SV PortChop Failure.

[floridasteve]

My 3rd attempt at sv and still waiting to have good results. This time a did two 1" pork chops. I used Bear's guide, 135* for 3.5 hours, only mine were frozen so I added another hour. Also, Bear's chops were 2" think, mine were only 1", but they were stacked on top of each other so I didn’t think that matter. Oh, I had frozen them in a zip lock freezer bag, but I’ve read they were okay to use.
Anyway, at about 5 hours I pulled it, only to find that the zipper had failed and the bag was full of water. That passed me off and convinced me only vacpack from now on. i put the bag in the freezer for about 5 minutes, then popped it into my hot cast iron skillet to sear it. looked great! But when I bit into it, it was dry and not as tender as I thought it would be.
So where'd I go wrong? The it because my bag filled with water?
Any advice appreciated.

 

[Sven Svensson]

My best guess is that at 135, without brining, putting them in the cast iron for 5 min dried them out quickly. Pork chops are fickle because they’re so lean. Try bringing them overnight then follow Bear’s advice. However, before you seat them in cast iron cut into one and taste it. If it’s tender then you know the culprit might be the sear.

 

[floridasteve]

Thank you for the advice. But I didn’t sear them for 5 minutes. I only seared them until they got the seared coloration. I did, however, put them in the freezer for 5 minutes before searing them.
Brining is a good suggestion, and I’ll try that next time.

 

[dr k]

From: https://douglasbaldwin.com/sous-vide.html
Bone in thick cut chops @ 131/12 hours with more connective tissue at the bone vs boneless loin chops sounds interesting and tweek the duration.

Two inch bone in cured chops for seven days with 80% of cure, salt and sugar based on weight of meat to back out bone weight without SV is my favorite to get a deeper crust and grilled with a chunk of wood butt against the outside of the hot charcoal.

 

[Sven Svensson]

But I didn’t sear them for 5 minutes.

Oops, sorry about that.

 

[dls1]

floridasteve - To me, the cause of your problem seems pretty obvious. In short, you cooked the pork chops far too long, about twice as long as you needed to.

A 1" pork chop, cooked sous vide at 135F, is fully pasteurized in 2 hours. I've cooked a lot of different cuts of meat straight from the freezer, and for something like a 1" pork chop, I would add around 20% to the total projected cook time, which would come in a little under 2.5 hours total. In your example, the cook time was 4.5 hours. You can always continue the cooking time a little bit beyond the minimum called for pasteurization, but bear in mind that the hotter and/or longer you cook, the more moisture you’re going to squeeze out of the pork resulting in a dryer final product.

Regarding using a brine, you can do so if you wish, but I don't find it necessary if it's properly cooked sous vide.

 

[floridasteve]

floridasteve - To me, the cause of your problem seems pretty obvious. In short, you cooked the pork chops far too long, about twice as long as you needed to.

A 1" pork chop, cooked sous vide at 135F, is fully pasteurized in 2 hours. I've cooked a lot of different cuts of meat straight from the freezer, and for something like a 1" pork chop, I would add around 20% to the total projected cook time, which would come in a little under 2.5 hours total. In your example, the cook time was 4.5 hours. You can always continue the cooking time a little bit beyond the minimum called for pasteurization, but bear in mind that the hotter and/or longer you cook, the more moisture you’re going to squeeze out of the pork resulting in a dryer final product.

Regarding using a brine, you can do so if you wish, but I don't find it necessary if it's properly cooked sous vide.

Thanks for the tip! There were 2 chops on on top of each other when they were frozen, that why I used Bear's timing for a 2" chop. Was that wrong? I still have more of those chops in the freezer. Next time I’ll slip them and try it your way.

 

[floridasteve]

View attachment 639109

View attachment 639108
From: https://douglasbaldwin.com/sous-vide.html
Bone in thick cut chops @ 131/12 hours with more connective tissue at the bone vs boneless loin chops sounds interesting and tweek the duration.

Two inch bone in cured chops for seven days with 80% of cure, salt and sugar based on weight of meat to back out bone weight without SV is my favorite to get a deeper crust and grilled with a chunk of wood butt against the outside of the hot charcoal.

Thanks Kurt!

 

[floridasteve]

UPDATE
when I did this cook there were 2 chops in the bag. One I seared and that’s the one I talked about in this post. The other I just put into the fridge. Tonight I took it out and reheated it in my air frier at 350 for 5 minutes. it was still too cool for my taste, so I gave it another 3 minutes.
I didn’t sear, and they were delicious and very juicy! A little chewy, but not bad.

So those who suggested I had over seared were right on.