I hadn't used my Anova Nano in years and when I pulled it out to sous vide some chicken breast, this warning popped up in the app:

Found the Sam's Club meat counter secret stash last week; bottom of the stack in the back row.

Dry brined for 18hrs, 135 deg for 8.5hrs, seared off in avocado oil that I fried off some rosemary and thyme in and basted with a few nobs of butter during the last few minutes. I then let it rest for 10min, sliced and served with caramelized onions and potatoes, which got the juice from the bag and the last bit of oil from the steak.

Best steak I've ever made.

Sam's Club sells these two packs of picanha near me. I usually sous vide the entire portions as roasts, but this time I decided to cut them into steaks.

I sous vided them at 137F for 3 hours. I finished them on a charcoal chimney. Salt, pepper, and garlic before bagging. Added a little salt when I seared them.

They ended up decent, but a bit chewy. I think a longer cook might have been better. I think I would add a bit more salt next time as well.

I do like cutting them into steaks first because they are easier to trim. There's usually quite a bit of fat cap.

For a family dinner, I think I would do them as roasts at a lower temperature for a longer amount of time.

Do you guys like to do them as roasts or do you cut them into steaks?

Ok, so I’ve done Kenji’s 165°f for 12 hours a few times. I love them that way. More importantly, so do my kids. Here is my quandary: based on our schedule this week, I need to serve the ribs tonight, but I’ve just put them in the bath at 8:30am. I need to take them out of the bath around 6:30pm to finish them. My current plan is to go 10 hours at 170°f. I don’t really want to go higher in temp, for a few reason. Anybody have any experience with 170°f that isn’t awful? Time?

For the record, I know that I am overthinking this and I should welcome the forced experiment. But overthinking food is what we do, right? Also, as folks with kids will know, no matter how many times they’ve had the delicious ribs, one off experience could mean years of deciding that they no longer like ribs.

Update: I decided to turn the ribs down and just do 165 for as long as I had. Ended up doing 170 for 3 hours and 165 for 7 hours and they were great. Honestly, the only difference that I could tell was that cartilage end took a little bit more gnawing at to get clean.

Picked up an American Wagyu chuck at Costco—grabbed the best-marbled one.

Then I sous vide it for 36 hours at 165°F.
The chuck roast came out like beef ribs!!

The Dish:
Chuck roast with red wine reduction over mushroom cream pasta​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

I did an overnight cook of a pork butt. 165 for 24 hours. As I was removing it from the water the vacuum sealed bag gave out.

The water had been sitting around for a couple weeks before I used it today. Of course it was at 165 for 24 hours...

I just deleted a much longer post for the TL;DR version: I have two pork shoulders, already have a backlog of SV carnitas in the freezer, and the wife doesn't like BBQ style pulled pork. I'm doing a "roast" style hunk thats going in the bag seasoned to be cooked 145/6-8 hrs and finished on the grill.

Any other ways of pre-prepping pork shoulder that might be fun?

Hi everybody!

My family had a dinner at a Chinese restaurant and one of the dishes we had was beef brisket noodle soup. My nieces loved it! And that brings my question: Most of the brisket recipes here is for sous vide and then smoke. Does anybody have a recipe to "stew" the brisket?

The intent would be to prepare a (Chinese) red braise "sauce" and add the sous vide brisket to finish. For this last stage, maybe not straight after the time has passed, rather, let it cool down first so I can cut down into bite size piece. Any ideas appreciated!

2lb tri tip for 3hrs at 132°F was a complete success. This sub gets people abusing their tri tip for anywhere between 5 and 12hrs, and I argue that is way too long. It’s not a brisket. A well marbled tri tip shouldn’t need that much time in the soak.

This one came out perfectly at 3hrs with only a 5-10 minute rest. No chill. Salt, pepper, fresh garlic, fresh thyme, fresh sage. Seared in butter.

Salt in the bag, then finished on the barbecue. First time pork belly, was a bit difficult to slice into proper pieces that did not fall apart. Not sure if that is normal?

