What's For Dinner?

These guys almost have me talked into buying one too. Those steaks and chops all look so perfect.

 

Me too.
What brand/model are you guys using?

 

I use an Anova.

The Anova Precision Cooker from Anova Culinary

 

Jump in Jdubbya! I think several F-chatters have gone with the Anova. Someone else had a Sansaire IIRC

https://sansaire.com

T

 

Paprika chicken with egg-gnocchi. (Tasty but not as good as the steaks on previous posts for sure).
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I have some 1" thick pork loin chops sous vide'ing in a roasted chipotle, mango orange marinade with rosemary and garlic. 142 for 2 hrs.

Stay tuned.......

 

FWIW, I have too many large appliances so I wanted a wand style unit. I got the Sansaire because it has more wattage (1100 v 800 with the Anova), more circulation and will be effective with larger amounts of water. The Anova, however, has wireless connectibility and the Sansaire doesn't. The Polyscience unit looks good as well, but at twice the price.

YMMV

 

At low temps they're probably not too far apart but when you get into cooking hard vegetables (180F+) the Sansaire would trump my Anova. It takes a bit of time for the Anova to reach high temps and with 10qts of water (uncovered) it begins to crawl above 160F.

 

The Sansaire definitely has more power. I tested it vs. the Anova back to back. My Sansaire well out performed my mother's Anova in terms of how long it took to heat up the water and how much water it moved. I have a cover for my vessel, but even without the lid, the Sansaire has no problem holding high temps. I don't think the Anova would perform as well.


Mark

 

Interesting stuff on the sous vide machines.

Brisket tonight. Smoked a 13 lb (pre cooked weight) brisket about a month ago. Mucho leftovers. Served a portion of it tonight with corn on the cob and baked beans.



T

 

Nice ring! I have a 10lb pork butt in the freezer that I need to do something with..

 

Thanks. Ring came out quite nice. I used pecan wood for the cook. The flat of the brisket can be a tad dry on reheating, but a little gentle moist reheating usually does the trick...T

 

Smoking is fairly new to me. Is there a benefit in using pecan wood sans flavor? I'm planning on scoring a 'year end' deal this fall and joining the smokers cult.

 

I like the wireless capability of the Anova but how often do you figure you'd use that? What's really weird is there are two apparently identical Anova units on Amazon. One is $410 and the other $149. The only difference I see is the $149 one says usually ships in one to two months?!? So are people really paying a $261 premium just to get one quicker? Or am I missing some other difference?!?
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B01761T6V4/ref=ox_sc_act_title_1?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER
https://smile.amazon.com/Anova-Culinary-WIFI-Precision-Cooker/dp/B01761T6V4/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1471314701&sr=8-2&keywords=sansaire

 

For my type of smoker, which primarily heats with charcoal, different types of wood do nothing other than add a different flavor. I like fruit woods (apple or cherry) mostly. Only with beef do I use something more robust like mesquite.



Mark

 

Yea, thats really odd. I think I paid $139 for mine. I don't recall these ever being $400+.

I have the bluetooth model and I've found myself using the app quite often. Its an easy way to watch the temp while seeing an integrated timer. Surprisingly, on the device, one click of the wheel equals .5F where as with the app you can get it to a tenth of a degree.

 

Sous vide brisket takes 48 hours in the bath then a couple more at high heat in the oven. I'm going to try it one of these weekends.

My chops tonight.
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****ing phone

 

Another success! How did you sear it?

 

Pan, in butter and rosemary garlic salt

 

Looks perfect!

 

Well done!



Mark

 

I cooked them a little hotter than I wanted to 142 since the MRS can't seem to wrap her head around the concept of medium rare pork. One video I saw had them at 135 for 4 hours. I also think a brine would have helped.

 

It's a bit sweeter and less harsh IMO than oak or hickory or mesquite. But, the real reason I use it most often is that we have 4 mature pecan trees on our property, so it's free!! 😀

I recommend the Weber bullet for starters. The water bath makes it a bit more forgiving.
T