Sous-Vide Verdict from the SCADA Security Experts
It has been a year since Eric did his infamous sous-vide blog for techies and almost a year since I surprised him with the real thing. I thought I would give you a short update on our sous-vide adventures this year.
If you are not familiar with sous-vide, it is a method of cooking food in a water bath. If you are wondering why I am writing about cooking in a blog dedicated to SCADA security, please read Eric’s original sous-vide blog first.
Sous-Vide Success
Eric, myself, our friends and our family have been extremely impressed with sous-vide cooking. We’ve taken $8.00 chuck roasts and made them into something as delectable as prime rib. Our favorite sous-vide “protein” recipes have included pulled pork, wild BC spot prawns, and lamb chops.
And vegetables taste amazing using the sous-vide method. They are cooked perfectly - they’re not mushy, they’re firm and retain all their flavor and nutrients. (Eric likes them best when a large amount of butter has been added).
Eric Byres – expert in SCADA security and sous-vide. Here Canadian moose is going into the water bath.
Easy Recipes for Busy Work Nights
Sous-vide has turned out to be a healthy (aside from Eric’s added butter), tasty and an easy way to cook food. We do have to plan the night before, as sous-vide isn’t fast, it takes a little prep. As an example of how easy it is, we recently made pulled pork. We simply added spices and the meat to a vacuum seal bag and dropped that into the sous-vide oven one night.
The next evening we came home after a long day at work, pulled it out of the water, added some BBQ sauce and voila…instant meal. Now, we always have vacuum-packed sous-vide options in our freezer, ready to go for busy work nights.
Moose is the most exotic item, we have prepared in our sous-vide oven, and with great success. Don’t try to put the whole moose in at once though!
What Can’t You Sous-Vide?
The most unusual thing we’ve cooked in the sous-vide this year were moose steaks (very Canadian eh?). The steaks were put in a sous vide bag with rosemary, garlic and steak spice. After 12 hours we took them out of the water bath, seared them in a hot pan and served them. I’ve eaten a lot of moose in my life that I did not enjoy, but this was truly amazing!
We did have one sous-vide disaster this year (of course when we had guests for dinner). We thought we’d impress our friends by taking tough beef chuck steaks and turning it into filet mignon. Let’s just say our guests were not impressed and neither were we. It was unbelievably tough – maybe another 12 hours in the sous-vide would have saved it.
Sous-Vide Supreme Customer Service
I would also like to end by mentioning the great customer service we received from Sous Vide Supreme. Recently our vacuum sealer stopped working properly. We couldn’t find the receipt, but Eric called them anyway. No problem, within two minutes they looked us up, acknowledged that the unit was still under warranty and offered to ship a brand new vacuum sealer at no charge to us.
When Eric asked how to return the old unit, the service representative told him not to bother because he believed us and returning the old unit was just a waste of postage. Now that’s customer service!
So all in all, after a year of sous-vid-ing, we give it a two thumbs up. This has been a great Christmas gift for techies and cooks. Plus it comes with technical support suitable for mission critical operations. Both Eric and I highly recommend it.
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Related Links
- Blog: Sous-vide Cooking turns SCADA Engineer into Gourmet Chef
- 2nd Annual Controls Engineer Holiday Gift Suggestion
- Wild BC Spot Prawns, Webpage: About
- Wikipedia, Webpage: Moose
- Sous Vide Supreme, Webpage: Home
- Sous Vide Supreme, Webpage: Recipes
Comments
Happy Holidays
Joann, Eric,
Let me wish you Happy Holidays and a good start into a fresh new year first!
Thanks also for the entertaining post sharing your chef experiences. After revisiting last year's posts I would have expected though that Eric by now has developed an interface between his iPhone app and the oven such that when looking up the cooking times in the iPhone, a simple guesture would automatically program the oven to the selected time (would licking the phone's touchscreen be appropriate in this situation, maybe rather shaking the phone in joy over the expected treat?)... ;-)
Again, Happy Holidays,
Ragnar
Happy Holidays
Hi Ragnar
No iPhone control app for Sous Vide yet, but Eric has been trying to hook up the garage and patio lights to an iPhone (with some success).
So I worry that your idea could be next. Then a terrorist might hack our sous vide oven and over cook the roast. That might be quite a blog ;-)
Wishing you a great holiday season and a very Happy New Year!
Joann
Sous-Vide Supreme - Full Size vs Demi ?
Hi Eric & Joann:
I hate to admit it, but you have sold us on another kitchen tool! Now the question is, which one. Costco has the SousVide Supreme Demi model for $329, in a “package” that includes the bag sealer, a few bags, and so forth. It has about 60% of the capacity of the full sized model, according to the SousVide web site, and some of the insides and other parts are anodized aluminum rather than Stainless. The full sized SousVide Supreme model, direct from SousVide, again in a package with the sealer, cookbook, and so forth, is now $500. I would buy the full size model just because of the materials differences, but it is a little larger on the outside, so it would take up a little more kitchen space. What is you recommendation?
Happy Holidays and all our best in 2013
Bob W.
Sous-Vide Supreme - Full Size vs Demi?
Hi Bob
I would get the bigger Sous-Vide Supreme if you plan to do big cuts of meat (like a moose roast), but I think the small Sous-Vide Supreme Demi would work for most couples. A smaller unit would be easier to handle when full of water. Enjoy!
Wishing you all the best this holiday season a very Happy New Year!
Joann
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