Posted: 4/18/2011 12:56:08 PM EDT
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Cook Your Meat in a Beer Cooler: The World's Best (and Cheapest) Sous-Vide Hack - link
Posted by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt April 19, 2010 Note: For a quick primer on the basics of sous-vide cooking, read our previous article here By this point, there is absolutely no question that the method of cooking foods at precise low-temperatures in vacuum-sealed pouches (commonly referred to as "sous-vide") has revolutionized fine-dining kitchens around the world. There is not a Michelin-starred chef who would part easily with their Polyscience circulators. But the question of when this technique will trickle down to home users—and it certainly is a question of when, and not if—remains to be answered. The Sous-Vide Supreme, introduced last winter, and of which I am a big fan, is certainly a big step in the right direction. But at $450, for most people, it still remains prohibitively costly. In an effort to help those who'd like to experiment with sous-vide cookery without having to put in the capital, a couple weeks ago I devised a novel solution to the problem: Cook your food in a beer cooler. Here's how it works: A beer cooler is designed to keep things cool. It accomplishes this with a two-walled plastic chamber with an air space in between. This airspace acts as an insulator, preventing thermal energy (a.k.a. heat) from the outside from reaching the cold food on the inside. Of course, insulators work both ways. Once you realize that a beer cooler is just as good at keeping hot things hot as it is at keeping cold things cold, then the rest is easy: Fill up your beer cooler with water just a couple degrees higher than the temperature you'd like to cook your food at (to account for temperature loss when you add cold food to it), seal your food in a plastic Ziplock bag*, drop it in, and close your beer cooler until your food is cooked. It's as simple as that. <More at link> 
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http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?/topic/136275-sous-vide-recipes-techniques-equipment-2011/ various diy setups http://seattlefoodgeek.com/2010/02/diy-sous-vide-heating-immersion-circulator-for-about-75/ http://www.instructables.com/id/Universal-controller-for-sous-vide-cooking/ one of the cheapest ways to do it http://www.instructables.com/id/Steaks-Sous-Vide-Vacuum-cooking-on-the-cheap/ start with the egullet thread. there is an older thread also. they list times and temps, food safety considrations, etc. with this technique, food safety concerns and precautions are a must, else you could get food poisoning or worse. i haven't done anything by this technique yet, but i am looking at building a temperature controller setup.... |
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Cool. Thanks for the links.
I have a johnson controls temp controller and a fish tank heating element. I wonder how well that would work out. The link I posted originally does not use any heating element at all. It just relies on the cooler to maintain the temp over shorter periods of time (1-2 hours max.) |
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Beef seems like a no brainer but what about chicken? How long does it take to get to 160° or whatever?
http://thepauperedchef.com/2009/11/experiments-with-sous-vide-chicken.html 146°, wtf? Glad he seared it afterwards to get the temp up. |
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Beef seems like a no brainer but what about chicken? How long does it take to get to 160° or whatever? Here is a chart for chicken thanks to the other poster - link Bath C Bath F mm inch Cook time Rest time Core C Core F Early -1C Late +1C starting at 149* would take 57 minutes for a .2 inch thick piece of chicken/pork to get to 140* temp. |
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Beef seems like a no brainer but what about chicken? How long does it take to get to 160° or whatever? Here is a chart for chicken thanks to the other poster - link SNIP starting at 149* would take 57 minutes for a .2 inch thick piece of chicken/pork to get to 140* temp. Mine eyeth hurteth. I have a vacuum foodsaver and while she don't suck like she used to I was interested in a jerry rigged attempt at this cooking style. I don't see why you couldn't use a large pan or pot and put it over a burner on low to get the desired temperature. A large volume of water with the lid off shouldn't be too hard to keep around 150°. |
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Mine eyeth hurteth. I have a vacuum foodsaver and while she don't suck like she used to I was interested in a jerry rigged attempt at this cooking style. I don't see why you couldn't use a large pan or pot and put it over a burner on low to get the desired temperature. A large volume of water with the lid off shouldn't be too hard to keep around 150°. I wonder how hard it would be to keep that low for 1+ hours. Seems like if it was that easy people wouldn't be wasting time with DIY cooler projects or $500+ equipment. |
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What do you gain from doing this? It seems like the only advantage is that you can keep a lot of steaks ready to sear so they can be served quickly in a restaurant. Flavors are enhanced, is one of the major reasons I ahve heard. But I have never tried anything done sous-vide. |
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I'ts kind of the in thing, but it seems to do fantastic things to various meats. for instance, i have read of regular beef chuck, being cooked for 96 hrs, and coming out as soft and tender as the best wagu beef. the key thing seems to be watching the thickness of various cuts of meat, in determining the time needed to get it up to temp. for some things like fish, it is very easy to cook to a flaky tenderness. for others, you apparrently need to watch the temp a little bit more closely. the key thing is a constant temperature, requiring a heat source, and a way to circulate the water to maintain an even temperature distribution. the usual way seems to be some form of aquarium bubbler or some people use an actual pump - note, it has to be able to handle the high temperatures. for easier linking, here is the actual link to the index http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?/topic/136274-sous-vide-index/ here is a hack to an aquarium heater - note the type that is used. Hack an aquarium heater to be always on from the index list, temp/times for chicken (under, of course, poultry) Chicken Breast chicken breast 60C/140F 4h chicken breast 67C/153F 2h chicken breast 63.5C/146F 1h chicken breast 60C/140F 2h chicken with miso chicken with shiitake and scallion 65C/149F 40m and you're responsible for the food and electrical safety yourself. and for goodness sakes, make sure you have any electrical setup plugged into a working GFI circuit. edit - added link to a controller using a crock pot - read the comments, it appears the original post had some errors http://www.instructables.com/id/Sous-Vide-temperature-controller-for-50-100/ |
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I have heard of this but I dont think its anything I would be interested in trying. YMMV. It is "all the rage" for whatever that is worth. I watched a show on the food network about it. Not the beer cooler deal but the expensive one. I guess I would just rather grill or use the oven if I have to. Sticking something in a hot water bath to cook just doesnt appeal to me. |
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I have heard of this but I dont think its anything I would be interested in trying. YMMV. It is "all the rage" for whatever that is worth. I watched a show on the food network about it. Not the beer cooler deal but the expensive one. I guess I would just rather grill or use the oven if I have to. Sticking something in a hot water bath to cook just doesnt appeal to me. While I understand what you're saying in principle I think you may be selling the technique a little short. The ability to cook a protein, evey single inch of it, to the proper temperature is pretty impressive. I've known several people in my life who were absolutely convinced that overcooked seafood was the only way you could get it. Sous vide puts and end to things like that. |
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I watched a show on the food network about it. Not the beer cooler deal but the expensive one. I guess I would just rather grill or use the oven if I have to. Sticking something in a hot water bath to cook just doesnt appeal to me. One of the main complaints I have seen is that Sous-Vide food "lacks passion." What the fuck is that supposed to mean? I am a man of mother fucking science. Exact temperatures are fucking science, and I know how they work. Throwing some meat on a grill of practically indeterminate temperature for *some amount* of time until it is of the same hardness of a portion of the heel of your clenched fist? Sounds like mombo jumbo voodoo magic. I want to be able to say that I cooked a steak PERFECTLY. And I want to be able to verify that statement quantitatively. I want to know that my steak is better than my neighbors steak. And I want to be able to prove that to him, with numbers, so he looks like a dick in front of his wife and children. |
