Well as all things would have it, it was time to finally embrace the new technology. I say new but it's obviously been around for a while with professional chefs who have used sous vide as a restaurant staple. I was in New Orleans in 1993 to interview for a large hotel project and the developer treated us to lunch in the warehouse district in a restaurant that had just opened by this rising young chef. During lunch he asked the waiter to have the owner come by and say hi to us. This unassuming guy stops by, handshakes all around and we order this killer meal. He suggests the pork chops. Well pork chops it is. I'm here to tell you I don't remember all of my thousands of restaurant eating experiences all over the country, but for some reason that one stuck in my mind. When asked how in the world they could get a 2" think chop to butter smooth, fork cutting texture, the waiter explained to us it was done via sous vide and searing it in a double broiler. The name of the restaurant, by the way, was Emerils and unknowingly I got to meet the man himself, Emeril Lagasse.
Okay so fast forward to today and this website. I'm blown away by the marriage of sous vide and smoking/queing. So much so that I had to take the plunge with so many others demonstrating a whole new set of techniques that have peaked my interest. Thus my first attempt at this process. I'm especially interested in taking the lessor cuts of meat; flank, round, sirloin, chuck, etc. and seeing how tender and unctuous I could make them. Decided to do a chuckie first so hit the butcher and had him give me a big 2" thick clod. I'm in the long process of smoking, SV, chilling and searing at the moment but was hungry for something sooner so also picked up a 2" thick, 2.5# top round to do a London Broil straight sous vide, chill and RS. Given that here is the result of my first SV attempt;
Here is my take on this so far;
PROS - extremely tender meat after a 24 hour bath at 132*. Although not done here, the marriage of smokiness and tenderness is unbeatable.
CONS - long process (although worth the effort). I may adjust the time downward a bit because although super tender, the meat had a slight spongy feel to my palette. I'm thinking less time may firm that up a bit. Obvious lack of deep seared flavor, very superficial.
All in all this definitely becomes part of the tool chest. I don't see it as a do all, end all for cooking meat (or anything for that matter) but it definitely has it's place in the Troutman pantheon of cooking accouterments. More later on the verdict for the smoked chuckie currently taking a bath.
KEEP ON SMOKIN' - TROUTMAN OUT
Okay so fast forward to today and this website. I'm blown away by the marriage of sous vide and smoking/queing. So much so that I had to take the plunge with so many others demonstrating a whole new set of techniques that have peaked my interest. Thus my first attempt at this process. I'm especially interested in taking the lessor cuts of meat; flank, round, sirloin, chuck, etc. and seeing how tender and unctuous I could make them. Decided to do a chuckie first so hit the butcher and had him give me a big 2" thick clod. I'm in the long process of smoking, SV, chilling and searing at the moment but was hungry for something sooner so also picked up a 2" thick, 2.5# top round to do a London Broil straight sous vide, chill and RS. Given that here is the result of my first SV attempt;
Here is my take on this so far;
PROS - extremely tender meat after a 24 hour bath at 132*. Although not done here, the marriage of smokiness and tenderness is unbeatable.
CONS - long process (although worth the effort). I may adjust the time downward a bit because although super tender, the meat had a slight spongy feel to my palette. I'm thinking less time may firm that up a bit. Obvious lack of deep seared flavor, very superficial.
All in all this definitely becomes part of the tool chest. I don't see it as a do all, end all for cooking meat (or anything for that matter) but it definitely has it's place in the Troutman pantheon of cooking accouterments. More later on the verdict for the smoked chuckie currently taking a bath.
KEEP ON SMOKIN' - TROUTMAN OUT