Let’s get chubby. (no, that does not mean getting fat)
Chub packaging is used primarily for meats and meat products. It is even used for pet foods. It is a tube of food-safe material that is filled with meat and then cinched at each end with a metal clip to make a “log” of meat.
And chubs work well with sous vide too.
Our favorite breakfast sausage comes in chub packaging, so I put the chubs in a vacuum seal bag and it goes into the water bath at 140 deg F for about 4 hours. One time I tried to put the chub in the water directly, but the seals on the ends are not absolute and some meat juices and fat leaked out in the water bath. So, using the vac bag was my choice from then on.
After taking the chubs out of the water bath, they go into the fridge to completely cool. It is much easier to slice the meat when it is cold. The thickness of the slice is your choice. We prefer about 5/16” - ⅜ thick.”
To serve, we sear it quickly and enjoy!!
We also enjoy hamburgers prepared in chubs too. But, buying the grade and type of burger we like in chubs has proven to be not possible (grass-fed/organic). So I make my chub out of a vacuum seal bag. Our first step is to add seasonings to the burger and I knead the meat a bit to blend the seasoning throughout.
We like our burgers to be about 4” in diameter, so I make chub bag that is 6-¼” wide x as wide as my vacuum sealer will seal (about 11”). I cinch one end with an electrical ty-wrap and then fill the chub, while pressing out air pockets, with the burger while leaving enough bag to cinch the other end to cinch it too. I then roll the bag to form the meat into a round log. Then it gets the same sous vide and refrigerator treatment as the sausage. I slice the burger log in to ½” to ⅝” thick pieces! Quickly sear and eat.
