Stove-top Sous Vide

[JhwkMac]

Originally Posted by jhwkmac

i will pre-render the skin

Originally Posted by iammatt

render first, because you don't overcook that way

I believe if you re-read my post you will see we were saying the same thing. nowhere did i say to render after the cooking.

 

[itsstillmatt]

Originally Posted by KJT

Yeah, makes sense. I didn't put too much thought into this and was purely following directions in my first attempt. The recipe said to cook the fat side for 6 minutes and the meat side for 1. After 6 minutes the skin wasn't as crisp as I wanted it, so I cooked for 1 minute longer. I cooked in the water for almost 2 hours at 135F. Thanks for the advice. Edit: actually Matt do you have any recs for sous vide information? Is this going to be too much for the amateur dabbler? Under Pressure?
So, I'm not trying to be a jerk, but I think it is a terrible book if you are looking to learn how to use sous vide. It may be great for making his recipes, and it is beautiful, but it doesn't really teach you anything. This is probably the best resource available now: http://www.douglasbaldwin.com/sous-vide.html Otherwise, Modernist Cuisine promises to be good. In reality it is quite simple as far as techniques go.

 

[itsstillmatt]

Originally Posted by JhwkMac

I believe if you re-read my post you will see we were saying the same thing. nowhere did i say to render after the cooking.
Gotcha. I read that you only do it that way if doing a lot, and otherwise render after. Whoops.

 

[JhwkMac]

No worries. Another really interesting way to cook poultry is used by a parisian chef Alain Passard. He cooks entire chickens in cast iron pans by slowly rendering in very low heat, turning slightly and browning them everywhere and does this entirely in the stove top. the chicken never sees the oven. It takes around 40minutes to 1 hour 20 minutes or so depending on the size of your bird. It's almost like an 'old school' sous vide to me because by slowly heating only one side of the chicken the rest is kept at a very low temperature during the entire extended cooking time. He then takes the chicken off the pot, rubs cold butter all over the skin and showers it with fleur de sel and pepper. The result is really fantastic. I've adapted this to cooking duck breasts as well. Traditionally I would render the skin and then slide the pan in the oven to cook a duck breast. Now I slowly render the skin and once the skin is completely rendered i just turn the breast and place it in all kinds of different angles while keeping very low temperature until the outside is completely browned. The temperature of the pan never really gets high enough to overcook the breast, I've never managed to overcook one. I actually prefer this to sous vide as I can more thorough browning all over the breast without worrying about overcooking. One disadvantage, compared to sous vide is there will be that slight grey circle on the very edge of the breast. Not as aesthetically pleasing as a completely pink/reddish breast, but I feel that the gain in flavor is worth it. Let me know how it turns out if you try it.

 

[Nouveau Pauvre]

1) How much should I expect to pay for a duck breast?

2) Whole foods should have this right?

 

[randallr]

Originally Posted by Magician

1) How much should I expect to pay for a duck breast?

2) Whole foods should have this right?

Vegetarian wot?

 

[JhwkMac]

i've bought whole ducks from whole foods, not sure if they have the individual breast. it'd probably vary per location.

I've bought individual breasts before from Dean & Deluca though.

 

[DesertSolitaire]

I buy my individual duck breasts from a company called D'Artagnan. They are Moullard duck, and they are quite large.

 

[JhwkMac]

+1 for d'artagnan, great company. Hudson valley foie gras/farm also puts out great duck products.

 

[KJT]

Originally Posted by iammatt

So, I'm not trying to be a jerk, but I think it is a terrible book if you are looking to learn how to use sous vide. It may be great for making his recipes, and it is beautiful, but it doesn't really teach you anything. This is probably the best resource available now:

http://www.douglasbaldwin.com/sous-vide.html

Otherwise, Modernist Cuisine promises to be good. In reality it is quite simple as far as techniques go.

You're not being a jerk. I just typed in sous-vide in amazon and that's what came up.

Thanks for the link and all the advice. It's great to have some expert advice here.

 

[kwilkinson]

Originally Posted by randallr

Vegetarian wot?

lurk moar newb ***

 

[Nil]

Originally Posted by Magician

1) How much should I expect to pay for a duck breast?

I believe the place I got mine from was $19.99 a pound.

 

[foodguy]

one thing i haven't seen addressed with sous-vide: at different points in the heat slope, different enzymes are activated in the meat. I learned about this researching a recipe for a leg of lamb that cooks in a covered pot at 450 degrees for 7 hours ... the meat comes out almost spooning off the bone. when i talked to meat scientists about it, they mentioned the enzymatic effect. part of what dries out meat protein during cooking is not just the tightening of the protein, but the effect of these enzymes. they theorized that the meat was passing through these enzymatic points too quickly for them to have their full effect. to update to sous-vide ... it's almost the opposite of that technique: what are the enzymatic effects of holding meat at those enzymatic release points for a long time? i usually notice a slight rubbery quality to sous-vided protein, could that be what is going on?
why am i asking this on a men's clothing forum?

 

[KJT]

Originally Posted by foodguy

why am i asking this on a men's clothing forum?

 

[Nouveau Pauvre]

Originally Posted by Nil

I believe the place I got mine from was $19.99 a pound.

Thanks. At the Baltimore harbor whole foods it's 14.99 per 1 lb. I'll probably undertake the project this weekend at my gf's dad's place where the kitchen equipment is a lot nicer then mine. (he's a homebrew beer guy and has a slew of highly accurate thermometers)