Perfect!! I decided to invest in an APC because I sometimes cook for others - and one of the “others” only enjoys his meat well-done, while the rest of us are “medium-rare” to “medium” in our tastes. We prefer pink to warm red (as long as the internal temp is “safe”) while he requires well-done. I’ve met this challenge in the past by cooking proteins to our taste and microwave-zapping a portion of the protein to death for our friend. My hope / expectation / fantasy was that SV would allow me to pre-cook proteins to meet our various tastes and then finish-sear everything at the same time. After purchasing the APC a month or so ago, getting a 12-quart Rubbermaid container and reading countless posts on this website - last night I took the plunge and did my first cook.
Perfection!! Expectations exceeded!! We (of the “medium” taste) were rewarded with beautifully pink, tasty, juicy pork tenderloin and our “well-done” friend was rewarded with not-a-hint-of-pink but none-the-less tender, juicy and flavorful tenderloin. And I, as the cook, was able to SV the tenderloins in advance of dinner, take everything to my friend’s house and then sear everything to perfection just before service. What more could one ask for?
I’m not sure how others might have done this, but to serve 4 people, I portioned ~1 1/2 #s & 1/2 # of pork tenderloin (silver skin removed) into 2 freezer-grade zip-lock bags and poured about 8 quarts of hot tap water into the 12-quart container, compressing air out of each bag before securing it under the lip of the companion lid for this container. I set the APC for 140 degrees & when the APC registered 140 degrees, I set my timer for 1 hour. (I’ve not yet been able to synch the wireless APC with my iPhone, so I did everything manually on the APC.) After an hour and 15 minutes, I removed the larger 1 1/2 # bag of tenderloin from the water bath and put it in an ice bath before refrigerating it. I turned the APC’s temp up to 160 degrees and reset my kitchen timer for 1 hour. After an hour and 15 minutes I removed the smaller (1/2# bag) from the water bath, put it in an ice bath and refrigerated it until time to transport to my friends’s house. (In the meantime I made a delicious blackberry wine sauce to serve with the pork tenderloin.) At my friend’s house, I patted the pork tenderloins dry (side note: paper towel manufacturers must love SVers!), sprinkled them with salt, pepper and my favorite dry rub, and quickly seared them on all sides in smoking hot Avocado oil (maximum 1 1/2 minutes in total). When the pork tenderloins were placed on a platter and sliced, the degree of doneness was clearly differentiated and equally appealing to each guest according to his/her palate and preference for ‘doneness’. Everything was done at the same time and each guest got exactly what they wanted. This could not have been a more perfect first SV experience!
Now if I can only connect my APV with the app and my iPhone; but that’s another day & category. (And it doesn’t minimize my delight in last night’s experience.)
Interestingly, my wife refuses to eat meat less than well done. However she had a medium steak last week cooked with the APC and loved it. She reckoned it was because there was no “blood running out of it”! Yes, I know it’s not blood but I gave up trying to convince her of that years ago.
@LillyJo I’m very happy to hear you had a perfect first sous vide experience! By the way, the blackberry wine sauce paired with the pork tenderloin sounds out of this world! I can only imagine how delicious that was. I’m with @MichaelF - people who typically like their steaks well-done, might be surprised how delicious medium or medium rare steak is when sous vide. I, for one, used to be into near-burnt steak (I know, I know). But now I like them around medium or medium rare. For help connecting your Anova Precision Cooker with your phone, I would definitely reach out to support@anovaculinary.com. They can help you guide you through the connection steps!
My parents were like that…I broke them of that habit by presenting the steaks to them with low lighting (much like many steak houses do). After a couple of years, I let them know the steaks that they were enjoying were medium-rare (and often on the rarer side thereof)…they got over their squeamishness and learned to enjoy.
Did you buy the wi-fi or the bluetooth APC? I have the bluetooth version and it connected to my Apple iPhone easily via the Anova Culinary app. The wi-fi version could be more difficult to set up because of the router passcode and even more so if your router is configured for MAC filtering … in which case you’d have to find the MAC address for your APC and then, as admin, add it to the list of “allowed” devices that can connect to your router.
I bought the wi-fi version. When I have a chance, I’ll reach out to support@anovaculinary.com per Alyssa’s suggestion; until then I’ll set temp manually. I have an “old” iPhone and want to upgrade as I’m now running into issues with some apps not updating as the iPhone 5 doesn’t support iOS 11. I’m evaluating the pros/cons of an iPhone 8 vs. X, and will wait to connect the APC with my phone until I’ve upgraded the phone. (Given my experience to date, there’s no sense wasting time and expending frustration trying to connect wi-fi with my current phone now, and again with a new phone in a month or so.)
LOL! I have some friends who insist on well-done for their meat, including burgers. My favorite was of preparing is to add a tablespoon of A1 sauce for every 6 oz of ground beef (80-20). It turns the meat a slightly darker color, so when you cook it, it’s not pink even when medium rare. The first time I served them the burgers without telling them they’re medium rate, I got accolades including “Cooked to perfection!”. I just thanked him and smiled…
Well, you need to tell the truth. There are chances of encountering bacteria in rare or medium rare…UNLESS YOU use the SV! One has a right to preference of doneness. I am very sure I would not feed rare meat to my 84 yr old feeble Dad. Saying that- he wants a medium rare prime rib done in my SV. What time and for how long?? I will gladly do it for him but am very new to this wonderful tool.
Rest assured I’m not in the habit of poisoning my guests nor was I serving them rare meat. As for your Dad–set the sous vide at 130 for medium rare and then cook for a minimum 24 hours and up to 36. If you’re just doing a single steak, then 130 for an hour and a half will do the trick.
