Recent Modernist Blog Posts

One of the big divides between professional chefs using sous vide and home cooks is the use of probes with sous vide. The majority of professionals always probe and the majority of home cooks don't. But more and more sous vide cookers are coming with probes, such as the PolyScience HydroPro, the VacMaster SV10, and the Anova Precision Oven, as well as tools such as the MeatStick. So I thought it's important to talk about why you may want to use one.

In general there are several main reasons for using a thermometer when cooking sous vide: HAACP regulations, core-based timing, preventing overcooking during the sear and speeding up the cooking process.

See how Jason answered Heather's question: I just filmed my sous vide brisket video and looked at many recipes before I cooked it. Most suggested between 140-155F (60-68.3C) for 48 hours then finish in a 275F convection oven for 2 hours for a nice crust. I did 150F (65.5C) for 48 hours and 275F convection for 2 hours. The brisket was quite dry and I was surprised. Do you have any recommendations for that? (Or is that just the way it is? This was my first brisket... lol!) Any thoughts?

In a recent Ask Jason Q&A session, Allan Poetak asked

When doing a long cook over 36 hours the meat seems to develop a foul odor. What is the best way to avoid this? Quickly blanching the meat in boiling water first?

In a recent Ask Jason Q&A session Cody said "Moose ribs are challenging" and Penny Ann asked "Jason, how do I cook beef back rib, rib fingers? I want to sous vide them today, any clue?" Both of these questions address the same issue: How Long Do You Sous Vide Odd Meats and Proteins?

Even though I have never sous vided moose and never heard of "beef back rib, rib fingers" before. It's OK to have no personal experience with those exact meats. Here's how I approach meats that are new to me so I have a successful end result.

Like most kitchen appliances, the sous vide immersion circulator does not require much routine maintenance. But if you use your circulator as often as I do, it's probably worth taking an hour every once in a while to give it some "TLC".

This article will provide all the information you need to get your immersion circulator back into tip top shape.

In a recent Ask Jason Q&A session, Ben Allen asked, "Do you know a way to do a porchetta sous vide and still get a decent crackling when finishing?" Jason answered, I've done turkey porchetta, not a pork one and that worked really well. The techniques for both meats are the same...

This is an open letter to sous vide manufacturers to provide suggestions for and against certain features. It also is a reasoning for the suggestions I often make when consulting on units, reviewing units, and in the suggestions I make to readers.

These recommendations are made from over a decade of sous vide cooking experience, as well as polls and conversations with hundreds of sous vide users about what they want in a machine.

Mainly I wanted to discuss some "features" that are either very inconvenient for most sous vide cooks, and in some cases make the units unsafe.

In a recent "Ask Jason" live Q&A session, Sherry said "Please talk about reheating precooked chilled sous vided foods". Here's how Jason answered Sherry Handzel.

That's a great request, one that a lot of people ask about. Sous vide is an excellent tool for meal planning. You can cook a large amount ahead of time, chill it in an ice bath or cold water, throw it in the fridge and then reheat it throughout the week when you're ready to eat.

In a recent Ask Jason session Paul asked "Texture seems to be a problem with my steaks. What about a 2-inch thick New York strip to get steakhouse texture?" - Paul McLester

In general, I use thicker steaks whenever possible. With sous vide, I find that the thinner the steak is, the harder it is to get a good sear on it without overcooking it.

Sous vide is a great process for many things, from making fancy food to convenient weekday meals, but one thing people often don't think of is how great it can be for weekly food prep. Because the food is already in a sealed package, and fully cooked or pasteurized, you can easily store it for later.

There are many methods for using sous vide for food prep, but my favorite is the cook, chill, and reheat method. It is a pretty simple method that boils down to sous viding the food ahead of time, chilling it, and then reheating it when you are ready to eat.

It greatly cuts down on the cooking times before eating (especially for tough cuts!) and it makes it easy to use sous vided foods in other preparations (hello turkey club sandwiches!).

It's also a very easy method to learn, since the initial cooking process is the same as most sous vide cooking. You can also get a much better sear using this method, because the food is coming from a lower temperature. In some cases you can even reheat using only a sear, leading to a "traditional" crust on your food.

In this episode of Ask Jason, Doug asks: "Is one better, a water bath or a stick circulator for sous vide?" - Doug Weller That's a good question and part of it depends what you're trying to accomplish. I've used several water baths and they work really well. For most cooks and most uses a water bath (i.e. the Sous Vide Supreme) and a stick circulator (i.e. Anova, ChefSteps Joule or Gourmia) work just as well as each other.

During a recent Live Ask Jason Q&A session John asked "I have a whole whole beef tenderloin from Sam's, what's a recipe for medium-rare on the rare side? - John Schoeneck

Jason responded to John with the following: Like other sous vided meats, the doneness you want is all about the temperature it's cooked at. I have some charts on my sous vide Time and Temperatures page that gives you general ranges for rare, medium-rare, medium, etc. For the rest of his thoughts, see the full article.

In this episode of Ask Jason, Cody asked "Thoughts on cold smoking and sous vide?"

I haven't done any real cold smoking with sous vide. I've used the smoking gun some but it is different. The smoking gun normally doesn't contribute as much smoke flavor as real cold smoking would do.

In this episode of Ask Jason, Ben asks: "What do you recommend to pin down items that float?" See how Jason answered Ben Allen.

This is a big issue for a lot of people. Originally, it was something I didn't encounter much so I wasn't in a hurry to look into it. However, I thought I should do some testing and write an article on my blog about the various ways to prevent bags from floating. But as I started testing these things, I realized that using them makes sous viding so much easier. I went from not having a problem necessarily, to now I hate cooking without using something to hold the bag down.

Jason responded to Yvonne when in a recent Live Ask Jason Q&A session she inquired "What is the best choice for a second sous vide machine?"

A recommendation for a second sous vide circulator? I'd say same criteria as the first unit. Pick a circulator that has the type of functions that interests you. The Anova Nano is a great bare-bones one, and the Anova Precision cooker has the Wi-Fi and the Bluetooth. The Joule is more kind of fancy. If you tend to be a tech geek, the lack of physical controls on the Joule makes it fun to play around with!