We are back home in the UK and I want to roast a couple of veal joints for a party tomorrow.  Heston Blumenthal has a recipe for slow roasting beef in a 60C degree oven for about 6 hours until it hits 55C internal temperature.  I have made it a few times and it gives you an edge to edge consistent pink meat.  Today I had two joints and I decided that it would be easier and more energy efficient to achieve the same effect in my sousvide water bath.

Here are the two joints.

I seared them on a very very hot griddle and managed to avoid greying too much of the meat.

 Here is the first one seasoned and ready to be vacuum packed and go into the water bath.

I decided to try cooking the second joint in the KK, knowing that it would be tough to keep the temp as low as 60C consistently.  I used fresh cocoshell briquettes to reduce the chance of any hotspots and I put my cast iron smoker pot over the coals to shield the meat.  I thought I would get a little smoke but it turns out there is just not enough heat to get the woodchips going.   Here is the KK joint all wired up to the MEATER block.  The problem I now have is with connectivity.  The good news is that the MEATER seems to be staying connected to the thermometers and so my job is narrowed down to trying to bump up the wifi signal to that corner of the garden.  When I last connected up the KK was at 80C so I dialled the top hat down just a little to avoid snuffing out the fire.  I will report back tomorrow when I have both joints sliced for the taste test.  

I have seen where salt and pepper is put on the Prime Rib and put into the Refrigerator for 24 hours or longer.  Would Season Salt do the same thing ?  Lawry's puts Season Salt.

I look forward to any information.

Thank you.

I like reusable stuff and ordered reusable sous vide bags from SousVideArt https://www.amazon.com/Reusable-Vacuum-Storage-Sizes-Premium/dp/B0792GZLKD. The first few bags I used (for sous vide) were okay, so initially, I was really happy. Since then the bags have become unsealed (new ones) in both the sous vide bath and the freezer. I've sealed a bag and sucked the air out only to find a few minutes later, having not even put it in the water yet or into the freezer, that the seal has leaked and it's full of air. I've had meat juice get into the plunger. I was really excited about having a reusable bag instead of wasting plastic, but these just aren't it.

Do you use reusable ones? Which brand is the best? I've found SousVideArt in this review https://wisepick.org/best-sous-vide-bags/, but I'm not sure I can trust it again. Please, give me your suggestions! I'd appreciate all your thoughts and opinions.

P.S. I love sous vide and hunting, so here some pics (especially for those who asked me to share them )

I like parts of this technique, and dislike others.. Did not like his way of gravy making, so kinda did it my own way.

I cut up the. bird as he did.  Vacuum sealed and baptized in 2 SV tanks as instructed. 150 for dark, 131 for breast. Both for 24 hrs.

I took the carcass and wings and scraps, and chopped up a leek, celery, carrots, onions, garlic and a few bayleaves and peppercorns. Into a shallow pan @ 425 turning once at 45 min, and the letting it go another hour or so until it was well browned with a nice fond on the bottom. I scraped out all the awesome brown "crud" as Mad Max calls It and reserved in the fridge for later. deglazed the pan with water and put it all  that was left in a pressure cooker, with water to almost cover.

Brought to high pressure for an hour, then strained out all solids, stole some extraneous scraps from the solids, dusted with cajun spices, and had a snack  I mean a feller has to keep his strength up!

Took the stock and am reducing bit today, with the giblets and neck. When it is ready will thicken with a little roux if needed, and chop up the neck meat and giblets and toss them back in.. (along with the "crud")

 I do admit, my house smelling like heaven right now!

This evening, will pull the turkey out, pop into the KK until deliciously brown, and along with some SV taters, feast away!  

I will let ya'll know how it comes out!

The kraut has been sitting quietly in the corner of our dining room for the last month, fermenting away in this crock pot.

I tasted it today and it was just right.  A bright sour taste.  Into jars and into the fridge.

I have made salt beef a few times using this recipe: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1359876/Salt-beef-You-make-dont-forget-tell-half.html  I usually use rolled brisket but this time I bought a hind quarter of beef and so used a silverside instead.  Less fat.  I hope that won't mean less taste.  The salt beef has been in the cure for a week and, usually, the next step requires me to boil it for about three hours.  We are going out this evening and I wondered if I could cook the salt beef sous vide instead.  I looked up a few recipes online and they ranged from 48 hrs to 3 days at 60C.  Given I am due to be away for work and will return at about the 60 hr limit, this seemed ideal.  Here is the beef vacuum packed:

I have put the sous vide machine on my husband's work bench in the plant room.  I have also told him it is meant to be there and I have not forgotten it..

All that remains is to make the rye bread for the sandwich of the year.  The shaped loaves are just waiting to go in the KK.  I am looking forward to this sandwich.  A fair bit of effort but a lot cheaper than a ticket to New York.  

Plated.

Thanks,

Paul

Lobster roll (butter poached lobster w/tarragon, thyme and Old Bay) and shrimp salad (butter poached shrimp with a mayo dressing of dill, chives, red onion, celery and Old Bay). Both seafoods were cooked sous vide. Paired with homemade potato chips cooked in the air fryer, with rosemary olive oil, Old Bay and flaked sea salt. So what pairs with that – Bubbly! Trader Joe’s bubbly is decent and it’s like $13!

