This is a nice project but this common misconception is false:
> Searing the food after sous-vide seals in the juices
http://www.foodnetwork.com/videos/to-sear-or-not-to-sear-985...
For my final project I built a sous-vide immersion cooker
11–20 of 140 posts
Re: For my final project I built a sous-vide immersion cooker
#12I'm curious on some numbers on how this performs compared to the commercial units the expensive food industry models and the new kick starter wave.
Something like this could be really neat since it is versatile and you could use it to heat/cool other things. Thinking about food the first time to mind would be temperature control for charcuterie and cheeses.
Re: For my final project I built a sous-vide immersion cooker
#13This is a nice project but this common misconception is false: > Searing the food after sous-vide seals in the juices http://www.foodnetwork.com/videos/to-sear-or-not-to-sear-985...
You definitely want to sear though, both before and after (Kenji Alt is wrong about this). For flavor.
Re: For my final project I built a sous-vide immersion cooker
#14Not directly related to the tech, but "sealing in the juices" with a sear is broscience. [1] http://www.seriouseats.com/2009/12/the-food-lab-how-to-cook-...
From the same page a cheap sous-vide hack: http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/04/cook-your-meat-in-a-beer-...
That's good for a 1-hour steak, but I wouldn't do eggs this way (needs more precise temp) or a 72-hour short rib braise (needs stable heat for longer).
Re: For my final project I built a sous-vide immersion cooker
#15Looks great. I guess this would be a great time to think of maybe trying your luck with Kickstarter (that is if you are interested in continuing working with such hardware). Either way a nice write up for a cool little project !
His BOM is just ~$60 off Sansaire's retail price, which is an integrated circulator with performance near Polyscience's. This is a bad idea for a Kickstarter: there is already an open price war between commercial-quality circulators. They'll be under $100 within the next couple years (it's just not that expensive to produce them.)
Re: For my final project I built a sous-vide immersion cooker
#16food + heat + plastics doesn't sound very appealing...
This is what is holding me back on getting into sous vide. Any non plastic alternatives?
Re: For my final project I built a sous-vide immersion cooker
#17This is a nice project but this common misconception is false: > Searing the food after sous-vide seals in the juices http://www.foodnetwork.com/videos/to-sear-or-not-to-sear-985...
It may not be about sealing in the juices, but a sous-vide steak out of the bag is a very unappealing grey color. And the Maillard reaction is necessary for proper taste. You need to do something to it, be it throw it on a hot pan for a minute a side or use a Searzall.
Re: For my final project I built a sous-vide immersion cooker
#18I've never understood the need for a complicated sous-vide setup. I've found that water at 80 degrees Celsius in a heavy pot with the lid on will remain sufficiently hot for 30-45 minutes. If not, you can always swap the water halfway through.
That works fine for short cooks and for the most forgiving proteins, but it does not work well for long cooks, braise cuts, vegetables, or high-temp proteins (like confit). It's also much less convenient; you can bag proteins and dunk them in the circulator in the morning and sear them when you get home from work.
Re: For my final project I built a sous-vide immersion cooker
#19I'm curious on some numbers on how this performs compared to the commercial units the expensive food industry models and the new kick starter wave. Something like this could be really neat since it is versatile and you could use it to heat/cool other things. Thinking about food the first time to mind would be temperature control for charcuterie and cheeses.
People already do stuff like this with PID-controlled temp and humidity, both for curing meat and for barbecue. Auber Instruments makes controllers designed for it, and they're pretty cheap.
Re: For my final project I built a sous-vide immersion cooker
#20food + heat + plastics doesn't sound very appealing...
The point of this mode of cooking is that it's low temp, below the temperatures at which plastics in high-quality freezer bags become an issue (Ziploc confirmed this to Dave Arnold earlier this year).