I went full multi-tasking in my sous vide cooker today. I set the temperature to 127f and made two things for dinner today and one for tomorrow.
I started goose (for tomorrow) and flank steak (for this evening). When dinner time was finally approaching I added some shrimp into the cooker.
Goose Breast: 1.5 days
Flank Steak: 6~7 hours
Shrimp: 15 minutes
Trying to make the fullest use of the time and heat energy.
Found this great article which delved into chicken thighs. (I went with about 90 minutes but the maximum is four hours.)
I went ahead with 150f and then grilled them over open flames from an ash fire. Very quickly, of course. Just wanting to render the fat, burn some of it off, and put a bit of a char on the outside (hence a hot fire licking flames).
Miraculous.
Easy to prepare ahead of time.
I pulled some of these out of the refrigerator the next day, put them in the sous vide cooker at 99f for maybe an hour to warm them up again and cooked them in the same fashion over another ash fire.
I can store them in the freezer as well which means I can prepare many chicken thighs in this manner and distribute them into the freezer for future use. Also if I had a large barbecue I could prepare a heaping plate of what are essentially cooked chicken thighs for quick charring on-demand.
I sous vided some hot Italian sausages last night, three of them in a bag with a bit of balsamic vinegar. About an hour and a half at 140f.
Tonight I grilled them very quickly over an ash wood fire (less than a minute on four rotations, just enough to char them a bit). I didn’t worry about getting them warm; I just let them rise toward room temperature from the refrigerator and let the quick heat of the grill finish warming them.
About as good as one could hope for. I might try 150 for comparison. I don’t think I’d cook them any longer than an hour and a half though. I’d guess the minimum is 45 minutes. I’m guessing I would not go less than an hour.
Hungry. Food good.
I saw an add on a cooking site for three ingredient pasta. It was Pecorino, water, olive oil, pepper, and spaghetti. I realize that’s more than three ingredients, but I didn’t create the ad.
Anyway, I make a quick sauce of some smoked blue cheese I had, some pork-jello (left from cooking pork loin via sous vide), and some pepper. I also added some crushed dried mushrooms as my sauce was a bit thin, and… well, mushrooms!
Put that over spaghetti.
Delicious.
Monday:
Wednesday:
Friday:
Saturday:
I actually took one of the thirds and placed it immediately in the cooker on Monday so that on Wednesday I could gauge how two days was going to work. Everything looks good as of Wednesday. Into the water go the other two thirds.
Turned out better than expected. Many compliments from the guests.
I am now the proud owner of a 15″ cast iron skillet. Redefining mammoth…
(It does have a helper handle.)
Place chuck roast in bag with worchestershire, balsalmic, and garlic. Sous vide 24 hours @ 127f.
Get your cast iron hot. Sear roast with salt, pepper, and cayanne, both sides. Flambé with Scotch (I used 12 year Cragganmore speyside single malt), both sides.
Remove beef and pour juices into pan. Reduce thoroughly. Place beef back in pan to coat. Remove to plate and separate any remaining reduction from any remaining fat; pour reduction over beef.
Sous vide cook the tenderloin at 127f for 4 hours.
Prepare 1 pint of heavy cream by adding 1 teaspoon of vanilla and maybe 1/3 cup of maple syrup. Mix that up (shake) and stick it in the fridge.
Prepare peaches (I used frozen wedges, thawed) by macerating them in limoncello, a dollop of molasses, some apple cider vinegar, and a pinch of salt.
When the pork has reached time, remove the tenderloin and let it drip dry. Get your soldering torch ready. Dust the tenderloin in salt, white pepper, and cayenne and pour a bit of maple syrup over it (not too much). Torch to desired torchiness. Turn it over and do it again.
When the pork is ready, sautee the peaches in a bit of butter and the brine. Reduce and add Jack Daniel’s. Flambee (wee!). Pour in some of the prepared cream. Reduce again.
Slice a portion of the pork and add the peach concoction. (I laid the tenderloin over a bed of the peaches and sauce.)
I also served this with russet potatoes pan fried with salt, black pepper, cayenne, rosemary, and olive oil.
With any luck I’ll add some pictures one day.
This unmanipulated (if cropped) photograph [2013] was shot 10 July in my backyard.
One day at 127 and less than a minute on the grill all four turns.
Our village is near the castle of the gorgeous Princess Ballerina. This explains the lack of photographic evidence.
The Princess and I had some impromptu tacos this evening (Tonight’s the Night). Not my idea mind you. My brain needs a kickstart after work. Don’t talk to me until I’ve had my third cup of water.
Mahi we had thawed the night before (Ah, the Night Before).
I built a fire in the chimenea and cleaned off the grill, hoping to build a better world. I was careful with the grill brush so as to avoid emergency surgery.
You ever see those pump things with olive oil?
Yeah, we have one. Pump pump. Squirt squirt.
Rub on the rub (or in my case pat and smooth into place).
The interesting bit was the method of cooking. So the chimenea might have a chimney opening say eight inches across. My grill is maybe 24 inches across. I counterweighted the grill and hung enough off the one edge to afford me the room where I might place two medium sized pieces of Mahi, hanging over open air. Then I placed an inverted stainless steel bowl half over the throat and covering the resting fish.
The heat (the flames!) arched over the fish and cooked the top first. I was able to look down upon the progress of the browning.
(Thank you, random Web photographer.)
I was concerned the fish might come out dry. That was concerned wasted. As moist as you could possibly covet.
This was one among the taco components. An avocado salad and a bit of iceberg salad and a smattering of pepper jack. Impromptu, remember? We worked with what we had.
In our near perfect fairyland one half eat whole wheat tortillas while the other half eat the tasty kind.
I have been disparaged by lesser organisms in the past for my smoking habits. I have learned that cigars and nurseries don’t mix. I apologize.
However, in my cornucopia I have a host of aromatics at my disposal.
I put together a nice hot bed of coals. Then in went the eucalyptus (wood) and then the spearmint (uprooted from my garden). Fire and smoke, fellahs (“plowmen dig my earth”). Hallelujah.
Anyway. Good. Very happy eaters. There was even just a hint of mint when I put the first piece of fish to my mouth. Probably on my hands but it’s suggestive.