What should my first Sous Vide meal be?

[emuleman]

So I did it, I went ahead and ordered myself a Vacmaster SV1 Sous Vide cooker, and it should arrive within the next couple of days.

Let me tell you that my wife isn't 100% convinced that I needed to drop a few hundred dollars for the machine and a container, so I am here to ask for you help again. I really want to impress her with the first meal I make for her, and show her that our investment was well worth the money.

What specific meal would you recommend I cook for her the first time? I know the sous vide cooker is great for cooking steaks, but which cut? Any seasonings in the bag? Do I cold smoke first for added flavor, or is it not necessary? Sear before and after, or just after? I have done a little bit of homework only to find recipes for steaks vary from 125 degrees all the way up to 140 degrees. Is there something else I should cook first, like say pork chops that is easier to cook?

Any suggestion from our fellow sous vide owners would be greatly appreciated. I of course will keep you all posted with a few photos to show you how it all turned out. Any recipes you guys think are a big hit? Let me know what I should cook for the first time. Thanks.

 

[johnmeyer]

Having done a few things in my homemade sous vide setup, my advice would be chicken. Why? Because you can get a result that you truly cannot get with any other cooking method. By contrast, IMHO, when you do a steak using sous vide, the result is not that much different from what you get with traditional methods, and may actually not be any better. When cooking steak, the real advantage of sous vide is the incredible control you get over the doneness of the final product: if you want medium-rare, then with sous vide you will always get an absolutely perfect medium-rare, every single time.

Of course if one person wants medium rare, and someone else wants well done, sous video is not a great way to go, whereas if you cook the steaks on a grill, you just put the rare steaks on the back burner while the well-done steaks continue to cook.

The neat thing about chicken is that you cook it at a much, much lower temperature than you would ever dare to use with any conventional cooking method, and as a consequence, the end result is fundamentally different (and better) than anything you've had before.

Here is an absolutely marvelous explanation of how to get amazing chicken using sous vide:

Complete Guide to Sous Vide Chicken Breast

One last piece of advice: as good as this sous vide sub forum has become, you should use Google to find other sites which discuss this method of cooking. You'll find a lot of things similar to the link I just provided which give you a huge amount of information and recipes.

BTW, if you get creeped out about cooking chicken to such low temperatures, have a look at this thread I started a few months back:

Sous Vide, Smokers, and Food Safety - We're Safer Than We Thought

 

[mr t 59874]

If you both like your steaks prepared the same, try a thick cut (2 inch) rib eye steak, you can divide it prior to service. Season with salt and pepper and add a slab of butter with it. You will find it to be very juicy as the juices are not lost as they would be on a grill. If you have a handheld smoker, you can add a layer of smoke after a quick sear in a hot skillet and prior to service. 

T

 

[SmokinAl]

The best meal I've made with the SV so far is pastrami. I seasoned & smoked it for 5 hours until an IT of 155, then into the SV set at 155 for 24 hours. Then pat dry & sear on all sides. I make pastrami all the time, but have never had results like this before. The texture & flavor of the meat was incredible!

Oh BTW corn on the cob & brussel sprouts are to die for SV style!

Al

 

[canuhover]

For an easy start, try beef hamburgers stuffed with cheese.  140 degrees for an hour before a 1 minute pan fry...awesome.  To amaze company cook a bottom round for 3 days.  The round turns out tender, perfect medium rare, eats like an expensive steak.

 

[gnatboy911]

If she likes chicken...that is a quick and easy route.  I just posted a thread about my smoked then sous vide pork butt....thats what sold my wife on the purchase.  Here is a link to my method I used..

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/259278/smoked-then-sous-vide-pork-butt-experiment

 

[pinyon]

We bought an Anova about 3 weeks ago and have tried chicken, elk, sockeye salmon, and mahi mahi.   So far we have liked everything but my wife and I agree the fish (salmon and mahi mahi) have been our favorite. 

We purchased the fish at Costco and they come in serving size individually vacuum sealed packages.  For these we just popped them directly in the Sous Vide for 40 minutes at 122 degrees.   Took them out, sprinkled some salt, pepper, garlic, and little olive oil on them and then seared them on our Weber gas grill for maybe a minute + on each side.  We thought the texture, moisture, and taste as some of the best fish in our memory banks.

We are still experimenting with the sous vide but so far rate it a great tool in the kitchen toolbox.

 

[Bummed]

The first thing I did was a 2" New York Strip. I didn't know what to do so I just vac sealed it without adding anything. I set my Anova at 129 for 2 hours, padded it dry adding some kosher salt and ground pepper and seared it in a cast iron skillet. It was by far the best steak my wife ever had, she was very happy! You could taste the true taste of the beef and it was so juicy and full of flavor all by itself.

Since then I've done marinading and all types of seasoning and still nothing beats the stand alone taste of the meat. Like smoking try it all and see what's best for you!

 

[emuleman]

 
The best meal I've made with the SV so far is pastrami. I seasoned & smoked it for 5 hours until an IT of 155, then into the SV set at 155 for 24 hours. Then pat dry & sear on all sides. I make pastrami all the time, but have never had results like this before. The texture & flavor of the meat was incredible!

Oh BTW corn on the cob & brussel sprouts are to die for SV style!

Al

Did you start with a regular beef brisket, or did you purchase a corned beef already prepacked and added seasoning to make it pastrami?  Would love to try making my own pastrami, please share your recipe, as it sounds delicious!

 

[SmokinAl]

The one I SV'd was a prepackaged corned beef, and it turned out better than any pastrami I have made to date.

I had just received my SV & didn't want to wait to cure a brisket.

However the next one I do will definitely be from scratch.

Here is the thread on the SV pastrami:

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/255820/sous-vide-pastrami-a-first-for-me

And here is a thread on how to make your own pastrami from scratch using a brisket flat.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/249085/pastrami-from-scratch-on-the-lang

I also have made pastrami from an eye of round & I think that would be a very good choice for SV too.

Here is the thread on that.

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/t/242696/eye-of-round-pastrami-mucho-q-view

Hope this all helps you!

Al

 

[emuleman]

 
The one I SV'd was a prepackaged corned beef, and it turned out better than any pastrami I have made to date.

I had just received my SV & didn't want to wait to cure a brisket.
 

Thank you SmokinAl for the reply and the links.  I am surprised the prepackaged corned beef turned out better than the one you cured and made from scratch, but then again that one wasn't cooked in the sous vide.  My cooker should arrive tomorrow hopefully, so I am going to figure out what to cook first.  Thanks again, I will definitely try this recipe with a prepackaged corned beef!