NFT: Sous Vide Question

and it has worked well. I tried dunking them in boiling water and then putting in an ice bath, but didn't see it help with the shells at all.

I will say this though. It is so much easier just to soft boil eggs the traditional way. I really don't have the time to spend in the AM to sous vide them and it doesn't really make the eggs that much better like it does for other foods.
Sous Vide eggs - ( New Window )

Perhaps your problem is peeling the egg. Try this link

Link - ( New Window )

I poach mine using their recommendations, and they come out perfect every time. If there's one thing I won't tolerate, it's Eggs Benedict with a soft boiled egg!
https://www.seriouseats.com/2013/10/sous-vide-101-all-about-eggs.html - ( New Window )

In comment 13979686 jcn56 said:

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I poach mine using their recommendations, and they come out perfect every time. If there's one thing I won't tolerate, it's Eggs Benedict with a soft boiled egg! https://www.seriouseats.com/2013/10/sous-vide-101-all-about-eggs.html - ( New Window )

Serious Eats (really just J. Kenji Lopez Alt) is a tremendous resource for all things. Sous Vide eggs are kind of a waste of time, I'd start with thick cut proteins and go from there.

The method that's worked best for me is steaming them for 7 minutes.

Makes eggs really easy to peel. Been steaming my hard boiled eggs for a couple of years now and they always peel perfectly.

Been using a modified boil/steam method for soft boiled from Cooks Illustrated that works great:
Soft Boiled - ( New Window )

is french for airline food.

Learn some proper culinary techniques so you don't have to boil everything.

Goof Proof = No Skill

In comment 13979747 Giantophile said:

Quote:

In comment 13979686 jcn56 said: Quote: I poach mine using their recommendations, and they come out perfect every time. If there's one thing I won't tolerate, it's Eggs Benedict with a soft boiled egg! https://www.seriouseats.com/2013/10/sous-vide-101-all-about-eggs.html - ( New Window ) Serious Eats (really just J. Kenji Lopez Alt) is a tremendous resource for all things. Sous Vide eggs are kind of a waste of time, I'd start with thick cut proteins and go from there.

Honestly - I can poach a dozen eggs in no time flat using SV, whereas I'd make a big mess and have much less consistent results using the water bath method.

For soft boiled eggs I'd agree, though. The one benefit to SV is the consistency of your results. Once you get to a texture you like, you can repeat so long as you have the same size eggs, every single time.

As for SV in general - I think it has become overused, but it certainly has great uses. I don't use it for steaks unless I'm cooking for a crowd, but when I have to cook a bunch of steaks in a hurry, nothing beats having them ready for a sear in the water bath. Another favorite of mine is SV shrimp. Again, nothing you can't do without SV, but the ability to cook without overcooking is fantastic.

I use SV for poached eggs (Serious Eats link) and wouldn't do them any other way. Hard-boiled eggs, I use the InstantPot...peeling is the easiest I've seen yet. Also have tried SV for a Japanese style congealed egg (167/13min) and it's pretty cool; certainly something you can't make any other way.

SV in general, if you don't like white meat chicken because it's too dry, give SV a chance. It's the best way to make it without drying it out. Same for pork, especially pork chops. Bonus is you can eat pink pork (well, you can anyway because there is no longer trichinosis in the US) where the meat is super-moist and it's really good. I can even give (slightly) pink chicken breast a go with no fears and it's much better.

I have also made a brisket and pulled pork and spareribs with SV and either a short smoker followup or (in winter) even just liquid smoke and it's as good, if not better than anything I've done in the smoker.

In comment 13979908 NNJ Tom said:

Quote:

is french for airline food. Learn some proper culinary techniques so you don't have to boil everything. Goof Proof = No Skill

I've been considering getting one just because I'm tired when I get home and don't have the energy to really cook. Learned that the big attraction of sous vide in restaurants is that it it eliminates a big element of skill. It's a lot easier to train someone to run a sous vide machine than to teach them how to make perfectly cooked... anything. And the results are generally very consistent. Both are good for restaurants.

