This is a good beginner video
Here are a few things I’ve learned and the equipment I use.
1. Food Safety – The whole principle of sous vide is cooking food in an anaerobic condition using constant temperatures and long periods of time. You never over cook you food unless you end sear too long. For meats like chicken and pork the SV cooking temperature is lower than is used when baking, frying or grilling but the SV cooking time is longer. The goal is to pasteurize the food, and therefore killing any bacteria. There are a variety of pasteurization tables that will tell you exactly how long it takes at various temperatures to pasteurize food of different thicknesses. The experts have taken this into consideration but… have also figured out the ideal temp and time combinations to give you a pleasant texture.
2. Water Circulator – we have the Anova Precision and the Pro models of circulators. Their starter model is the Nano. These circulators have manual controls OR you can download the App and control it from your phone. Some brands are only controlled via a phone app.
3. Container – Any container deep enough for the circulator and large enough for your food will work. Rubbermaid and Cambro makes some clear plastic containers with handles. You can buy aftermarket lids with a hole to match the circulator.
4. Accessories – I have several accessories from So-Vida.com:
Insulation sleeve for the Rubbermaid container, and
insulation band which wraps around a pot to conserve heat.
Silicone bag weights: These go inside the bag with the food so they won’t float.
Sous Vide Balls: From
Amazon, these float on the water to stop evaporation, and conserve heat.
5. Bags – I use 1 gallon and 1 quart "freezer zipper bags" for most things. Heavier vacuum bags are good when cooking things like bone-in pork chops or a rack of lamb.
The Blue Jean Chef Video shows the water displacement method to remove air from the bags.
6. Seasonings – Pretty much unlimited here... you can use any dry rub, dry herbs, fresh herbs, fresh garlic, chopped onion, lemon slices etc. For an all purpose seasoning, I like the coarse Montreal/Canadian steak rub on pork chops, steaks and chicken. They also make Canadian chicken rub. You can add a pat of butter or some olive oil to the bag as well. When cooking sausage links, I poke a few holes in the links, then add beer, onions and some hot sauce to the bag.
7. End Sear- Sous vide food looks bland and pale after cooking. For color you can pan sear, or sear on a gas grill or over charcoal. You should dry the meat with paper towel before the end sear. Only sear long enough to get some color, 20 or 30 seconds on each side. For things like chicken breast added to pasta or for chicken salad, there is no reason to sear.
8. Cleaning – I have hard water and sometimes deposits build up on the internal components of the circulator. I have a Mason jar with a 50:50 mix of vinegar and water. I’ll run the circulator in the jar at 130° for an hour or so and the deposits go away. I re-use the same mixture.
9. SV Cooking Times and Temperatures – Most of the time when you read a recipe, it will give you several choices or recommendations. I started a log book so I could dial-in the time and
temperature we liked best. Recipes will have a minimum SV time, but you can overshoot that, within reason, with no problems. The SV temperature is the real variable because even 1° higher or lower over 75 minutes of cooking time will make a difference. For example a chicken breast cooked at 145° for 90 to 100 minutes had too soft of a texture, but 147° for 90 to 100 minutes was perfect for us.
10. Recipes – Since SV time and temperature are so important for quality and safety, always consult a reliable source for recipes.
Chef Steps is a great resource as is
J. Kenji López-Alt who is the culinary guy for Anova.
11. Reheating - SV is a great method for reheating and hot holding food.
