The Sous VIde Thread

[MSchapiro]

Brines aren't acidic unless you add vinegar. If you add vinegar to get to ~2.5pH, it will alter the taste.

I do tend to add vinegar to mine.

Is 2.5 pH the necessary pH?

I do appreciate the comments, can't say I'm an accomplished chef.

As a second question: is there any issue with me preparing a steak sous vide overnight? My work schedule requires that my food be ready when I wake up so I can quickly box it and take it to work, which would mean a ~8 hour cook time.

 

[itsstillmatt]

You would be better off making stuff like shortribs or chuck and just planning in advance. A nice steak will get mushy with that much time.

 

[sonlegoman]

What are the best fishes people have tried? I've tried cod and the prerequisite salmon so far. The salmon was good but the cod was cod awful. Or maybe I did it wrong. What else is good sous vide in terms of seafoods?

 

[MSchapiro]

You would be better off making stuff like shortribs or chuck and just planning in advance. A nice steak will get mushy with that much time.

I actually tried it a handful of times using frozen eye round with good results. I found the texture depends mostly on the amount of salt I put in. Too much gets mushy and too little the steak reminds surprisingly tough.

I'm worried from a more food safety perspective. I had read somewhere that it is possible to develop bacteria without the presence of oxygen.

 

[Bounder]



As a second question: is there any issue with me preparing a steak sous vide overnight? My work schedule requires that my food be ready when I wake up so I can quickly box it and take it to work, which would mean a ~8 hour cook time.

Timer + frozen steak?

 

[saint]

Anaerobic bacteria can be nasty buggers, also Botulin toxin is produced in anaerobic conditions by a fairly common bacteria.

 

[Piobaire]

Way too many worries over bugs growing.

 

[saint]

I agree, we haven't had any problems yet. Just responding to the statement about bacteria growing in the absence of oxygen.

 

[MSchapiro]

Anaerobic bacteria can be nasty buggers, also Botulin toxin is produced in anaerobic conditions by a fairly common bacteria.

Right, that is what I have read. I am just wondering if it is actually something I should worry about or if what I am doing is safe.

 

[Piobaire]



Right, that is what I have read. I am just wondering if it is actually something I should worry about or if what I am doing is safe.

Think about all the thousands of meals cooked via sous vide every day across the US. Keep in mind the penetration of this technique in commercial kitchens is pretty high these days and now all the home cooks using them. When's the last time you heard of a sous vide prepared meal causing botulism? There's your answer of how much you should worry about this.

 

[saint]

It's like raw eggs, between Caesar salads, steak tartar, protein nogs etc I've probably eaten hundreds of raw eggs and never gotten sick from doing so, but to listen to the food nannies you'd think eating raw eggs is the equivalent of eating plutonium.

 

[MSchapiro]

Thanks guys .

Even if logic says I shouldn't worry, I'd rather check with other than be the idiot who poisoned himself. Considering the recommendations for 72 hours for some cuts I figured it wasn't a major issue.

 

[Bounder]



It's like raw eggs, between Caesar salads, steak tartar, protein nogs etc I've probably eaten hundreds of raw eggs and never gotten sick from doing so, but to listen to the food nannies you'd think eating raw eggs is the equivalent of eating plutonium.

I agree. The food supply system is absurdly safe in this country. For example, trichinosis, which used to be a real problem, is almost completely wiped out in the U.S.. IIRC, there are maybe 20 cases a year in the entire country.

Having said that, contamination does happen, especially e.coli and, to a lesser extent, salmonella. You hear about e. coli "outbreaks" as big news but exposure is actually pretty common. Most people will get little more than an upset stomach. There are probably hundreds of thousands if not millions of cases a year in the U.S. though only the ones where people end up in the hospital get reported. It's around, it's very common, and unless you get a big dose of it or are somehow immune compromised, it's usually no big deal.

What squicks me out about sous viding (is that a word?) things like hamburger is that if you do sous vide wrong, you're not cooking the food so much as turning it into a petri dish. I think you can get away with a lot of sous vide cooking exactly because the food supply system in the U.S. and Canada is so safe. I would be pretty dubious about sous vide in, say, China and and thing like raw eggs and steak tartare are right out.

 

[saint]

The logic of cooking a hamburger sous vide escapes me, its an unnecessary and dubious step. I suppose people do it because they can, kind of like a dog licking its junk.

 

[Piobaire]



I agree. The food supply system is absurdly safe in this country. For example, trichinosis, which used to be a real problem, is almost completely wiped out in the U.S.. IIRC, there are maybe 20 cases a year in the entire country.

Having said that, contamination does happen, especially e.coli and, to a lesser extent, salmonella. You hear about e. coli "outbreaks" as big news but exposure is actually pretty common. Most people will get little more than an upset stomach. There are probably hundreds of thousands if not millions of cases a year in the U.S. though only the ones where people end up in the hospital get reported. It's around, it's very common, and unless you get a big dose of it or are somehow immune compromised, it's usually no big deal.

What squicks me out about sous viding (is that a word?) things like hamburger is that if you do sous vide wrong, you're not cooking the food so much as turning it into a petri dish. I think you can get away with a lot of sous vide cooking exactly because the food supply system in the U.S. and Canada is so safe. I would be pretty dubious about sous vide in, say, China and and thing like raw eggs and steak tartare are right out.

Most E coli does not even cause a problem, and the ones that do, tend to be a big problem vs. an upset stomach such as the one I specifically mentioned above that excretes the Shiga toxin. Also, what makes that E coli so dangerous, is that unlike many bugs, the dose required for illness is actually quite small, i.e. it is what's called "highly virulent." I'm talking .1% of the dose required for illness vs. what most pathogenic bugs require.

I'm no expert in this stuff, and my various epi and infectious epi courses were many years ago, but there's some serious Netwebs Wizdumb going on over food borne pathogens.