Haven't bought one because I'm not sure I'll really use it. Plus you still want to sear a lot of meats in a hot pan after sous vide, and you end up having to "cook" anyway, which sort of defeats my purpose in getting one.

Re eggs, it seems like a fussy way to make eggs, but I'm aware there are things that are easier/better to do in a SV machine because of the precise temperature control, and on eggs even a few degrees can make a big difference.

don't just use it to make sure the food is cooked perfectly. It is a good way to cook food without having to monitor it constantly. It can just be finished with a sear and then served. Ideal for serving a lot of people. It isn't ideal for the home cook because of the time it takes to cook.

Waiting 40 minutes for sous vide eggs to be done is OK if you have a bath going in the restaurant, but when you can soft boil eggs in 7 minutes on the stove, it makes much more sense.

In comment 13979958 Bill L said:

Quote:

I use SV for poached eggs (Serious Eats link) and wouldn't do them any other way. Hard-boiled eggs, I use the InstantPot...peeling is the easiest I've seen yet. Also have tried SV for a Japanese style congealed egg (167/13min) and it's pretty cool; certainly something you can't make any other way. SV in general, if you don't like white meat chicken because it's too dry, give SV a chance. It's the best way to make it without drying it out. Same for pork, especially pork chops. Bonus is you can eat pink pork (well, you can anyway because there is no longer trichinosis in the US) where the meat is super-moist and it's really good. I can even give (slightly) pink chicken breast a go with no fears and it's much better. I have also made a brisket and pulled pork and spareribs with SV and either a short smoker followup or (in winter) even just liquid smoke and it's as good, if not better than anything I've done in the smoker.

I've never done a brisket SV, but I've been thinking of doing one. Did you smoke after, not before? Everything I've read pointed towards smoking it first, then hitting the bath. I would imagine that the bark suffers that way, though.

I've never peeled a shell on soft boiled, I've just cracked then in half and peeled the egg out with a spoon. For hard boiled, I've rolling boiled, let sit with flame off, steamed and pressure cooked. The best method I've found is using the Cusinart Egg Cooker. Put in the water, prick the eggs, turn it on and cover, wait for the timer to sound, put the eggs in ice water for 10 minutes. Then tap, roll and peel. I've literally not had a shell stick in 3 years. I'll be using it this weekend for deviled eggs.
Link - ( New Window )

In comment 13980381 jcn56 said:

Quote:

In comment 13979958 Bill L said: Quote: I use SV for poached eggs (Serious Eats link) and wouldn't do them any other way. Hard-boiled eggs, I use the InstantPot...peeling is the easiest I've seen yet. Also have tried SV for a Japanese style congealed egg (167/13min) and it's pretty cool; certainly something you can't make any other way. SV in general, if you don't like white meat chicken because it's too dry, give SV a chance. It's the best way to make it without drying it out. Same for pork, especially pork chops. Bonus is you can eat pink pork (well, you can anyway because there is no longer trichinosis in the US) where the meat is super-moist and it's really good. I can even give (slightly) pink chicken breast a go with no fears and it's much better. I have also made a brisket and pulled pork and spareribs with SV and either a short smoker followup or (in winter) even just liquid smoke and it's as good, if not better than anything I've done in the smoker. I've never done a brisket SV, but I've been thinking of doing one. Did you smoke after, not before? Everything I've read pointed towards smoking it first, then hitting the bath. I would imagine that the bark suffers that way, though.

i couldn’t find anything consistent by read g but the timing worked better for me to smoke after. I did 155 for about 26 hrs and shocked it for a couple hours. Dried it real well then 4 hours of hickory at 275. The bark came out well and it was so tender.

and it didn't dry out at all running at 275 after so many hours in the bath? My concern would be that after being SVd, with the collagen having been released, exposing it to higher heat would start drying it.

I have a brisket sitting in the fridge downstairs, and I think I'm going to have a run at it.

It I used a packer and didn’t trim it very much either.

