot... I think the combo of sous vide and high hear sear on my Kamado Joe grill will net pretty good steaks. :thumbup:
> ...


I typically have the butcher at the store I shop at cut my steaks between 1 - 1.5 inches. I used my Sous Vide for the first time today on Rib Eye. I cooked them for 2 hours at 130 degrees. Then I seared them on my Kamoda Joe at 600 degrees. 
They were PERFECT. Tender, juicy, full of flavor and cooked just right. The only seasoning I put on the Rib Eye was Salt, and that was all that was needed. I will experiment with garlic and tyme the next time.


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## ericgautier (Apr 22, 2017)

Got an early Father's day present from the wife. 

Can someone recommend a container they like? Is a 12 QT big enough?


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## Ware (Jan 28, 2017)

ericgautier said:


> Got an early Father's day present from the wife.
> 
> Can someone recommend a container they like? Is a 12 QT big enough?


I'm using a Rubbermaid 6qt container that I had on hand. It works great for a couple steaks, but I do think the 12qt version would be a nice size. I would also like to pick up one of these lids eventually.

Which one did you get? I've been pleased with the Anova WIFI + Bluetooth 900W.


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## kevreh (Apr 3, 2018)

Topcat said:


> kevreh said:
> 
> 
> > Topcat said:
> ...


Good idea, whenever I grill ribeye's they tend to be on the tough side. Sous vide-ing for a few hours should fix that.


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## ericgautier (Apr 22, 2017)

Ware said:


> Which one did you get?


Anova Bluetooth.


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## ericgautier (Apr 22, 2017)

Tried some eggs.. 160 for 45 min. Next time I think I'll try 165 for 45. The whites were still a little runny than I wanted. The yolk was yummy. Bacon was air fried.


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## SGrabs33 (Feb 13, 2017)

ericgautier said:


> Got an early Father's day present from the wife.


Nice, I just got mine from the wife and little one today!

I'm looking forward to trying it out!


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## ericgautier (Apr 22, 2017)

SGrabs33 said:


> Nice, I just got mine from the wife and little one today!
> 
> I'm looking forward to trying it out!


Awesome! :thumbup:


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## SGrabs33 (Feb 13, 2017)

Tried out some basic chicken breasts today for my first cook. Salt/pepper/rosemary. Cooked well and tasted good.

Anyone have a good source for Sous vide recipes?


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## ericgautier (Apr 22, 2017)

SGrabs33 said:


> Anyone have a good source for Sous vide recipes?


Chicken looks good. :thumbup:

You sure you want to go down this road... lol. Try this channel on YouTube 'Sous Vide Everything'


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## SGrabs33 (Feb 13, 2017)

@ericgautier Thanks, I will def check that out!

Boneless/Skinless Chimichurri chicken thighs tonight. @165 for about 3 hours.


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## SGrabs33 (Feb 13, 2017)

About 13 hours in and 20ish left to go. Any expert guesses?


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## ericgautier (Apr 22, 2017)

@SGrabs33 brisket?


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## SGrabs33 (Feb 13, 2017)

ericgautier said:


> SGrabs33 brisket?


Close  They were actually the most tender ribs that I have ever had!!!

34ish hours @ 150. Basically I followed this recipe.

No kidding I think they were the best ribs I have ever had. Sooo tender. I encourage anyone with a Sous vide to try ribs!

After Sous vide. 


Add a little rub and sauce and into the oven for a short time.



Donezo.


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## ericgautier (Apr 22, 2017)

@SGrabs33 34ish hrs for ribs!? You are crazy. LOL. I did try it once w/ my BIL.. took us 12 hrs and they were tender falling off the bone.


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## SGrabs33 (Feb 13, 2017)

ericgautier said:


> SGrabs33 34ish hrs for ribs!? You are crazy. LOL. I did try it once w/ my BIL.. took us 12 hrs and they were tender falling off the bone.


Hey, I'm just following the recipe :lol:


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## OnyxsLawn (Mar 15, 2018)

Does everyone just use salt/pepper on steaks in the sous vide? I've made a few like that and would've liked some more flavor. This was also not on the best cut cause I'm still learning how to get the steaks perfect for me.


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## daniel3507 (Jul 31, 2018)

I add garlic to the butter when I sear it after it comes out. That's about it though.


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## BlakeG (Jul 17, 2018)

Searzall

I just got one of these. It mounts to the top of a Benzomatic TS8000 torch you would normally use for soldering/brazing. I used it for the first time last night to melt cheese on a burger, but thinking this would be really cool for searing off your final Sous Vide instead of firing up the grill in weather (cold, rain, etc)

FWIW: This is not a fast process. It took about 4 -5 minutes to melt cheese on 5 burgers. I wouldn't suggest this for many more than 3 or 4 steaks as the process would take too long, but all in all its a pretty cool tool.

And.......you can burn weeds with the Benzomatic TS8000 torch


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