Anova Precision cooker
Posted: Fri Dec 28, 2018 5:32 pm
Two words, Sous Vide.
If you like meat, poultry, fish or veggies, this is a MUST have! I first found out about the amazingness that is sous vide (French for under vacuum) in a car forum of all places. People were posting pics of these fine cuts of meat that were cooked to absolute perfection. I needed to know more.
I did a little research and found that these devices have been used for quite some time in restaurants and catering, but only available to the public (at an affordable price) for a few years.
The basic principle is that you vacuum seal or use the water immersion technique to remove all air from a plastic bag containing whatever you are cooking. Then cook the meat to a pre determined temperature in a water bath. My soon to be sister in law refers to it as "boiling the meat" but that couldn't be further from the truth.
The precision cooker turns any vessel (plastic tub, stock pot etc.) Into basically a tempurature adjustable hot tub. It looks like a hand blender, but clips onto the side of the aforementioned vessel filled with water. It then both heats and circulates water to whatever tempurature you set it to. Once pre heated, you place the vacuum sealed meats right in the water bath and just let it do it's thing.
After a period of time (completely depends on the cut/thickness and What type of meat you are cooking) usually 1 hour per inch of thickness for beef, you remove the meat.
Preheat a skillet/grill pan/ your grill to as hot as it gets. Use a little oil (preferably something with a high smoke point) or butter(because butter). Take the cut of meat out and give it a nice sear ( 1 minute per side usually does the trick) and voila, perfect protein!
There are several reasons this method is superior to other methods of cooking, and I will touch on a few of them.
1) Never overcook your meat, if you want medium rare, it will be medium rare whether it is in there for an hour, or four hours.
2) you can cook things like pork and chicken to a much lower temperature (leaving them MUCH juicier and more tender)safely due to the fact that killing bacteria is done with both temperature AND time. The bacteria in chicken is killed instantly at 165°F. However, the same bacteria is killed at 150° over the course of an hour. Pork can be safely cooked at 135-140° making for the juiciest effing pork loin you have ever had.
3) all juices and marinades still in the bag are safe to consume or use to make a pan sauce. And since the meats have been in their juices the whole time, they retain their moistness and tenderness.
4) uniform cooking. This means that the end cuts of a big piece of meat are just as rare as the very middle.
Here is an example. I want a medium rare tri-tip about 2 1/2" thick cooked to a medium rare temp of 137°. Just set the sous vide to 137° and wait for it to heat the water up. While waiting I vacuum seal my tri-tip with its seasoning and marinade. Once the water bath hits 137° plop it in the water and clip the bag to the side of the container. Now this will be done after 2 1/2 hours, but if you let it go longer it breaks down more of the meat making It crazy tender. I usually shoot for about 4 hours, but you can safely go to 6-7 before it starts breaking down too much.
Fast forward 4 hours. Preheat my cast iron pan on the range at the highest flame. Once the pan starts to smoke, throw in some avocado oil and butter. Remove the tri-tip from the bag and place in the hot pan. Flip after about a minute to sear the other side. Take it out of the pan and it is ready to eat! (No need to rest the meat using this method).
Here are some pictures of both the sous vide in and out of action as well as some of the results.
For $100 you too can cook a steak that will rival your favorite steak house!
Sent from my LG-M322 using Tapatalk
If you like meat, poultry, fish or veggies, this is a MUST have! I first found out about the amazingness that is sous vide (French for under vacuum) in a car forum of all places. People were posting pics of these fine cuts of meat that were cooked to absolute perfection. I needed to know more.
I did a little research and found that these devices have been used for quite some time in restaurants and catering, but only available to the public (at an affordable price) for a few years.
The basic principle is that you vacuum seal or use the water immersion technique to remove all air from a plastic bag containing whatever you are cooking. Then cook the meat to a pre determined temperature in a water bath. My soon to be sister in law refers to it as "boiling the meat" but that couldn't be further from the truth.
The precision cooker turns any vessel (plastic tub, stock pot etc.) Into basically a tempurature adjustable hot tub. It looks like a hand blender, but clips onto the side of the aforementioned vessel filled with water. It then both heats and circulates water to whatever tempurature you set it to. Once pre heated, you place the vacuum sealed meats right in the water bath and just let it do it's thing.
After a period of time (completely depends on the cut/thickness and What type of meat you are cooking) usually 1 hour per inch of thickness for beef, you remove the meat.
Preheat a skillet/grill pan/ your grill to as hot as it gets. Use a little oil (preferably something with a high smoke point) or butter(because butter). Take the cut of meat out and give it a nice sear ( 1 minute per side usually does the trick) and voila, perfect protein!
There are several reasons this method is superior to other methods of cooking, and I will touch on a few of them.
1) Never overcook your meat, if you want medium rare, it will be medium rare whether it is in there for an hour, or four hours.
2) you can cook things like pork and chicken to a much lower temperature (leaving them MUCH juicier and more tender)safely due to the fact that killing bacteria is done with both temperature AND time. The bacteria in chicken is killed instantly at 165°F. However, the same bacteria is killed at 150° over the course of an hour. Pork can be safely cooked at 135-140° making for the juiciest effing pork loin you have ever had.
3) all juices and marinades still in the bag are safe to consume or use to make a pan sauce. And since the meats have been in their juices the whole time, they retain their moistness and tenderness.
4) uniform cooking. This means that the end cuts of a big piece of meat are just as rare as the very middle.
Here is an example. I want a medium rare tri-tip about 2 1/2" thick cooked to a medium rare temp of 137°. Just set the sous vide to 137° and wait for it to heat the water up. While waiting I vacuum seal my tri-tip with its seasoning and marinade. Once the water bath hits 137° plop it in the water and clip the bag to the side of the container. Now this will be done after 2 1/2 hours, but if you let it go longer it breaks down more of the meat making It crazy tender. I usually shoot for about 4 hours, but you can safely go to 6-7 before it starts breaking down too much.
Fast forward 4 hours. Preheat my cast iron pan on the range at the highest flame. Once the pan starts to smoke, throw in some avocado oil and butter. Remove the tri-tip from the bag and place in the hot pan. Flip after about a minute to sear the other side. Take it out of the pan and it is ready to eat! (No need to rest the meat using this method).
Here are some pictures of both the sous vide in and out of action as well as some of the results.
For $100 you too can cook a steak that will rival your favorite steak house!
Sent from my LG-M322 using Tapatalk