The smoke is after the SV andthere is a 2 or 3 hr cook in the oven too.
Link - ( New Window )

In comment 13980524 jcn56 said:

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and it didn't dry out at all running at 275 after so many hours in the bath? My concern would be that after being SVd, with the collagen having been released, exposing it to higher heat would start drying it. I have a brisket sitting in the fridge downstairs, and I think I'm going to have a run at it.

I personally would rather not have the sous vide running overnight, but I know people do it. It's recommended that you fill the sous vide with ping pong balls over the brisket to help slow evaporation. You can get a hundred ping pong balls online for about $10

I’ve run to for 3 days straight with pretty much no evaporation. I’ve run smaller containers with an aluminum foil tight cover with no issues.

And have not had any problems.

It sounds like a long time, but I feel like it st actually easier than regular cooking because I can set something up in the morning or night before and it’s ready to (sear and) eat right when I get home

Should be routinely

In comment 13980574 Bill L said:

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I’ve run to for 3 days straight with pretty much no evaporation. I’ve run smaller containers with an aluminum foil tight cover with no issues.

If you do like me, with a sous vide wand attached to the side of the container, how do you fasten a lid? I get how you could use aluminum foil.

I’ve also seen a cool set up for big volumes where they use Coleman coolers and actually drill a right-sized holel in the top.

not quite ping pong balls but same concept (hollow, plastic). They cost about $9 on Amazon. I didn't have issues with evaporation before, but found that it greatly limited the amount of runtime on the heater (using a Kill-A-Watt to validate).

I have no problem letting it run for a long time.

I'm a fairly serious cook, but that Serious Eats treatise on preparing (sous viding) soft boiled/poached eggs was a knock me over with a feather. The science of temperature and time in cooking eggs was fascinating, but cook time of 45 mins to 90 minutes and then dunking the cooked eggs in boiling water at certain temp to poach is...a lot.

So, in the SE piece, if the author is not using a traditional sous vide cooker, what cooker is he using to get eggs to such exact water temperatures?

And, what are the drawbacks to getting skilled with a traditional egg poacher i.e., perforated disks that sit on a metal canopy over a saute pan in which water can be boiled, covered, to steam the eggs?

In comment 13981273 ColHowPepper said:

Quote:

I'm a fairly serious cook, but that Serious Eats treatise on preparing (sous viding) soft boiled/poached eggs was a knock me over with a feather. The science of temperature and time in cooking eggs was fascinating, but cook time of 45 mins to 90 minutes and then dunking the cooked eggs in boiling water at certain temp to poach is...a lot. So, in the SE piece, if the author is not using a traditional sous vide cooker, what cooker is he using to get eggs to such exact water temperatures? And, what are the drawbacks to getting skilled with a traditional egg poacher i.e., perforated disks that sit on a metal canopy over a saute pan in which water can be boiled, covered, to steam the eggs?

Way more foolproof/less error prone with SV. And the boiling is really the perfectionist approach, you can poach an egg using only SV, with no need for boiling.

The real upside is when you're making a number of them, since you poach them in their shells, you can basically refrigerate and use them at your discretion over the next couple of weeks.

In comment 13981327 jcn56 said:
[quote] In comment 13981273 ColHowPepper said:
thanks, jcn, and I got a kick out of and appreciated your eggs benedict note, being a fan myself.

What sous vide brand do you have?

Cooked a Persian brisket over the weekend (250 for six hours, still tough in the middle of the cut, added an hour, cooked this two days in advance after marinating (of walnuts, pomegranate juice, garlic, and honey, s&p rubbed into the cut) for 36 hours; company came late and had it in oven, probably too high, and damn I was disappointed by the toughness in the thickest part...all this to point of sv precision...these modernists.

I was one of the early adopters who got in on the Kickstarter, so mine is missing some of the bells and whistles of the latest models, but it's solid as a rock.

