Do you Sous Vide?

[stevej37]

Picked up a 'garlic and herb' pork tenderloin the other day. 140 degrees and it was in the hot bath for 3 hrs before I returned.
Best pork tenderloin I've ever had. (They didn't have the teriyaki that I wanted)

[mthomas58]

Game changer for pork for sure! No more dry Pork Chops. These are the leftovers for the thick loin chops I did the other day along with glazed carrots. I used the Jaccard to help the brine penetrate.

[mjohnson]

Originally Posted by vash

my wife donated my sous vide unit. i was pissed, but i realized i used it once.

i got over it.

(caveat - I own and adore one of the Anova units, it's been used 2x/week for over 10y)

Really, the old "beer-cooler" process for steaks is just as good for most use cases.

For poultry, unless you're doing something strange like "chicken-nigiri" you're just poaching. If you're just poaching, learn how your oven behaves. That number on the dial barely reflects the actual temperature of a pot of liquid in the oven. The temp is mostly affected by altitude, air circulation and of course your particular unit. I know that if I set my oven at "170F" here at 7200' an uncovered 8qt pot will keep water at about 155F. You can learn your system and get it done.

Pork is my remaining gap in new/old tech. I don't know how to keep some pig part at 130/140F for a day without actually tending a cooler full of tepid water.

And no, I've never done 125F chicken. I understand the pasteurization math, love sashimi and even carpaccio but culturally I can't imagine managing the "raw" feeling poultry. Blargh...

[stevej37]

^^^ A question....
Might grab another pork tenderloin....esp if they have a flavor that I want. (Teriyaki). Why not take advantage of the packaging and dunk the whole thing right in...from store shelf to the bath?

The packaging (at least the ones sold here) is water-tight. When it's cut open from the store there is next to no juices in the package.

[mjohnson]

Originally Posted by stevej37

^^^ A question....
Might grab another pork tenderloin....esp if they have a flavor that I want. (Teriyaki). Why not take advantage of the packaging and dunk the whole thing right in...from store shelf to the bath?

The packaging (at least the ones sold here) is water-tight. When it's cut open from the store there is next to no juices in the package.

I grabbed one of these at the "expiring soon" clearance corner of my local. It was preseasoned with some garlic/herb mix. I figured that for $5 I'd give it a dunk. And our 12yo daughter is suddenly a protein focused animal so it'd be a few school lunches for her.

Straight into the 140F bath for a few hours, then back into the fridge.

This morning when I took it out of its packaging I didn't get much gelatin/juice goop. Maybe two tablespoons. Most of whatever it expressed while cooking must have been reabsorbed.

I dried it off as well as I could and then browned the nearly perfect cylinder of pork on the grill. No other seasonings or sauces at all.

The results? I'm not sure. It was cooked exactly to the point that I wanted and the seasoning wasn't offensive. The texture was perfect and the meat was very moist. It was also far sweeter than I prefer.

TBH it tasted more of ham than of pork. Not bad but I wouldn't serve it as a normal roasted pork loin. It'll be great sliced on sandwiches or in a chefs salad (it's ham afterall)

I'll assume that the meat was packaged with exactly the legal maximum of "juices" allowed - salt and sugar water is cheaper than pig after all. Holding the meat for three hours at 140 basically gave me ham! I wonder how far that is from the industrial process?

tldr: tried it, was not disaster, will not repeat...

[stevej37]

I did a BBQ one last week....from shelf to the bath. It was in for about 3 hours.
It turned out like yours did...except the bbq flavoring that they use is not my idea of bbq taste.

I would not do the bbq again.

My Sous Vide came with a chart and for pork tenderloin they say 1.5 hr min and 6-8 hrs max. at 134F or higher. I used 140 also.
It looks funny in the pic....with no bag.....it sure made it easy to do.

[techman1]

Also tried the just drop it in method. Same thoughts. Ham.
Have 1 more. Will open, dry, season, vacuum seal. The sous vide.

Hopefully a different result.

[flipper35]

We do country style pork ribs from the local butcher at 157* for 48 hours then 30-45 minutes on the smoker.

We have dropped stuff right in the bath in the original package but we make sure any paper stickers are removed. I think a lot depends on the company that makes it. Would never by Smithfield again, regardless of method, but we prefer fresh from the butcher and season ourselves.

Prime rib 6-8 hours at 132 then onto the smoker turns out great every time.

[Gogar]

If you're trying to make good food and not convenient food, those "Value Added" packages are generally a no-no. -Especially- if they are packaged by the local market.

The chicken breasts that were about to hit their date go in the back and get marinated and throw a green pepper in there and call it "fajitas" and get a fresh sticker and a few more days on the shelf.