I was reading this morning and came across this site: http://www.chefsteps.com/activities/level-up-sous-vide-presentation
They recommend adding oil to the bag for various reasons including holding shape and keeping the edges of delicate foods clean.
Has anyone tried this? Opinions?
While I haven’t personally tried this, the article provides compelling evidence of the benefits. In addition to the presentation aspect, you could prepare your own infused oils to add depth to your dish before finishing it. Overall, a great read - like a lot of other articles on ChefSteps.
I use butter in the bag, especially when cooking chicken, it makes the meat all the more succulent and you get a much better bag juice sauce, especially if you add herbs and spices.
As a general rule, ChefSteps is pretty reliably fantastic.
I add butter (for fish, seafood and chicken) or olive oil to pretty much everything (except pork, which provides it’s own).
Also, @Simon_C, we need to find a better term for “bag juice sauce” – that just does not sound appetizing. 
john.jcb said:I was reading this morning and came across this site: http://www.chefsteps.com/activities/level-up-sous-vide-presentationThey recommend adding oil to the bag for various reasons including holding shape and keeping the edges of delicate foods clean.
Has anyone tried this? Opinions?
@“Tal Nizani” How about: sac sauce de jus
@john.jcb I probably wont serve anything that begins with sac sauce…
@“Tal Nizani” @“john.jcb” and @bigfish3 , may I respectfully submit my . . er . . submissions:
bigfish3 said:@john.jcb I probably wont serve anything that begins with sac sauce...
It sounds better when you say it. LOL
As others have mentioned, ChefSteps is a great inspirational source for techniques and recipes. I like the idea of a fat in the sous vide bags for the flavor they impart to the product, the liquid that can be used as a sauce or the basis of one, and for the coating that helps pan searing without a lot of additional fat after cooking. Yesterday I tried a couple of 11oz Halibut fillets, each vacuum-sealed with a bit of Kosher salt, some fresh ground pepper, and a couple of teaspoons of EVOO. Thirty minutes at 131ºF plus 30 seconds in a hot cast iron pan on each side gave me a pair of beautiful, perfectly cooked, flavorful fillets the likes of which I have not made in the past. Absolutely delicious without any hint of dryness or the dreaded “flakes with fork.” I also like basically the same seasonings but with butter when I do corn-on-the-cob, 183ºF for 20 minutes. I think the fats are necessary in the sous vide bags for flavor, lubricant, and follow-on sauces, and especially for veggies.
Fat in the bag is also ideal to ensure efficient thermal transference to the item being cooked, and in that regard also really helps with the submersion method of bag sealing.
@Salisbury_Sam Halibut in my experience is one of the most difficult fishes to get right. Using regular methods the time between perfect and overly dry is very short. I will be looking for some fresh fish and give it a try.
I nominate Baggoo as the new bag sauce term!
@john.jcb Thanks for sharing this, I hadn’t hear of this technique before. I love reading through these tricks, they’re super useful. Have you tried the oil in the bag yet? My concern is the seasoning. I pretty much assault any protein I’m cooking with a heavy dose of black pepper and I feel like it would be harder to do that with the oil. I’m sure the pepper flavoring would still be absorbed into the food with the oil but it’s just so good dropping a steak into a skillet after when it’s covered in pepper and getting that crispy outer skin with the pepper!
@jordan I use a large wodge of butter along with selected herbs and spices (including black pepper) with my steaks. When you remove the steak from the bag after cooking, thoroughly dry it with paper towels before searing in the smallest amount of oil possible for an extra crunchy bark while you use . . . baggoo . . . for making a sauce. Thickened cream, dry white wine, low heat reduction, beautiful!
@jordon I think if you use freshly cracked coarse pepper it will infuse into the oil. Pepper from a shaker has pretty much lost its zip by the time you use it.
I have tried it with a steak and it worked great. It also made the sear easy. I am on the lookout for some fresh fish to try.
@john.jcb Yea, after some warped chicken the other night I decided it was time to give it a go so I’m going to do it on some during my next chicken cook. I agree with you on the pepper - I will never go back to pepper from a shaker!! I’ve pretty much banned it from my kitchen. Blech.