I think this thread implies there's some extra work that goes in to SVing eggs. In the shell, it's basically the same as cooking on the stove, only you're using the circulator and tank instead of a pot filled with water and your stove. It's not until you get into vacuum sealing that it becomes cumbersome (if that).

Eggs definitely benefit from slow, consistent heat, as anyone who's made scrambled eggs in a double boiler can attest to. It's worth the extra effort.

In comment 13981327 jcn56 said:

Quote:

In comment 13981273 ColHowPepper said: Quote: I'm a fairly serious cook, but that Serious Eats treatise on preparing (sous viding) soft boiled/poached eggs was a knock me over with a feather. The science of temperature and time in cooking eggs was fascinating, but cook time of 45 mins to 90 minutes and then dunking the cooked eggs in boiling water at certain temp to poach is...a lot. So, in the SE piece, if the author is not using a traditional sous vide cooker, what cooker is he using to get eggs to such exact water temperatures? And, what are the drawbacks to getting skilled with a traditional egg poacher i.e., perforated disks that sit on a metal canopy over a saute pan in which water can be boiled, covered, to steam the eggs? Way more foolproof/less error prone with SV. And the boiling is really the perfectionist approach, you can poach an egg using only SV, with no need for boiling. The real upside is when you're making a number of them, since you poach them in their shells, you can basically refrigerate and use them at your discretion over the next couple of weeks.

Thats the only time I simmer the eggs...to reheat them after the SV and refrigeration. I’m also not a great egg poacher, so my SV eggs are prettier. There never shaggy like when I poach them straight.

And I don’t think it’s just for perfection. There’s some things that are almost impossible to so on a stove. Like the Japanese hot spring eggs. A stove will never give you that same consistency. Also, if you like the Starbucks egg bites, they’re easy with SV and impossible on the stove. You can do them in the InstantPot but I think SV gives better texture.

Besides eggs, it makes creme brûlée much easier than a water bath in the oven and try making yogurt on the stove.

In comment 13981344 jcn56 said:

Quote:

I think this thread implies there's some extra work that goes in to SVing eggs. In the shell, it's basically the same as cooking on the stove, only you're using the circulator and tank instead of a pot filled with water and your stove. It's not until you get into vacuum sealing that it becomes cumbersome (if that).[emphasis supplied]

LOL, hell, there's more than an implication, jcn. I had to laugh at the SE's writer's last paragraph, I thought he was going to come clean with a simple prep:

Quote:

I cook my eggs just like I'd cook them for a normal three-minute egg—plunging them into boiling water for three minutes, then shocking them for a full minute in an ice water bath. After that, I drop them into a 143°F water bath and let them cook for 45 minutes, which sets the whites to tender perfection all the way through while leaving the yolk warm, golden, and ready to flow.[emphasis supplied]

Oh, after that I just drop them into a water bath for 45 minutes @ 143....

Quote:

Eggs definitely benefit from slow, consistent heat, as anyone who's made scrambled eggs in a double boiler can attest to. It's worth the extra effort.

I've actually never tried that, easy enough to make a double boiler, maybe I'll try that this w/e. Hell, I thought I had all the accoutrements needed when my wife gave me an egg poacher a while back....This thread does have me rethinking my approach and use.

Anova, thank you, I'll check that out, as if our kitchen needs another item to reduce counter or storage space.

A container might take u safe but you could just as easily use a stockpot on the counter or stove only when you need it.

.

Yes, I'm a tad perplexed. A good buddy of mine (lives in Dallas--that must be the problem) had a sous vide set-up with the bath, the circulator (bag sealer too) set up on major counter space, an integrated unit whose footprint I'm guessing is about 24 sq. ", maybe a bit more.

When I googled Anova, it took me to Amazon, and it's this approximately flashlight-sized device (maybe narrower gauge) device that clips on to a pot, any pot, but doesn't show an electric cord or anything. So my notion of a sous vide cooker evidently ties to a more elaborate set-up.

This makes the Serious Eats article a bit smaller of a bite to chew. Tnks

perusing twitter this afternoon (captive of the virtual deep state)?