St Pattys Day sous vide

These spikes just punched small holes in the meat without injecting anything into the meat. The idea was to get a better penetration of the Rub and to break down some of the meat fibers.
I picked up a 3 pound corned beef today, also a 11pound pork belly and 3 racks of spair ribs. I'm getting ready to do some smoking and cooking.

Randy,

REMSR said:

My wife isn't sold on Sous Vide yet. She didn't like the hamburgers and the brussel sprouts didn't turn out. They were extremely bitter and though they were vacuum packed tight air got between them making it hard to keep them under water. That corned beef looks great as did Al's pastrami a while back, I think I'll give that a shot next. She loves corned beef. What did you find different about Sous Vide cooking it as opposed to boiling it with cabbage?

Randy,

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Brussel sprouts are notorious "floaters" when cooked sous vide, and your experience with them doing so was normal. They're cruciferous vegetables that contain sulphurous chemicals that expel gases when cooked. As tightly vacuum packed as your bag might have been, those gases will still cause it to rise to the top and float on the surface.

Other vegetables of the same class and behavior include broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, bok choy, etc.

To overcome that happening, you need to secure the bag in some type of rack on the bottom of the container, or add some weights to the bag. A couple of dull butter knives might do, or some marbles or loose change added in a smaller bag could solve the problem. Personally, I use a couple silicone coated magnets for situations like that.

Can't help you with the "bitter" problem. Under the best of circumstances, I've always found those hateful things to be bitter and foul tasting, and avoid them at all costs. Others in my family don't feel the same way so I'm roped into cooking them from time to time.

Thanks for the information, If I were to try it again so would tie strings around the package and slip somting heavy between the strings.
The bitter canbe avoided if I buy frozen sprouts.
Thanks again,

Randy,

Vegetables float. I have some smooth rocks to put in the bag to weigh them down. One website suggested pie weights. It works but you have to fish out those little ceramic marbles. Last resort is a pair of metal tongs to hold them down, which actually works about as good as anything else.

Sorry I'm so late, but That looks Awesome!!   ---

Reuben Looks Great too!!

Nice Job

Bear