These beef ribs were far and away the best ribs I have ever eaten. Not only did we fail to photograph the first batch because we ate them so quickly, they didn't even get plated because we ate them standing up over the counter. For breakfast. The meat is completely tender and fall-off-the-bone melted, while still being medium-rare. Sauces or seasonings would have detracted from the perfect meat flavor.
"Sous vide" is French for "under vacuum" and cooking en sous vide typically refers to vacuum packing ingredients, then cooking them under very strict temperature control. "Precision cooking" might be a more accurate term, but all gastronomical things tend to gravitate toward the French descriptions. When sealed in plastic, the aromatics cannot vaporize so flavors are more intense, and food can be cooked in water baths held at specific temperatures for long periods of time without the water soaking or otherwise changing the texture of the food. Sous vide is a food service technique that has been embraced by the world's best chefs, and with some equipment that is not outrageously expensive, you can duplicate some of their dishes.
My two favorite references for sous vide are Thomas Keller's Under Pressure and A Practical Guide to Sous Vide Cooking by Douglas Baldwin.
Here's the short form of the recipe:
Salt and vacuum pack as many beef ribs as will fit in your water bath (I prefer grass-fed beef).
Cook at 135 F for 48 hours.
Sear with propane torch.
Eat immediately - sharing is optional.
"Sous vide" is French for "under vacuum" and cooking en sous vide typically refers to vacuum packing ingredients, then cooking them under very strict temperature control. "Precision cooking" might be a more accurate term, but all gastronomical things tend to gravitate toward the French descriptions. When sealed in plastic, the aromatics cannot vaporize so flavors are more intense, and food can be cooked in water baths held at specific temperatures for long periods of time without the water soaking or otherwise changing the texture of the food. Sous vide is a food service technique that has been embraced by the world's best chefs, and with some equipment that is not outrageously expensive, you can duplicate some of their dishes.
My two favorite references for sous vide are Thomas Keller's Under Pressure and A Practical Guide to Sous Vide Cooking by Douglas Baldwin.
Here's the short form of the recipe:
Salt and vacuum pack as many beef ribs as will fit in your water bath (I prefer grass-fed beef).
Cook at 135 F for 48 hours.
Sear with propane torch.
Eat immediately - sharing is optional.
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Restaurant and food service-level sous vide equipment can be quite expensive. I managed to spend under $200 in addition to equipment I already owned for an at-home sous vide setup. I use:
Sous Vide Magic PID temperature controller purchased from Auber Instruments on Ebay
cheap crock pot1 without electronics (just an on/off switch)
FoodSaver Vac 200 (the link goes to a model that's close enough) Vacuum Sealing Kit (borrowed from helava)
Propane torch
Update: since I purchased my equipment, Sous Vide Supreme has started making an all-in-one unit designed for home use. The regular 10L unit is $400, and the still-quite-roomy 8.7L Demi is $300 - comparison here.
1 A rice cooker or electric kettle can also work; the variables are size of container, and speed of heating. I usually pre-heat the water, as crock pots heat up VERY slowly. We've got an industrial-sized rice cooker on order. The key is to make sure your heating device doesn't have a brain, as the PID controller works by cycling the power on and off and you can't be resetting your crock pot each time.
Sous Vide Magic PID temperature controller purchased from Auber Instruments on Ebay
cheap crock pot1 without electronics (just an on/off switch)
FoodSaver Vac 200 (the link goes to a model that's close enough) Vacuum Sealing Kit (borrowed from helava)
Propane torch
Update: since I purchased my equipment, Sous Vide Supreme has started making an all-in-one unit designed for home use. The regular 10L unit is $400, and the still-quite-roomy 8.7L Demi is $300 - comparison here.
1 A rice cooker or electric kettle can also work; the variables are size of container, and speed of heating. I usually pre-heat the water, as crock pots heat up VERY slowly. We've got an industrial-sized rice cooker on order. The key is to make sure your heating device doesn't have a brain, as the PID controller works by cycling the power on and off and you can't be resetting your crock pot each time.
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You can also finish these on a very hot grill or cast iron pan for true full-flavored meaty crust. Hit the outside with the seasoning of your choice, then sear or grill at VERY high heat just long enough to finish the exterior.
Seriously, it is fast and easy, especially if you are serving several steaks at once, like for a large group of guests.
One other thing... there are several good water bath controllers out there for about $150 or so... and in my opinion they are FAR better than the sousvide supreme "appliances"... they have a more specific thermal range and you can use them in anything from a crock pot to a rice cooker! My favorite is the controller made by a great little company in Canada called "sous vide magic"... the guy that created the business is an engineer so he prices his products like one... (i.e. - great prices on solid electronics).
I use my mother's old electric roaster oven that holds 19 liters of water. The roaster oven, the Sous Vide Magic controller, a cheap aquarium pump and a roaster like this one: http://www.amazon.com/Rival-RO180-18-Quart-Roaster-White/dp/B000G0HPEI/ref=sr_1_43?s=kitchen&ie=UTF8&qid=1333645160&sr=1-43. It goes for $20 on Amazon and got a 4 1/2 star rating. Your total cost comes in at less than $200 and you have a capacity almost double that of the "appliance."
What's not to like?
Have you considered doing your big souse vide in a stock pot that's on a portable stove heating coil rather than a big rice cooker? You could just hook your PID controller to the burner, put the pot on top, and souse vide away. You wouldn't have good insulation, but you would have plenty of space.
I am sure that you already know this but there are several good water bath controllers out there for about $150 or so... and in my opinion they are FAR better than the sousvide supreme "appliances"... they have a more specific thermal range and you can use them in anything from a crock pot to a rice cooker! My favorite is the controller made by a great little company in Canada called "sous vide magic"... the guy that created the business is an engineer so he prices his products like one... (i.e. - great prices on solid electronics).
I even got the cost down to to about $70.
Interesting technique... are there any other cuts/animals that work well? Too bad it requires (relatively) special equipment... the time doesn't seem that bad if it's cooking on its own. And the searing at the end w/ the torch was clever... it didn't seem to penetrate deep at all.
I really got into sous vide so that I could better cook my wild boar sausages. They don't have much fat, and tend to dry out if you're not extremely careful when pan frying. Vacuum packing them, cooking at 140-145, then finishing in a hot pan for 1 minute per side yields excellent results.