4 ms·

Ahhhh unattended cooking really would be a huge difference. For some reason I was thinking you'd start it up, sit around for awhile waiting for the water to hea

by icey 17y ago

Ahhhh unattended cooking really would be a huge difference. For some reason I was thinking you'd start it up, sit around for awhile waiting for the water to heat, throw in your vacuum bag and then wait for it to cook. The idea of starting dinner before you leave for work is pretty compelling (on top of having it uniformly cooked to a specific temperature).

tptacek 17y ago
There's three sub-wins to unattended SV cooking (warning: I am unlikely to ever shut up about this). First, you can cook a meal for your family in 5 minutes before you leave for work. You can already do that with a crock pot (you don't know how amazing crock pots are until you have kids and a working spouse), but only for braise cuts, and only for braised applications. Second, you can cook a meal, cool it rapidly, and store it in the fridge for later. In other words, you can cook a week's meals on Sunday night, and bust them out night after night. Third, you can prep a meal, seal it, stick it in the fridge, and throw it in the SV when you're ready to cook it. Unlike microwave, "boil-in-the-bag", or crock-pot meals, SV will do these things and produce a restaurant-caliber protein for you more reliably than if you cooked it conventionally with your full attention.
- icey 17y ago
  Regarding your second point, I assume you store in the vacuum bag; but how do you reheat? Back in the SV? I've seen these on a few of the Food Network reality shows (The Next Food Network Star, The Next Iron Chef), and they always talked about them as though it was some sort of rocket science. It's nice to know that it's just a temperature controlled water bath. It seems like it's right up my alley. I have a fondness for cooking food slowly - barbecue by way of smoking and dutch oven / crock pot cooking. Of course, those modes of cooking are left for the weekends so I'm sure my wife would be happy if I found a way to cook more during the week.
  - tptacek 17y ago
    You can do it in the SV, which is I guess what you're supposed to do, but I just unbag it and heat it through on the stove. I do cook things SV and hold them in the fridge, but honestly most of the time I do that I do it for lunch. For instance, I've got a rice cooker full of cheap chicken breasts going for my next several lunches right now.

by icey 17y ago

tptacek 17y ago

There's three sub-wins to unattended SV cooking (warning: I am unlikely to ever shut up about this). First, you can cook a meal for your family in 5 minutes before you leave for work. You can already do that with a crock pot (you don't know how amazing crock pots are until you have kids and a working spouse), but only for braise cuts, and only for braised applications. Second, you can cook a meal, cool it rapidly, and store it in the fridge for later. In other words, you can cook a week's meals on Sunday night, and bust them out night after night. Third, you can prep a meal, seal it, stick it in the fridge, and throw it in the SV when you're ready to cook it. Unlike microwave, "boil-in-the-bag", or crock-pot meals, SV will do these things and produce a restaurant-caliber protein for you more reliably than if you cooked it conventionally with your full attention.

icey 17y ago
Regarding your second point, I assume you store in the vacuum bag; but how do you reheat? Back in the SV? I've seen these on a few of the Food Network reality shows (The Next Food Network Star, The Next Iron Chef), and they always talked about them as though it was some sort of rocket science. It's nice to know that it's just a temperature controlled water bath. It seems like it's right up my alley. I have a fondness for cooking food slowly - barbecue by way of smoking and dutch oven / crock pot cooking. Of course, those modes of cooking are left for the weekends so I'm sure my wife would be happy if I found a way to cook more during the week.
- tptacek 17y ago
  You can do it in the SV, which is I guess what you're supposed to do, but I just unbag it and heat it through on the stove. I do cook things SV and hold them in the fridge, but honestly most of the time I do that I do it for lunch. For instance, I've got a rice cooker full of cheap chicken breasts going for my next several lunches right now.