It is Sunday morning the sun is out , I want to go grocery shopping and have heaps of other things to do but I need to test out this Sous Vide device I have borrowed from work to take home.
It is my very first attempt at Sous Videing (oops spelling) and I had hassled the rep for months to borrow a demo model.
Finally when it arrived one of my work collegues "the Food Nazi" took it home with her and 3 weeks later had not done anything with it. Yes! She hogged it for 3 weeks and finally used it only to complain about it then bags to keep it (if we end up being allowed to keep it) all to herself. She didn't even use it herself instead giving it to her daughter to research and use it to cook a meal not passing on much helpful information to me.
So how difficult was it actually to use? Not that difficult actually.
Well firstly if you don't know what is or have never heard of a Sous Vide - Google and YouTube it. Very interesting information can be found about it.
Ok now I will run down on how - what - where and troubleshooting.
1. Did I read the instructions enclosed? No, it was quite easy to figure out how to set the temperature and time on the Sous Vide device.
2. What part(s) of the Sous Vide device did I have trouble with? Putting on the plastic pump cover by clicking it in. Got it on after 2 attempts. Hopefully it comes off easily after use. And yes it was more eay to take off then put on.
3. What temperature and time did I set the Sous Vide device on? I wanted it to be 2.5 hours @ 65 degrees C. OK so I was warned that I would have trouble with this therefore I boiled a large pot of water and let it stand for a while to cool it slightly but kept it above 65 degrees C. (why not kill 2 birds with 1 stone - I needed to boil the large pot of water and use it as a steamer for breakfast anyway). Then I plugged in my Sous Vide and set the temperature to 65 degrees and 2.5 hours and let it stand in the pot of hot water. The level of water wasn't enough so I added more boiling water to it and this ensured the cooled pot of water was still above 65 degrees C. The Sous Vide device should clip on the side of the pot with the plastic pump cover not touching the base of the pot it is sitting in. Note the min and max water level indicators on the Sous Vide device. I had mine half way between the 2 markers which I thought was ideal. When the sous vide device is on, there is an indicator light and the water has a visible constant rippling effect and a very faint humming sound. When the time is up after the 2.5 hours set, the device automatically turns off (the quickest last 3 minutes I have ever seen happen!The timer beeps once only and turns off immediately). Note what I did see happen after switching it on and waiting a little instead of the temperature settling at 65 degrees C as requested it regulated itself to 64.5 degrees C. OK close enough!
3. I used 3 different types of protein for my entire experiment - 2 malletted chicken thigh fillet (breast is better) roulade stuffed with spinach kale in conversion organic smoked chedder finely chopped red onions mushrooms and of course Serrano ham or prosciutto, 2 x 600g free range eggs and a duck breast with Chinese five spice sesami oil soya sauce ground pepper corns whole cloves star anise and juniper berries.
4. Each of the above proteins were placed in individual snaplock bags and lowered into the water bath however I had a few problems which didn't seem to affect the end cooking result much. I lowered each snaplock bag with the zip open and protein in them into the water bath to expel the air before snap locking them each up. This was easy for the smaller snap lock bags with the eggs and duck breast in them however more difficult with the larger double snap lock bag with the chicken roulade in it although the good old sausage cling film tied at each end method was used. The other problem I had was the larger bag even with its weight kept floating. To secure the bags in the water I would have used bulldog clips however could not find any in my stationery supplies therefore grabbed some of the better plastic pegs from the peg basket and used them which worked to secure the snaplock bags in place to the sides of the pot of water preventing them from floating around in the pot. ( normally proper vacuum sealed bags are used - you can buy these at Aldi from time to time just remember to buy the sous vide ones not the freezer ones to be used with your vacuum sealer)
5. Another problem using the Sous Vide device was I could not use a normal lid to cover the water bath as the device sticks out. Proper Sous Vide method uses a special plastic container with a lid that has a special slot for the Sous Vide device to fit through. So I left the water bath exposed to the air temperature for the entire 2.5 hours. ( maybe this is why I lost 0.5 of a degree). The water in the pot did not feel like 64.5 degrees C when I stuck my hand in it but the outside of the pot did feel hotter ( because it was stainless steel). I should have used a thermometer to check the actual water temperature in the pot matched the indicator on the sous vide device but mine is somewhere in my storage off site.
6. Ok now that it is all set up I left the sous vide to do its job and the end results for each protein ( after the 2.5 hours was up) look quite amazing despite a few leaks which did not penetrate into the water bath.
Remember to have your fry pan oven grill bbq etc ready to finish your sous vide proteins off.
I think I have just about covered everything. So now the photos below. My sign on the kitchen wall says it all.
Regulated at 64.5 degrees and only 10 minutes in
Just look at the time and still 46 minutes (below) to go!!!
Count down last 10 then 3 minutes to go and it's off. You can see the indicator lights go from blue to nothing to red with "end".
Not quite the 65 degree C eggs from Masterchef but they tasted ok - I think I will stick to my 2.5 minute boiled eggs. Who has 2.5 hour 64.5 degree C eggs for breakfast! Advantage the eggs came away from their shells when cracked nicely. That's not a dirty spoon by the way - I just spooned the duck out onto a plate below!
Not quite a Masterchef duck but still very moist and a little pink in the middle and full of flavour! No need to marinate for hours. Now to render that fat off!
Unfortunately this chicken roulade unravelled but still nice and juicy when cut in half. Finished off in the oven very moist inside eventhough the outside became a little dry when baked. The bag saved the contents and juices from ending up in the water bath. My cling wrapped sausage rolling with tied ends technique needs work! Note to self don't over stuff the roulade!
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