137, 3 hours, olive oil and rosemary in bag. Seared with canola oil and Searzall. Sides: sautéed mushroom, garlic bread (was out of shrimp). Yum. Q who prefers 131?

Hello,

I'm looking to make some sous vide chicken for a chicken ceaser salad that I'm making.

I want to slice the chicken relatively thin. I have a food processor with a disc, and I plan to do that.

My thinking is, sousn vide the chicken, put it out and let it come to room temp. Then maybe freeze it for 30 min before putting it through the disc.

I could cut it using a knife too, but admitingly I'm not tat fussed on the cut.

Any issues you foresee with this?

Bottom of the garlic bread burnt a bit but was still great. Filet Mignon sous vide from frozen for 3 1/2 hours at 130° and a quick sear

Hey guys, just trying to pick some brains here on what temp I should go with.

So.. for my Bday, I picked up a porterhouse, and a few ribeyes. I only have one sous vide machine. I was wondering what temp you guys would run at. My whole family enjoys medium rare, so I was planning on 132 for 2-3 hours.

That said, i see a lot of 137 for ribeyes so I was thinking maybe 135 would be meeting in the middle.

Any insights are appreciated. And no, this time, there will be no butter in the bag! lol

I had some water get in the bag before cooking and I'm unsure what the result will be. It was a 3/4 pound steak that I dry brined. Probably 2-3 oz of water got in the bag and I didn't notice until it was done cooking.

We are doing 2 ribeyes. We want one to 129°f internal and one to 122 internal. Only have one working circulator currently.

Plan is to pull the 122 just before it reaches temp (this typically takes 40-50 mins) and hold it on the counter. Once the 129 reaches temp (usually about 10 more minutes) we'll cool it back to 122, put the 122 back in, and hold at 122 for an hour.

Cool in the frig for 10-15 minutes and then sear.

Searing should kill surface bacteria?

How much internal bacteria is there likely to be? 122 seems an extra bad hold temp but most of what I've read says that there is largely zero internal bacteria, only surface.

One concern with internal would be the temp probes going through the surface to reach internal but that seems of minimal concern.

Anyone have tried the vacuum silicone bag in plastic bag trick to get a great vacuum out of a silicone bag? As the tin says--put food in silicone bag then put bag in plastic bag and vacuum seal the plastic bag so that the silicone bag gets vacuum sealed.

Typically, silicone bags don't get as tight of a vacuum as plastic with pockets of air, probably due to silicone being too rigid and vacuum sealers being too weak for that, but this seems promising.

I'm also wondering if silicone bags can be sealed with a vacuum chamber sealer which I'm also considering.

Has anybody here tried spatchcocked Bresse or other 16ish week old heritage bird sous vide? I'm thinking slightly longer than other whole chicken sous vide recipes I've seen. Dried and grilled to brown after.

I've been raising Bresse for several years and I absolutely love the breed - personality, eggs and meat. I'm looking for new ways to cook my cull roosters. 16 weeks old. I love them in old french recipes, personally - coq au vin, Fricassée de volaille à la crème. Perfect cooking method for this type of chicken. But my husband would like less sauce, more "grilled". Not sure if this age bird can be tender enough for that... but maybe if I sous vide. These 16 week old cockerel birds are like gold to me... I don't want to waste one on an untried recipe! Thanks for any personal experiences you can share.

Here's a recipe I worked with Ai to get. But really... 8-10 hours? I'd really love some human feedback.

🌡️ Phase 2: The Sous Vide Setup

Because a 16-week-old heritage bird has strong connective tissue in the legs, a standard 2-to-4-hour chicken cook will leave it incredibly chewy. You must extend the time to mimic a slow braise.

• Target Temperature: 148°F (64.5°C)
  • Why? This is the ultimate sweet spot. It is high enough to gently break down the leg collagen over time, but low enough to preserve the velvety, juicy texture of the Bresse breast meat.
• Cooking Time: 8 to 10 hours

Step-by-Step Guide:

1. Season: Rub the flattened bird with salt, pepper, a touch of softened butter or duck fat, and fresh aromatics like tarragon or thyme.
2. Bag: Place the spatchcocked bird completely flat into an extra-large vacuum bag. If using a chamber sealer or heavy-duty edge sealer, pull a strong vacuum. If using the water displacement method, ensure you use a heavy weight (like a cast-iron skillet on top of the bag) to keep the flat bird completely submerged.
3. Cook: Drop the bag into your preheated 148°F (64.5°C) water bath and cook for a minimum of 8 hours, and no longer than 10 hours.

🔥 Phase 3: The Critical Finish (Crisping & Rendering)

Heritage birds carry highly prized, flavorful fat underneath their thick skin. If you do not render this fat properly during the final step, the skin will be rubbery.

1. Chill immediately: Remove the bag from the water bath and submerge it in an ice bath for 10–15 minutes. This cools the meat down so the core does not overcook when you blast the skin with high heat. [1]
2. Dry meticulously: Remove the cockerel from the bag. Wipe the skin completely dry with paper towels. Leave it uncovered in the fridge for 30 minutes if you have time—dry skin is the secret to a shatteringly crisp texture.
3. High-Heat Roast:
   • Preheat your oven to 450°F (232°C).
   • Brush the skin side generously with melted duck fat or clarified butter.
   • Place the spatchcocked bird skin-side up on a wire rack set inside a baking sheet.
   • Roast for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the skin turns a deep, mahogany golden brown.
4. Let the bird rest for 10 minutes before carving straight down the middle to serve.

I use a su-v gun, I take it out from the bath let it rest for around 10min and then seal it for around 1 min for each side, what I'm doing wrong ?

I'm dry brining it for 24 hours and then I'm planning to cook it at 134 tomorrow for 2 hours and serve it for dinner Saturday after a good sear.

Super pumped about this as we rarely have enough space in the fridge to dry brine overnight.

I have a NY strip on the tougher side. I sousvide at 125 for 2 hours, then seared in pan. It was too tough but taste was good. Can I sousvide longer to break it down?

Need a vacuum sealer mostly for portioning out for meal prep. Seems like chamber vacuum sealers are better than the external ones in every way except price and size. I have heard of many failures all associated with the external ones like FoodSaver, but not for chamber ones (I'm sure external ones represent the overwhelming majority because of price, size, and ease-of-use).

• Are there any budget chamber vacuum sealers worth considering? VacMaster makes some highly recommended ones at ~$1k range. I'm thinking ~$500-700, (especially if it's self-serviceable or parts-replaceable) is more attractive.

• Bags for chamber sealer are dirt cheap, are the rolls for external sealers (cheaper than the first-party branded ones) similarly cheap?

Any recommendations are much appreciated--I just don't like the idea of $75-$200 external sealers failing after 3-5 years or so if a chamber vacuum sealer can last or is serviceable for many more years.

60°C for 2 hours.

Raspberry-lime sauce with fresh mint & basil topping. Fresh and juicy

I sometimes get off flavors from LAB when I attempt long cooks at low temps (140f for 48h+) if I want short rib at medium rare.

I've seen people online say stuff like I should lightly fry my aromatics, or I should vaccum everything and blanch in boiling water for 30s. But I never see the guys at chef steps do that when they sous vide tough meats. And blanching btw doesnt work.

Thoughts?

Rubbed with 4:1 black pepper:table salt (wouldve been 2:1 if I wasnt out of kosher salt) and a little msg cured 48 hours

Smoked for about 2.5 hours on mesquite, probably go 4 next time with hickory. The mesquite is awesome, I just prefer hickory for longer smokes and was out at the moment.

Put into ziploc bags with tallow and sous vide at 176f for 24 hours. Bags ice bathed and rested in fridge overnight, next day reheated in sous vide at 140f for 1 hour.

It's fantastic, I'll go a little harder on the bark next time and maybe into a high heat oven to crisp the bark on the reheat. But otherwise no notes, wouldn't change a thing unless I was doing different seasonings (I have some pastrami brining)

Edit; while the seasoning is where I personally like it, I suppose I would do % salt the next time just for consistency