So I am still fairly new to sous vide cooking (this being my 5th cook ever) and I was doing my 2nd long term cook. A 24 hour cook for a shoulder roast. I woke up this morning to the water low enough that the error display, though it kept the temperature and the meat was still in the water, thank goodness.

However, I am confused. This is the first time that I have ever actually covered my pot for sous vide. My previous 4 cooks, I didn't realize I had to, but nothing ever evaporated. This time, the one time I cover it with foil, it leaks nearly half the pot.

Does time of year play a factor? The weather is getting warmer and more humid hear, would that make the water evaporate faster than in winter or fall (when I started sous vide)?

I’m new to this page and I see that people use the Ice Bath after the bath. I’m curious why that helps.

I'm not a cook. By any definition of the word, I'm not a cook so I don't know the science behind what's going on here.

A month ago I bought a sous vide contraption (Inkbird?) to help me cook chicken and it was great. Now I've added steak and it's really good.

Once it's done in the water I open the bag and slide the grub into the pan to sear.

I've been reading many posts on here and many people say to wipe it down before sear.

Why? Is it just to dry it off to sear better or does the sous vide method result in a film that I can't see?

I can't find anywhere instructions on cooking time, or comparison with beef, deer or pork.

What would be the best references since nothing is published on horse meat?

Thanks

Not in lieu of water! Imagine, “I don’t use a bag, I just fill that container up with A1 and drop the steaks straight in” 🤣

Whenever doing beef (steaks, tri-tip, rib roasts, etc.) I always add salt, knife-smushed garlic, thyme sprigs, bacon fat (my own or store-bought BaconUp), and A1 sauce.

I started adding the A1 because my wife likes it on the side with steak but hasn’t dipped in it since she got us our Anova. I add some to the bag, and it always turns out delicious and buttery.

Does the vinegar in A1 help or hurt us in our search for the most deliciously-prepared meat? Am I making a mistake or did I just make everyone’s lives a little more delicious? Anyone have any chemistry evidence regarding whether it’s a good or bad move?

Cheers!

I’m having such a hard time finding a 6qt sous vide container with a lid. Anyone have suggestions?

I've been making bacon at home, and the usual last step is to put the bacon on the smoker until it's 150°F. This, as you can imagine, cooks the bacon. The flavor is fine, but it always ends up a bit more like ham.

I have a few pounds of pork belly in the fridge curing right now and I'm thinking of swapping the smoker for sous vide. I'm going to wash off the cure and re-vacuum seal with some liquid smoke, then SV at 131°F for some amount of time. 8 hours maybe.

Then chill, slice, and cook as you would any other kind of bacon.

Anybody try this yet?

From googling around, it appears that people like to sous vide carrots at 185 for an hour, and they like to put butter and salt in the bag.

Everything I read says that putting butter in the bag with meat is not helpful (you end up with flavorful butter instead of flavorful meat), but are carrots different? Should I just use salt and spices instead? Then maybe afterwards I can put oil or butter on them.

Next issue: my friend likes her vegetables nicely browned, bordering on burnt. Do you recommend searing the carrots in a cast iron pan after? Or broiling? Should I chill them first?

Thanks for any tips.

After getting inspiration from some of your posts, I have decided to make steaks with pork shoulder. Thinking of doing 145F for 24 hours.

Do you pre-slice into steaks before sous vide, or cook the whole shoulder and slice after?

Dead serious! I have some old baseball cards that are "bricked" together. Common suggested possible remedies are steaming them, or throwing them in the freezer.

Any reason why sous vide wouldn't work? Am I missing something obvious?

Also I'll definitely add butter and finish them on a cold cast iron pan.

UPDATE: Tossed some in with my ribeye. Let's see how 127 for an hour goes 🤷🏻‍♂️

UPDATE #2: After two hours I pulled them. Made absolutely zero difference. Wamp wamp

Seems like the circulator/heating element is cheap but I'm wondering what everyone does for bags. $200 on a vac sealer and a circulator isn't a big deal but last time I checked it seems the bags were kinda pricey?

134° for 2 hours from frozen. Dried with paper towels after sous vide and applied salt and pepper. Finished in pan with ghee and butter.

I'm smoking 2 spatchcocked chickens and plan to finish smoking after they get enough smoke flavor on them. I want to then freeze the chickens then put in bags to sous vide later. What temperature should I finish smoking at? Or should I just smoke it for some number of minutes?

Also I'm worried about the rib bones poking holes in the bags. Should I put something in the bags with them to prevent that? Not sure what to use

The plan is to SPG these ribeyes and vacuum seal them. Then into the bath at 129 for 2 hours. Take them out, pat dry, and then into a hot cast iron as usual. Let me know if y’all have some tips for a first timer

I’ve had great success following Kenji’s 36 hour @ 145° technique with a dry rub. I would like to change things up and use a recipe which is six hour bath at 167°.

Will the marinade suffer from the extended cooking time? My gut says if the marinade can hold up for 6 hours why not add another thirty? I guess I’m worried the marinade will somehow separate if that makes sense. Thoughts?

Here’s the recipe I want to adapt: https://recipes.anovaculinary.com/recipe/sous-vide-siu-style-chinese-baby-back-ribs

Got my hands on a 20 lb full packer brisket. I normally just smoke these but I figured I'd experiment with a combination of smoking and sous vide.

I read lots of recipes general consensus seems to be 155° for 36 hours and either smoke it before or after the sous vide to get the crust.

I guess my question is given the sheer size of this thing what do I need to change in that plan? Is 36 hours enough? Should I go lower temp or higher?

Normally my butchers get me good ribeyes with fat that melts and softens from simple pan frying, but the last batch I got were awful.

The muscle meat was great tasting, but the fat was like chewing gum that never softened.
I guess this is collagen in the fat tissue.

What temperature and time do you recommend to make this palatable?
Sorry if this is a noob question, but I am a rank novice at sousvide, and will end up crying if I fuck up another 20$ steak.

Shish tawook is a middle eastern chicken recipe typically done on the grill. It uses cubed chicken breast marinated in yogurt and spices. Well prepared shish tawook will be juicy and flavorful, but with chicken breast it unfortunately ends up drying out. I’m thinking about sous viding whole chicken breast to 145 for a couple hours, ice bath, cube the chicken, marinate it in the spices, then brown on the hot side of the grill, then move it to the warm side to get some smoke on it.

Do you see any issues with method? Is it necessary to use the yogurt?