A Shad Roe First (Sous Vide to Ninja)
I just had to give this method a try, and it worked really good!!
In the past I made Shad Roe Pan-Fried, Broiled, Baked, and Cured & Fried. I always took them a little farther done than I think was needed, because I don’t care for the texture of Rare Shad Roe.
So now that I’ve had my Sous Vide Supreme for awhile, and learned a lot about using it, I go by much of what I learned from the only SV book I ever bought “Sous Vide For the Home Cook”, written by Douglas E Baldwin.
So I generally go to YouTube when I want to try something new. I get a bunch of ideas there, and then I run them by my Baldwin book to make sure it’s safe.
However when it came to Shad Roe, I searched everywhere, and I couldn’t find a single place where anyone had ever put any Shad Roe into any SV controlled Hot Water Bath.
So my other "fish" searches turned up the need to use at least 131° Temp, and about 4 1/2 hours in the bath.
That’s where I took over, the way I usually do, by going a few degrees higher (140°), and a little longer (6 hours).
I figured I would like the texture more that way, and if there’s a problem, I could cut it back a little.
Now I’ll go to what happened & what I actually did:
Bear Jr & his business helper registered for a Shad Fishing Contest in the Delaware River. It was a 4 day event with 10 prizes for each day, a pretty good "Boat & Motor set-up" prize, and a grand prize of $20,000 cash.
The first 2 days the River was too high from all the rain the previous days & weeks. The water Temp was also too cold for Shad to move, at 48°, as they start moving at about 52°. The 4th day was beautiful, but anyway they ended up boating 12 Shad, but none were anything abnormal in size, so no prize winners. However 2 of them were Roe Shad, and Bear Jr cut the Roe out & bagged them for “His Dear Old Dad”.
So this is where I took over:
First I rinsed the 4 lobes of Shad Roe & put them in a plastic container.
Then I added water until they were submerged, and added a tablespoon of Table Salt, swishing it around while pouring it in. Then into the Fridge for an overnight soak. Then in the morning, the complete container full of water was Dark Pink, almost blood Red from the blood removed from the soaking Roe. I drained the container, rinsed the Roe, and put them back in the container submerged in clear unsalted water, to get rid of excess salt.
A couple hours later I rinsed them again, Dried them off pretty good, and bagged them all in the thickness of one, added some hunks of Butter, and vacuum sealed the bag.
Then at 10 AM I set my Sous Vide Supreme at 140° & put the bag in, clipped to my SV rack. At 4 PM I removed the package & put it right into a big bowl of ice, and then into the Fridge.
Time To Cook: (Ninja Time)
I lightly rinsed the Roe Sacks one more time & patted them dry with paper towels.
Then I set my Ninja at 390°, on Bake, and let it Pre-heat.
When it was Ready I put 3 big thick slices of Bacon in for 4 minutes & removed the Bacon. Then I put all the Roe in the Baking Pan, in the Bacon Fat, & closed the lid.
At 3 minutes, I flipped them over & at 5 minutes I checked them out. They were nearly done to my liking, so I put the Bacon back in, on top of the Roe, and gave them another 2 minutes, and called it quits.
As you will see below, that Bacon, along with all that Roe, and some Cranberry Sauce gave this Roe Loving Bear Two Awesome, Belly Stuffing Meals.
Don’t miss the Pics below,
Bear
Roe(Eggs) from 2 average Female "Roe" Shad:
Getting ready to pre-soak. Note the top one got cut into when gutting fish:
Bagged with butter for Sous Vide @ 140° for 6 hours:
Frying some Bacon to get Grease in the Pan:
SV cooked Roe in Ninja Baking Pan:
About ready to flip Roe:
Laid partially cooked Bacon on top of Roe, to finish it All for 2 more minutes:
Bear's first night's Supper with Shad Roe, Bacon, and Cranberry Sauce:
Baking some more Bacon for 2nd Night:
2nd Night's Supper same as the First:
