Sous Vide cooking

Nothing beats sous vide for ease and perfection. There are many recipes for every type of protein you can imagine. I prefer the app from Brevelle as it is easy to find good time/temperature recommendations.

Start Here - package the meat

Make sure your meat is in a sous vide appropriate package. Some use Ziplock bags but it is better to have dedicated sous vide bags. Take a look at the links below for ideas. The food goes into the water but water does not touch the food.

grass fed ribeye
Anova Mini Sous Vide
Plate technique

Next place the device and meat into pot and fill with water

Make sure the pot is big and deep enough to hold the meat, but not so huge that it will take forever to heat up. You can also use a dedicated sous vide container, links below. Fill your pot with water, plug in the sous vide device and let it boot up. I will typically place a plate over the meat to keep it fully submerged. Plate was removed for the photo.

Fire it up

Now launch the appropriate app, if using a unit controlled by one like Anova or Joule. Set the temperature and time per whatever meat and level of done you desire. Hit start and that’s it! Some units will even do all the timing for you after water has heated, others want you to add meat and start timer after heated.

Example recipes from some common meats

Some of my favorites:

  • Chuck steak, fresh or frozen, Medium, 136 deg (57 ºC) for 24hrs
  • Beef Ribeye 1.5 inch, frozen, medium, 140 deg (60 ºC) for 2 hrs
  • Beef NY Strip 1.5 inch, frozen, med-rare, 131 deg (55 ºC) for 2 hrs
  • Beef Tri Tip Roast, fresh or frozen, medium, 140 (60 ºC) for 20 hrs
  • Bison Ribeye, 1 inch, frozen, medium, 133 (56 ºC) for 1.5 hrs
  • Wildcaught Salmon, 1 inch, frozen, flaky, 122 (50 ºC) for 70 minutes
  • Turkey Breast, fresh or frozen, ultimate moist, 131 (55 ºC) for 24 hrs
  • Turkey Leg, frozen, fall of bone, 158 deg (70 ºC) for 24 hrs
Joule Sous Vide
Joule Sous Vide
Dry Brine

The Dry Brine

When finished cooking, take out of the bag, dump the liquid (except for some types that can use it for a sauce) and place on a wire rack inside a baking sheet.

I use salt and black pepper for almost everything. All meat benefits from the dry brine as the salt is pulled in retaining moisture. I typically brine meats after sous vide to control the saltiness except for turkey breast. Turkey breast flavor improves with adding some salt with the cooking.

Maintenance

Most devices have a cap on the bottom that twists off to clean the propeller. Depending on the water hardness a descale treatment might be needed. The only other issue is to keep the apps up to date and remember to sign the device in again if your WiFi ever changes if you have a WiFi device.

ChefSteps suggests adding a teaspoon of white vinegar per quart of cooking water. There are machine specific videos on YouTube as well.

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