Sous Vide cookbooks/guides

[Ken B]

So I have finally graduated from total Rube Goldberg contraptions to ownership of a circulator. Since I actually have some control now, I feel like I need to tighten up my sous vide game.

Anyone looked at used the Jason Logsdon books? Are there good web resources? IS the Keller book worthwhile?

[Corey A]

Some good info here: http://www.douglasbaldwin.com/sous-vide.html and http://forums.egullet.org/topic/136274-sous-vide-index/. Primer from Cooking Issues although not sure if this is fully functional: http://web.archive.org/web/201208022050 ... m/primers/

Which unit did you end up getting?

[DanB]

Good stuff. ->Taking notes.

[Ken B]

I was given an Underground Circulator as a gift. Nice gift. Now, of course, there is the expectation that the gift giver will be thanked with crazy molecular meals.

http://www.undergroundcirculators.com/

Thanks for the links!

[Corey A]

I saw a few of those listed on eBay from time to time - please let me know how you like it as I may try to pick one up in the future. Looking forward to your sous vide cooking endeavors!

[DanB]

I'm still using the beer cooler method with nothing more than a very good German industrial thermometer and a good vacuum sealer. Results have been excellent so far. Did 15 ribeyes at once and another dinner with eight super-thick Iowa style chops. I reckon I'm going to be doing mostly large batches so I'll be looking for ways to pimp the cooler to automate control of the heat.

[Corey A]

Soon, we'll be in the realm of immersion circulators for the home cook for under $400.00. I managed to snag an unused lab circulator a while back and also have a Nomiku funded that should be here in March.

Now, I want to snag a Vacmaster VP112 chamber sealer. It's not really necessary but I'd like to have it for ease of use, compression, quick marination, etc.

[Ken B]

Used the Douglas Baldwin guidelines for the ribs, but didn't have time for an overnight. They were tender, but not as falling apart as I might have hoped, the collagen hadn't fully rendered. But 8 hours in the bath and the meat picked up a good flavor from it's marinade. Conveniently, the medium done-ness and soft cooked egg were at the same temp setting.

[JimDantin]

For the DIY crowd, I successfully built a rig using one of the PID controllers from ebay. There are kits available now for around $75 for the controller, solid state relay and temperature probe. I used a electric water heater element as the heat source - far less expensive and more robust than other options. I use an aquarium air pump for circulation.

The whole thing is housed in a Cambro, with the heater, probe, and air pump mounted to the lid.

I did a lot of testing with multiple thermometers and the temperature is extremely even throughout the water bath.

Now all I need to do is actually USE it!