....the highly anticipated, delayed and long-winded reply finally came thru....His wife wouldn't let him come...
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:-)

"Sous vide, which means “under vacuum” in French, refers to the process of vacuum-sealing food in a bag, then cooking it to a very precise temperature in a water bath. This technique produces results that are impossible to achieve through any other cooking method."
-- https://anovaculinary.com/what-is-sous-vide/

Well Anova, which set of facts is it this time?

lol.


Thanks Dom. Curious to hear how it works out as I think this is the first countertop steam oven that I've heard of.
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A couple weeks ago I got some pre-marinated black garlic chicken wings from the store, didn't get around to grilling them so I vac sealed and threw in the freezer. Yesterday I took them out, let them (mostly) thaw and put them in a bath at 160* for 2 hours. After they were done I put them right on a grill pan on med-high (it was snowing out or I would have used the actual grill) to get a little crisp then served.

The recipe I used called for either 165* for 1 hour or 160* for two hours depending on if you want "fall off the bone" or not. I wouldn't call what I ended up with as falling off the bone, but it was cooked perfect and the chicken itself was delicious. The only change I'm going to make next time is do a light toss in some sauce after they're done, they only kept a little of the marinade flavor and needed something to take it from piece of chicken to "wing" but I will definitely be trying again. This would be an easy one for a big party, pre-cook a ton and grill whatever you want, I'm hoping you could just sauce at the end if you want a variety but I'll report back :-)

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Last time we smoked wings, we threw them in the air fryer to finish them up and give them a little crisp.
I haven't done wings with Sous Vide but I will now after seeing these Ben!
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Great Idea!....I love wings!!
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I'd love to deep fry them at the end, but without a dedicated deep fry setup it's not worth the hassle
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I thought you had a guy for that?
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I do!....Right now my guy makes wings in a 5 ton brick oven! (....if I could only get a pizza....) :-)
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Just started curing six duck legs to make into confit, cooking with the sous vide. Will cure for two days. Going to use the serious eats cooking method and go for 36 hours @ 155F. SE doesn’t say to add extra fat, that the natural fat rendered would be enough. However I’m going to add a couple sticks of unsalted butter, and plan to save/use after. :-)
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Yes please. Can't wait to hear how these turn out, I actually have some duck legs in the freezer that I've been dying to use. Last time I cooked them confit in the oven with a weight on them, I bet the sous vide is even easier and more efficient. Save me some of that duck fat for breakfast potatoes :-)
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Definitely worth doing, Ben. I just finished eating one of the legs I confitted. Crisped in a pan. Tender, unctuous, delicious. Might use a couple tomorrow for tacos, making chicharrones out of the skin.

Cured 3lbs legs (6 legs) for two days with 1.5% salt, 2 teaspoons black pepper, 1 tablespoon dried thyme, 2 bay leaves. Rinsed then vac sealed with a stick of butter for three legs. Sous vide @ 155 for 27 hours. Original recipe says 36, but I pulled them early.
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Just dropped a 4-5lb bone in, skin on, pork loin into the sous vide. Beautiful fat cap. It’s from an American Guinea Hog friends of mine raised. Plan is 8 hours at 155, season and into my hot pellet grill to finish with smoke. I’m only going that long since it’s currently frozen.
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Sure am glad I left some notes in this thread when I was working out my sous vide pork belly, making some for christmas morning and was worrying about what cooking time/temp to use then searched this thread and found my post below, guess I'm doing 170* 10 hours. Ive done smokey belly and asian style cherry, this time I'm leaning towards apple of some sort, maybe cook up the belly then at the end throw some apple slices on and caramelize them up. I'll report back :-)


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phrasing!

Would also answer so many other questions.
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Finally! I've been waiting for this quip for 14 months!:-)
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Following up about my Christmas morning brunch while it's still somewhat fresh in my mind, and because I always look back at my posts in this thread when I'm trying to remake something

I started by making some brown butter, then took it off the heat and mixed in some honey. That mix went into the bag with a big chunk of pork belly (3-4lb I think) and cooked at 170* for 10 hours (or 11-12 because of timing with other Christmas morning stuff). I took it out and saved the >4C of pork bag juice. I then took that juice and added a little brown sugar and cooked it down for a glaze, it was taking too long so I ended up dumping some of it so it would get glazy faster. Once that was thick I broiled the pork belly on a wire rack, took it out and cut into sections then put the glaze on and hit it with the kitchen torch. Separately I caramelized some pears with butter and brown sugar and served the pork belly on top of the pears

Final takeaways: The pork was cooked fine, but lacking excitement. I think it needed more of the honey to really compliment the pears and work as a breakfast dish. One way to do this is add more honey brown butter to the bag when it cooked (It felt a little light), another way to improve would be to coat each piece in the glaze rather than just spoon a little on top, it probably needs both of these next time. I think if every bite of pork had more honey and butter taste it would have been better, since the pears weren't overly sweet and couldn't carry the dish on their own

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Ben, that looks amazing. I too find my own tips/tricks in the "What's in your smoker" thread.

So as a fan of this thread who also lacks any sous vide equipment, I didn't see any follow up as to Dom's Anova "bagless" sous vide oven, and how it stacked up versus the traditional method.
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