Sous Vide Stuff I've Made and Love

accessories.md

Accessories

Things that might help out.

Container

Rubbermaid 12 Quart Food Storage Container

While you can Sous Vide inside a pot, it is a bit nicer to use a bigger container. This one is perfect as it fits into a refrigerator and is the perfect size to brine a whole chicken as well.

Container Lid

Get the Anova, or Joule one depending on which Sous Vide element you own. These are crucial for cooks longer than twenty-four hours where evaporation could become a problem. If your water evaporates entirely you could burn out the Sous Vide heating element.

Food Scale

Some of the desert recipes, especially the Chocolate Pots of Creme, require fairly precise ingredient measurement. Pickup a food scale for this.

Immersion Blender

Immersion / Stick Blender

Not strictly necessary for Sous Vide cooking, but wonderful for sauces and soups where you don't want to pour hot stuff out of a saucepan / pot and put it into a blender without burning yourself. You can find them at Target for ~$20-$35 generally speaking.

Searzall

Searzall

If you want to sear with flame and not a grill or cast iron, you'll need something to spread the heat evenly. Using a kitchen (brulee) torch without something to even the heat out is going to make getting a good crust tricky. This helps with that.

Vacuum Sealer

We first got the much cheaper Foodsaver V2244 and found it annoying to use. Due to some of the extra features, we sprung a bit more for the Foodsaver V4400 and love it. Its ability to marinade things that would normally take a few days or at least overnight in 10-15 minutes was the trick that did it for us. You can get this accessory to vacuum seal wide mouth mason jars. The rolls of bags that come with the Foodsaver are good, but the renewals are overpriced. We really like these rolls and have used them (literally) hundreds of times. We prepare, vacuum seal, and freeze much of the food we eat. These are fantastic.

deserts.md

Deserts

Life is short and you never know when you're going to die. Eat desert first.

Red Wine Poached Pears

Recipe

These are ridiculous, just don't use Bartlette pears, because they're generally too hard. We serve these with 1 scoop of good vanilla and a small mint leaf if we have them in our garden. Put the entire thing into a cocktail glass if you want to be cutesey and the pears are super soft, but it is

Chocolate Pots of Creme

Recipe

These are always a huge hit, but the measurements are really important to get the same consistency every single time. I've probably made these 6-7 times, for science of course! Get a small kitchen scale to ensure the weights are correct. They're not that expensive. Making things like this, you'll want something a bit bigger to sous vide in such as the rubbermaid container.

Level this one up by making your own marshmallow creme from scratch and putting a small dollop ontop of each pot of creme before closing the lid.

Creme Brulee

Recipe

One of my personal favorites as I'm not a huge chocolate person even though the pots of creme are amazing.

entrees.md

Main Course

Steak

Recipe

This is one of the most obvious and easy things to make really nice with Sous Vide. To really shine, you'll have to level up your searing game either with a cast iron (my preferred method) or a brulee torch and a searzall attachment to ensure even heat distribution.

Whatever you do, don't throw out the juice from the bag! It makes for a really lovely gravy. If you use a cast iron to sear, you can deglaze that delicious fond with the juice and perhaps a small bit of broth to make a flavorful gravy to add as a condiment to your steak. You can also put that juice into a bearnaise if you have a bit more time.

Balsalmic Sage Pork Chops

Recipe | Recipe for normal pork chops

Save all of the juice in the bag to make a gravy!

Teriyaki Rice Bowl

Recipe

This one is fun as you cook the chicken and the egg Sous Vide. This was probably our first "wow" meal we made this way. The stovetop pickle recipe they have you make is really good. You can replace daikon with halved radishes and julliened spring onions for a real treat. Radishes are very nice pickled.

Scallops

Scallops are really easy to over or undercook. They require gentle heat. These turn out perfect each time.

• Time:30 minutes fresh, 45 minutes frozen
• Temperature 113 (best), 131 (real firm), or 149 (do you also put ketchup on your well done steaks? You heathen!)

After the cook is done, take them off and dry them with paper towels, being careful to reserve the liquid. I spread a pinch of flour, some salt, and some white pepper on each side and cook them for ~30-60 seconds per side (until you get a good brown crust).

I love to top these with either a bearnaise or a brown butter lemon sauce. I scrape up the crust from the sear with a small bit of the reserved liquid and some broth for the pan sauce.

The Best Damned Salmon

Recipe

We can get a 1/2 salmon from Aldi for about $20, which I turn into skin-on filets and prep this way. The dry brine is very important for the best firmness. I do 1 part sugar to 4 parts salt and cover the the entire salmon, even the skin and place it on a plate uncovered in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes. I tried 45, 60, and 120 minutes as well, but it was just too firm. After the dry brine is done, there will be a gooey coating over the fish which is the sugar breaking down in all of the moisture the salt and sugar pulled out of the fish. This helps it stay together a bit more. Then rinse all of the brine mixture off under gentle cold water.

I find that the salmon is best with a tiny bit of tang, so will grate some lemon or lime zest onto it and spread it lightly but evenly. I'll also use a three finger pinch of salt and a dusting of white pepper to really bring out the flavor. I'll sear this on super high skin side down in a cast iron until the skin is crackling. I don't sear the top as it isn't necessary. Don't reserve the liquid in fish as it just tastes too fishy and takes away from the protein. A small medallion of compound butter also works really nicely over this as you're searing it or if you have a torch.

My family (parents and wife) don't eat non-smoked salmon any other way as a result of how delicious this is.

garnish-or-sides.md

Garnish and Sides

Use these as sides or to level up other meals.

Ricotta Cheese

Recipe

I make this every single time before the wife makes lasagna and her lasagna is next level delicious. The flavor is relatively bland so you'll likely want to add a tad bit of salt to this. If you prefer it smoother you can put it in the food processor and slowly stream in a small bit of olive oil. Herbs mix really nicely in this as well.

This is literally 30 minutes to make. It is a nice trick to pull out every so often.

Mascarpone Cheese

Recipe

Very similar to the Ricotta, but generally used for sweet stuff. You can put some ultrafine sugar in with this if you like and you can smooth it with the food procesor as well if necessary.

Mozarella Cheese

Recipe

Can you tell we like our dairy? This is good on a pizza or in a salad.

Melty Cheese Slices for Any Cheese

Recipe

This one is a bit of work and is a bit of a novelty, but there is something really special on a good burger about a single the consistency of american cheddar that is actually aged gouda.

Melty Cheese Sauce From Any Cheese

Recipe

Nacho cheese made out of Gruyere? Yes please!

Poached or Jelly Eggs

Recipe

If you like runny, jelly, or poached eggs, there isn't an easier way than Sous Vide to do it. So long as you use the same time and temperature, they turn out the exact same consistency each time. You poach them in the shell and they'll last just fine in the refrigerator for a week. I just use a sharpie to put the cook date on them and put them back in the container. They're nice ontop of a salad or rice or really anything.

Egg Bites

Recipe

These always go fast and they're delicious.

Pickled Spring Onions

Recipe

These are really nice cut up as a condiment ontop of realy anything to add some tart or in a salad. I actually like these with something fatty like a porterhouse. Bonus that if you seal them in a mason jar while they're hot and turn them upside down so they properly seal, you won't need to refrigerate them until they're opened.

Cauliflower Mashed "Potatoes"

Recipe

The flavor of this is incredible. You absolutely will need a vacuum sealer to seal a whole head of cauliflower.

Hollandaise Sauce

Recipe

Hollandaise is something many people like differently. Some people like it really lemony, some people like it thinner. Play with this recipe to get it how you like it, but this is a good start.