General sous vide que

General Sous-Vide-Que

Ingredients:

  • Large tough protein (e.g. brisket, butt roast)
  • Dry Rub
  • Liquid Marinade

Directions:

  • In a small bowl, combine the dry rub ingredients.
  • In a measuring cup, combine the liquid marinade ingredients.
  • Liberally coat the meat with the dry rub and place in the vacuum bag.
  • Add the liquid marinade to the vacuum bag.
  • Seal the vacuum bag.
    • Set the VacMaster VP-210 to the following:
      • Vacuum: 40
      • Sealing: 0.0
      • Cooling: 9.9
    • Run through the cycle 3 times relaxing the protein in between each cycle for 1 minute.
    • Set the Sealing time to 1.5 and run a 4th cycle.
  • Put the sealed vacuum bag in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours and up to 36 hours.
  • Prepare the water bath by adding the sealed vacuum bag and filling with water to the appropriate level.
    • I use this 28-quart cooler and immersion circulator.
    • I cut a hole in the lid of the cooler with a hole saw just large enough for the immersion circulator.
    • The lid prevents the loss of water.
    • The cooler prevents the loss of heat allowing the maximum capacity to be increased.
    • This rig allows me to process up to 30 lbs of meat.
  • Bring the water bath to the desired temperature as per your immersion circulator’s instructions.
    • Depending on the protein being prepared, the thickness, and the amount of connective tissue, the required amount of time is extremely variable, but the temperatures are fairly constant.
      • 140°F (60°C) - tender, meaty, sliceable, steak like
      • 158°F (70°C) - just starting to come apart when pulled
      • 176°F (80°C) - falling apart before you can slice it
  • When the water reaches the desired temperature, then set a timer for the required cook time.
  • When the cook time has elapsed, if not finishing the meat immediately, perform an ice bath cool down to avoid the two danger time/temp ranges:
    • Replace the water in the water bath with ice and enough cold water to cover, adding more ice as needed.
    • Turn the immersion circulator on without heat or set to the lowest temperature to cool the meat rapidly enough to stay out of the first danger time/temp range:
      • 130°F and 80°F for more than 1.5 hours
    • When the meat is below 80°F, move the vacuum bag(s) to the refrigerator to avoid the second range:
      • 80°F and 40°F for more than 5 hours
    • The vacuum bag(s) can remain in the fridge for up to 72 hours before finishing.
  • Remove the meat from the vacuum bag, reserving the liquid and any other ingredients.
    • NOTE: Since this liquid was pasteurized during the cooking process, it is safe to consume and be incorporated into sauces, glazes, and gravies.
  • Place the meat on paper towels to remove any excess liquid from the surface.
  • You can either finish outdoors on a grill or indoors in the oven.
    • NOTE: Remember the meat is already cooked, this is just to heat it through and form the traditional "bark" on the outside.
    • Outdoors - Grill - prepare a charcoal/wood/gas grill for indirect heat
    • Indoors - Oven
      • Position a rack so the meat will be in the middle of the oven.
      • Pre-heat oven to 450°F.
      • Place the meat on a cooling rack in an aluminum foil lined sheet pan.
      • Heat until a deep mahogany bark forms (10 mins - 1 hour).
  • Pull the meat from the heat and tent with foil to rest for ~10 mins before slicing.

Notes:

  • Great guide:
    • https://www.douglasbaldwin.com/sous-vide.html#Tough_Meat
    • Tough Meat
      • Prolonged cooking (e.g., braising) has been used to make tough cuts of meat more palatable since ancient times. Indeed, prolonged cooking can more than double the tenderness of the meat by dissolving all the collagen into gelatin and reducing inter-fiber adhesion to essentially nothing (Davey et al., 1976). At 176°F (80°C), Davey et al. (1976) found that these effects occur within about 12–24 hours with tenderness increasing only slightly when cooked for 50 to 100 hours.
      • At lower temperatures (120°F/50°C to 150°F/ 65°C), Bouton and Harris (1981) found that tough cuts of beef (from animals 0–4 years old) were the most tender when cooked to between 131°F and 140°F (55°C and 60°C). Cooking the beef for 24 hours at these temperatures significantly increased its tenderness (with shear forces decreasing 26%–72% compared to 1 hour of cooking). This tenderizing is caused by weakening of connective tissue and proteolytic enzymes decreasing myofibrillar tensile strength. Indeed, collagen begins to dissolve into gelatin above 122°F to 131°F (50°C to 55°C) (Neklyudov, 2003; This, 2006). Moreover, the sarcoplasmic protein enzyme collagenase remains active below 140°F (60°C) and can significantly tenderize the meat if held for more than 6 hours (Tornberg, 2005). This is why beef chuck roast cooked in a 131°F–140°F (55°C–60°C) water bath for 24–48 hours has the texture of filet mignon.