The Sous-vide thread

So my wife is away for a couple of weeks, and I am really hungover so I have just purchased a sous-vide machine.  It won't get here for a few days so I have a bit of time to work out exactly what I am supposed to do with a sous-vide machine, but does anyone have any experience of one?  Regale me with your tips, advice and anecdotes.  

I just had one of these for breakfast

Follow yr nose ... or something...

You realise that estrogen leaches from the plastic into your food when cooked at a high enough temp for long enough time? Might be if you use the Sous Vide machine enough while she's away that she will be pleasantly surprised at the state of the house, but not so pleasently surprised with the state of her husband. i.e. both have the womans touch.

I did a double take as I had it as the suicide thread on 1st glance. As you were

It may turn out that way if I savagely undercook some chicken in it.

estrogen huh?  That is interesting as it was not mentioned in the 8 seconds of research I did on sous-vides before buying one.

I reckon youve got tjis one in the bag Frankie!

No you didn't buy one.

Not sure if that was said as a fact ("no, you are lying, you did not buy one"), or if you are saying it like this:

A what?

a marathon a sous-vide.

Because I live in an apartment I have a concierge, which was great as they collected everything that came that was too big for the letterbox. Apparently a couple of weeks ago they changed the rules on what they would collect, and my sous-vide was sent back. This has pissed me off as I was going to try sous-viding (?) something for my Sunday dinner.

Order a nutri blast while you're at it

Do you watch Chef Steps on YouTube? They sous-vide everything, good videos though, site has decent recipes.

had one of those when I ate a week old curry for dinner on Wednesday night.

Just googled a nutribullet, and have to say that I am a bit confused as to why it is better than just juicing something?

Don't worry Frankie, everyone sees them as a blender. All be it, a more powerful blender. It has blades and it chops things up. The only oeople who don't  think it is a blender is the TV advert idiot.

Could it blend things into 1000s of luminous beads?

But wait, there's more....

right - update for those who are interested. Sous-vide is back with the distributors, and I am trying to pinpoint when it will be delivered so I can organise to be home for it. The fact that I am struggling to even get my machine gives me no faith that I am of sufficient intelligence to be able to use it when it finally arrives.

fudgeing thing was supposed to arrive today but another fudge up. Spoke to them yesterday and confirmed that it was definitely arriving at some stage today. Arranged to work from home to be there to receive (as the fudgeing concierge does not accept things this size anymore *shakes fist*). The wankers ring this morning and say that there has been a mix up and it will be coming tomorrow. I cannot be home tomorrow as well so it has to be Saturday now.

I am not convinced that I will ever lay eyes on this shark-zipping pile of cod.

(this should really be in the things that piss you off thread)

Whatever happened to your adopt a child and a tiger venture?

we have a child in Bangladesh who sends us poor artwork every few months. To be completely honest, I am a bit disappointed with him.

I wanted a tiger as well but after I was informed that I could not choose where it lived (with my boy in Bangladesh) I lost a lot of interest and never got round to it. I am sure that if I could have got the tiger there, my boy's handwriting and art would have gotten a lot better pretty damn quickly.

Around his birthday and Christmas we usually send out boy a present of some kind. This christmas he will probably be getting a sous-vide machine.

sous-vide and vacuum packing machine arrived today.  So excited I have ordered a takeaway for dinner.

Wife back tomorrow, so her first meal back in blighty will be some fudgeed up catastrophe that I have spent all day on. 

Just great, it arrives the day before your master chef gets home, when you needed jt for the last three weeks.

Just order double takeaways and then if you muck your boil in the bag dinner you can have leftovers.

right - it is open and ready to go

and out of the box, and with the vacuum sealer

was going to give this recipe a go - a piece of piss, huh?

sous-vide steak receipe

Do you have kosher salt?

I am going to guess not, although I do have some meat salt which I have decided will work just as well.  Just bought a couple of decent looking rump steaks from my local butcher

just served up my steaks with some garlic mashed potato and some veges - really nice, although would be better with a fillet steak.  Wife seemed relatively unimpressed with the whole meal, but I am putting that down to her jetlag.

Thinking I will give a chicken breast a go next.

Brocolli and no cheese sauce, Asparagus with no Hollandaise was your problem.

wife slow cooked a pork shoulder for 8 hours in it yesterday - lovely and tender.

This thing is paying for itself already

I too dabbled in haute cuisine last weekend. On request I made eggs Benedict. But instead of a muffin I used toast and we didn't have hollandaise sauce.

so you cooked an egg?  Well played.

wife did 4 hour slow cooked short ribs with cheesy mash potatoes this evening.  Now officially paid off and in credit.

I am going to attempt sous-vided brisket on Sunday - expect disaster and potentially a story involving a small fire.

turns out brisket should be cooked in a sous-vide for 48-72 hours. I learnt this at about midday today.  Went and bought some roast beef and cooked it for 6 hours. Was aiming for medium rare, but it ended up medium.  Was pretty good though

Did you do Yorkshire Puddings to have with your roast?

yeah, but not homemade ones - they are the one thing that we "heat and eat".

I fudgeing love yorkies.