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For my final project I built a sous-vide immersion cooker

fab.cba.mit.edu

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Re: For my final project I built a sous-vide immersion cooker

#131

Post by pflanze »

alkonaut wrote: post #26
budgi3 wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is what is holding me back on getting into sous vide. Any non plastic alternatives?

I fully expect plastics labelled with e.g "up to 90 degrees C" to not release anything unwanted into my food if I stay well below that temp. I'd also expect the label to have a wide margin to dangerous temperatures. In theory you can use anything that handles the temperature, such as silicone. You could in theory force your food into a jar with a bit of oil.

You might be making matters worse with a jar: those with screw-on lids have a plastic lining in the lid that's traditionally PVC with plasticizers which are considered to be bad for health. To make matters worse, oil will support the migration of the plasticizers out of the plastic.

Re: For my final project I built a sous-vide immersion cooker

#132

Post by jnellis »

arbesfeld wrote: post #59
NoNotTheDuo wrote: post #5

I'd be curious to know how much the temperature fluctuates and what the average temperature is, plotted against the target. A simple on/of setup like this is much less complicated than a PID setup, but in my experience, the PID code would allow for a much more accurate temperature to be maintained.

In larger baths of water (I am using a half-filled 4.75 gallon container), the temperature only fluctuates ~0.25C from the setpoint, as measured by the sensor. I think the large quantity of water makes the change in temperature very gradual.

Your sensor says it's error is 0.5C. How was calibration done?

Re: For my final project I built a sous-vide immersion cooker

#133

Post by Loic »

For the readers, this is not a "sous-vide" cooker, only a temperature controlled immersion cooker. "Sous-vide" means "in vacuum" and usually you combine low temperature controlled long time cooking with low pressure.

A book from Thomas Keller about sous vide cooking: http://www.amazon.com/Under-Pressure-Cooking-Sous-Vide/dp/15...

Re: For my final project I built a sous-vide immersion cooker

#134

Post by nichtich »

ha292 wrote: post #125
stephen_g wrote: post #106

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can safely microwave food in certain types of plastic - sous-vide cooking is far lower temperature. But the initial premise is unfounded. Some of the most toxic chemicals occur naturally.

I am not worried about natural toxins. Most of what I select to eat is likely free of them. What I am worried about is that there doesn't seem to be any evidence of non-transfer of chemicals even at lower temperatures. I see claims but no clear evidence. Even if the transfer rates are low the chemicals "dose" can accumulate over repeated use.

You have to realize even if your "natural" food is free of toxins, the traditional cooking methods are likely to produce them, especially in grilling, frying and baking. And the worse part is the chemistry there is complex and may differ depend on source material and actual cooking method. On the other hand, the plastics are simpler and easier to analysis of possible transfers(or changes) in given temperatures. For the types approved for microwave uses there are more research done than say the interaction between beef and your pan. So I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Re: For my final project I built a sous-vide immersion cooker

#135

Post by jedrek »

arbesfeld wrote: post #83
jedrek wrote: post #80

Shouldn't water be flowing in a good sous vide cooker to maintain even temperature throughout or am I talking out my butt?

Yes, that is correct. I used an aquarium circulation pump for this ( http://fab.cba.mit.edu/classes/863.14/people/matthew_arbesfe... ). They go for about 10 bucks on Amazon.

Ah, I skimmed the article but didn't notice that. Thanks for your reply :)

Re: For my final project I built a sous-vide immersion cooker

#136

Post by ValentineC »

SoftwareMaven wrote: post #130
ValentineC wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> In general, once I learned the reality of salt (eg there is no reason to limit consumption)… This caught my attention because I may have mild hypertension and am starting to be more conscious of my diet. Would you happen to have a source that I could start from?

This[1] is a good place for high level, but it won't help you individually. Sodium only has the ability to impact blood pressure by 2-3mmHg diastolic and 5mmHg systolic, so limiting its of very little value for most[2]. My own personal experience reducing my creeping blood pressure came not from curing salt but from curing carbs. When carbs are reduced, the kidneys begin functioning better, reducing fluid in the bloo…

That's a great start. I've been reducing my carb intake as well, but I probably need to throw a bit of cardiovascular exercise into the mix before I can see results.

Thanks!

Re: For my final project I built a sous-vide immersion cooker

#137

Post by scott_karana »

joshu wrote: post #95
scott_karana wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Sealing in the juices" is definitely false, but a hot sear to cause the Maillaird protein reaction is important if you want to have the distinctive "traditional" steak taste.

The more important question for sous vide: Sear before or after vacuuming? Or both?

Dave Arnold tested this, and preferred searing before and after cooking. :)

http://www.cookingissues.com/primers/sous-vide/purdy-picture...

Re: For my final project I built a sous-vide immersion cooker

#138

Post by maratd »

ha292 wrote: post #123
maratd wrote: post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Most of the time the food came in that very plastic. I mostly sous-vide meat that came frozen and is already vacuum sealed. One less step. You're generally heating it to 140 F or so. I don't know if that's sufficient to trigger leaching of some sort, but the plastic isn't deformed in any way and there's no aftertaste. Any experts care to weigh in?

Is there any scientific evidence for this statement on no harmful chemical transfer below 140F. Also, just because the food came in the very bag you're cooking it in doesn't mean it is safer.

> Is there any scientific evidence for this statement on no harmful chemical transfer below 140F.

I didn't make that statement. I simply stated that was my practice. If you have evidence that it is harmful, I would certainly like to know.

> Also, just because the food came in the very bag you're cooking it in doesn't mean it is safer.

Absolutely. There is no evidence that it doesn't leach at room temperature. Should we stop buying all food packaged in plastics? That's a tall order. Many vegetables come in plastics now and those that don't, you'll likely put in a plastic bag either in the grocery store or as you're leaving it.

Do you have evidence that any of this is harmful? Genuinely want to know.

Re: For my final project I built a sous-vide immersion cooker

#139

Post by mikecb »

pfooti wrote: post #114
mikecb wrote: post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you know if they've released the android app yet? You can use it without (has a little wheel to set temp), but the monitoring and timing obviously don't work.

There is an android app on the google play marketplace, but it is not from the anova folks and it costs $2. I haven't purchased it, because I already have my own list of "if you're cooking foo, set the temperature to bar" commands in my (analog) recipe notebook. Everything else about the newer anova is great. I have both a new-style and old-style (anova one) from them, and they're both cool. Now that I have the newer…

Yeah, I'm really enjoying it as well. Have made some amazing eggs so far.

Re: For my final project I built a sous-vide immersion cooker

#140

Post by shalmanese »

mikecb wrote: post #75
_pius wrote: post #73

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I own the Sansaire, but right now I'd recommend the new Anova one that comes with an app and is well-reviewed by Serious Eats. http://anovaculinary.com/products/anova-precision-cooker http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/05/new-anova-precision-cooke...

Do you know if they've released the android app yet? You can use it without (has a little wheel to set temp), but the monitoring and timing obviously don't work.

The app isn't out yet but the Bluetooth API is fairly simple: https://github.com/neilpa/circulate and I ended up hacking together a very basic app in node.js in about 3 hours.
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