I've been cooking, smoking, and grilling for many years, so I'm not without some experience and such. However, I can't seem to wrap my head around Sous Vide. I've tried it a handful of times with mixed, but mostly mediocre results.
Yesterday I had some thick cut (about an inch) pork chops and wanted to give this SV thing one more go. I marinated the chops for about an hour in a mixture of Worcestershire Sauce and steak sauce. I then put in the SV bath at 140 for about 2 hours. After pulling from the bath I seasoned the chops and onto the sear station of my grill for a few moments.
When I pulled the chops out of the SV bath, the internal temp was 139 as expected. However, the meat seemed a bit "tough" to me as the probe had quite a bit of resistance going in.
After about one minute per side at the sear station, the chops had a nice char, internal temp about 149. However, the meat still seamed tough.
Final product had great taste as a result of the marinade and seasonings, but was rather chewy. No where near "fall off the bone" tender.
That pretty much sums up my SV experiences. Taste is good, but meat still a bit on the tough side. Which leads me to some questions that some of you SV pros might be able to help me with.
Yesterday I had some thick cut (about an inch) pork chops and wanted to give this SV thing one more go. I marinated the chops for about an hour in a mixture of Worcestershire Sauce and steak sauce. I then put in the SV bath at 140 for about 2 hours. After pulling from the bath I seasoned the chops and onto the sear station of my grill for a few moments.
When I pulled the chops out of the SV bath, the internal temp was 139 as expected. However, the meat seemed a bit "tough" to me as the probe had quite a bit of resistance going in.
After about one minute per side at the sear station, the chops had a nice char, internal temp about 149. However, the meat still seamed tough.
Final product had great taste as a result of the marinade and seasonings, but was rather chewy. No where near "fall off the bone" tender.
That pretty much sums up my SV experiences. Taste is good, but meat still a bit on the tough side. Which leads me to some questions that some of you SV pros might be able to help me with.
- How do you know how long to keep the meat in the SV? Most "recipes" I've seen say put it in for X amount of time. If I'm not using a recipe, how would I know if that is 1 hour or 14 hours? Doesn't overcooking in the SV bath make the meat mushy?
- Do I have to take the meat out of SV bath and the bag it's in to take an internal temp, then re-bag again?