Vacuum bag taste/odor with sous vide?
In the General Sous Vide Questions Forum
Recently I cooked some beef short ribs sous vide, 131.5F for about 2-1/2 days. They turned out great. Per a post I saw somewhere not too long ago about cooking ground beef sous vide then using the juice to make an intense broth, I took the juice from the ribs, cooked them to coagulate the proteins, strained the solids out, and used the broth to make a pan sauce of sorts.
When I tasted the broth it had a good flavor... but there was also a hint (both taste and smell) of plastic. I use what I believe to be quality vacuum bags recommended for my Pro-2300 sealer. I seem to recall that this happened one other time when I cooked something for an extended period of time.
Has anyone else experienced this? Should I be concerned about the safety of ingested molecules of this plastic, if indeed that is what's happening?
Thank you.
9 Replies So Far
That's strange, I've never run into that before. I'm curious to see if anyone else has though.
Jason
@Matshoilund suggested:
Maybe a slight hint directly after opening. I find that Sousvide juices, like wine, need some air to reveal their proper taste
Thanks for this... I'll continue to play with the juice thing and see if letting it set a bit helps... glad to know at least someone else has experienced it so I know I'm not just nuts! ;-)
Hmm. I would be a little concerned if there was a flavour/smell of plastic. Is it possible for you to check that the bags you're using are designed to be safe at sv cooking temperatures? Some aren't.
I've never had any flavour/smell of plastic even with a 12 hour cook of belly pork at 83C. I'd second the idea that the plastic might not be designed for heating, lots of vacuum bags are designed for cold storage and not cooking so might be worth checking.
I've never tasted plastic in anything I've done sv.
The smell of plastic come from burning fat, if you heated tto much the pan making the sauce it maybe fire the fat for few seconds and that was enough to acheive this off flavour.
I'd like to think he/she can tell the difference between the tastes of fat and plastic.
It would certainly worry ME, if a plastic odour or taste was noticeable.
Food grade, BPA free plastic bags are a must.
do this: put a pan wirh olive oil on a gas stove , heat it untill is on flames than taste the oil, you can smell and taste the plastic flavor!
Reply to this Topic
In order to add a reply to this topic please
log in or
create an account, it's free and only takes 30 seconds.
If so, please join the more than 19,000 people who receive my exclusive newsletter and get a FREE COPY of my printable modernist ingredient cheatsheet.
Just click on the green button below!
Get Started!
Thanks for signing up! I look forward to sending you recipes, links, and exclusive content and offers that you can't find anywhere else on the site, and I'll send you a free copy of my modernist ingredient cheatsheet too!
Enter your first name and email below, and I'll see you on the inside!
Thanks for signing up! I look forward to guiding you through the process of discovering sous vide with amazing articles, recipes, and tips and tricks you can use to impress your friends and family by turning out amazing food time and time again!
Enter your first name and email below, and I'll see you on the inside!