Ready to sous vide.

Done.

Added to breakfast plate along with some KK bacon, Sygyzies' home ground flour bread, and a fried egg with Black Urfa Chili.

It only take a few mins to get this stove going and I usually do that in a KK for safety sake. I wish I had taken a pix of the Konro grate on the Solo Stove, next time. It is such a quick way of searing, fantastic.

Here are the results-

This stove is small and it is not going to do searing for a crowd but for a small family,  perfect because it only takes a few mins to light and then sear.

Sprinkled on sumac and Zanzibar pepper.

I messed up on the scallops and the searing, not enough fire by the time I was doing this. However they still tasted just fine but would have benefited from searing.

The scallops were done sous vide and I just needed to sear them but...

Plated with the last of my spinach, a sad day.

Started with sauteing onions in Red Palm Oil.

Chop is ready.

Plated.

Oh, I can just taste it.

The last two morsels.

 That is some of the Lebanese Mountain bread that was just made recently. My eggs are fresh and I has a difficult time getting it out of the shell as you can see by all the ragged edges.

The egg was very creamy, both the white and the yolk were very tasty and both had a nice texture.

Purple crack added. 

Next up, SV coffee. 

So far I'm very happy with this machine, it is quiet as a mouse, small, about 1.5 X 11.5 inches and 1100 watts.

Brined the chops overnight is a light brine, then rinsed in the morning and sprinked with granulated garlic and pepper.

While the chop are in the bath at 139F made some stewed cranberries.

Almost decided not to light the KK for searing the chops but why not and I'm glad I did.

Plated.

These chops were in the bath about 5 hours and they were tender and moist. Perfect for me.:)

This is the recipe for the chicken- https://recipes.anovaculinary.com/recipe/sous-vide-whole-chicken

The trussed chicken goes in the bag with stock, celery, leeks, carrots, shiitake mushrooms, thyme, bay leaves and soy sauce.

Here are the veggies ready to go into the bag with the chicken-

The whole works goes on for 6 hours at 150F. But we end up with a snow storm and decide it is not safe for my friend to come out. I finish the chicken, cool it and put it in the fridge for overnight. The next day about 2 hours before dinner the bag is put back in the bath at 150F to heat up.

We received a good foot of fluffy snow, it was very pretty.

Appetizer, toasted bread with blue cheese, slice of pear and prosciutto and a little thyme.

Chicken and veggies out of the bath-

You have to love sous vide to appreciate that pix.. We removed the skin, dried off the veggies and coated them with olive oil and baked at 450F until they were cooked and a little charred. Reduced the sauce.

We didn't take any plated pictures.  

Dessert, maple cheese cake, rich, rich, rich.

Finished dinner off with a specialty coffee, no pix  

This morning for breakfast it was leftovers for me with purple crack.

Then for dinner more leftovers except I cooked carrots. We found we didn't like the roasted veggies but the sauce was killer.

We both loved the chicken, it was tender and juicy. I would do this again in a heart beat the chicken and sauce were sooooooo tasty.

There was another piece of pie for dinner.

On to the business at hand.  When I was googling to find out about the relative collagen content of different types of meat a couple of weeks ago I came across this recipe for 48 hour cooked beef  https://www.washingtonpost.com/recipes/48-hour-beef-ribs/11890/?utm_term=.28849b63b32b.  I was willing to devote my oven to this experiment for two days but wondered if I ought to try it out in the KK.  And then I remembered that this sort of cooking is what the water bath does best and so I googled further and found this sous vide recipe:  http://www.instructables.com/id/Beef-Ribs-Cooked-En-Sous-Vide-135-F-for-48-Hours/.  It was easy to do - file the short ribs in your water bath and forget for two days.  I didn't have the opportunity to eat them straight away so I kept them in the fridge, still vac packed, for a few days. 

I thought it would be fun to cook a "typical" English roast dinner in the KK and so started with some veg in a Chinese clay pot and potatoes rolled in goose fat.  Here they are part way through cooking.

While they were cooking, I warmed up the vac pack with the ribs in warm water.  Here they are in their "boil in the bag" format.

I cranked up the KK to about 350 degrees C to brown the ribs quickly - approx 3 mins in total. 

They came out nice 

The cabbage with red onion was good too

A very brown but very satisfying meal.  The sauce was made with home made veal stock and the juices from the sous vide bag - very rich.  And just perfect for watching the Philadelphia Eagles, against all the pundits' predictions, beat the Atlanta Falcons. Hurrah!

Earlier today I baked a couple loaves of 40% whole wheat bread that was proofing overnight. Yesterday ground up some hard winter wheat berries to make the whole wheat flour. 600g regular white flour and 400g of fresh whole wheat was used to make 2 loaves.

The crumb-

SV time it was, the food is in the bag so doesn't matter if the water is a little too salty on the outside. Fried the potatoes and onions in the toaster oven, had enough good water to do the carrots. Yes, Tony, that is ketchup.:) 

Double baked potato in the air-fryer, creamed the potato with mascarpone leftover from the carrot onion pizza.

Used the dripping from the mushroom cook, some white wine, espresso balsamic vinegar an rice flour to make the sauce.

I still have tomatoes, peppers and cukes fresh from my garden to make a salad.