@alexm86 You can consider 2-gallon freezer bags and use the water displacement method. That should work just fine for your cook.
Hi @AlyssaWOAH,
Thanks for your response. The problem is I cannot find any bigger than 30x40cm (1 gallon) anywhere. Is there another way that I can either use the original bag that it’s in (by somehow re-vacuuming) or another way to wrap?
Best
Alex
Cut it in half?
Michi.
I would also second cutting it up and using as many 1-gallon bags as required. But if you REALLY want to keep it whole for presentation’s sake, and are REALLY REALLY desperate, I’d go with keeping it in the original bag, and wrapping that up extremely well and heavily with plastic film. I’m talking like use ridiculous amounts kind of heavily. of course, you’d first have to make sure the film doesn’t react negatively when heated. Good luck!
How long does the meat stay in the 120* bath?
You really shouldn’t cook at 120F for longer than 2 hours. If you get over that you’re getting into sketchy territory for food safety.
The pasteurization process starts (very slowly) around 122F. It is not advised to cook for extended period of times at of below this threshold as some bacteria can develop.
This of course depends on the initial level of pathogens in your food, but you need not worry, they are everywhere! When cooking at low températures, keep in mind that some proteins are usually more contaminated than others (take chicken for instance with salmonella unless eat chlorinated chicken!).
I’ll just plonk this here again because I know we’re all in a hurry to get stuck in so we don’t always read a thread. It’s one of the best references there is for those looking to experiment beyond following recipes (which are little more than guides anyway). Food safety is the MOST important thing.
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Thank you for sharing, @Ember!
Just received my Anova unit and want to use it for Christmas dinner. I’m making marinated chicken breast and pork tenderloin kebabs. They both call for approximately the same cook temp, but the pork calls for a longer cook time. Can I start the pork, then add the chicken after an hour? Or will that screw everything up?
@KBM That’ll be perfectly fine!
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Hi there, so i have to Cook something for 18 Hours, dinner is at 20:00. Why is there no option to delay start time of the Sous vide. Do I really have to get out of bed at 2:00 in the morning to put my meat in the pot?
Would it not be possible to put meat in ice water, and simply put the cooker to delay starting time to 1:30?
Hi M_Wulff - I don’t think an automated “delayed start” has been implemented, but an ice bath allowing you to load up and kick your cook off at a later time manually has been.
Question for all you seasoned veterans of Sous Vide!
When cooking Steak is it more desirable to salt prior to bagging, or wait until they’ve been cooked and just season prior to searing?
Steaks in question are between 1 inch and 1 1/2 inch thick, and consist of multiple cuts (Prime New York Strip, Choice Rib Eye, and Coulotte Steak). I’ve had my Anova for 3 weeks now and will be cooking several steaks for Christmas dinner at my brothers tonight! 
Thanks for any advice!
Yes, there is but that doesn’t change the fact that I have to get up in the middle of the night to start the cooker 
the ice bath solution is great for starting the cooker remotely, while at work and stuff. Maybe it’s something Anova could look into as I’m sure I’m not the only one with this problem? 
Hi, I just got this today and pretty excited to try it out. Anyone who can share some experience/advice/suggestions on cooking some frozen food? Also, I’d like to use it while I’m at work so that I can have my dinner when I get in. Thanks!
You need to step out of the idea of ‘absolute times.’ It, like the idea of cooking by thickness rather than by weight, is difficult to leave aside after so many years of practice, but it is one of the beauties of sous vide.
Cooking with sous vide means the ‘window of perfection’ is much wider than is the case with traditional cooking. You’re cooking in a water bath that is set to the core temperature that you want for your final product. The product that you’re cooking can never get hotter than this while it is in the bath. It can not be ruined this way.
Breakdown of the meat’s collagen happens slowly at low temperatures. Depending on the temperature of your cook and the natural tenderness of your meat (due to cut) it is unlikely that you will notice a large degradation of texture by extending a long cook by 4 - 8 hours. If anything your meat will simply be more tender.
Another beauty of sous vide processing is the ability to cook now and finish later. If you are cooking something that is time critical they can be cooked before hand, crash chilled in an ice bath and then refrigerated for future use. This leaves you free to relax and do other things as required. At time of service they can be rethermed (a process that takes much less than the cooking time) and finished in time for service.
So, you see, there is no panic in needing to get up at 2 am to put a 18 hour cook in the bath for 20:00 service. Simply put it in before you go to bed and extend the cooking time without any worries. If it is truly a time critical cook (very few things are) prepare it ahead of time and merely retherm it on the day (use the time taken to reach temperature equilibrium as the time for retherming via water bath), giving you a shorter cook time on the day.
You’re reply makes good sense, thx for that
Mirozen, being a recent adopter of SV you need so much advice and ask for it just prior to when you need to start cooking. Knowing you have had your Anova for three weeks is not helpful. Knowing the degrees of doneness you expect in your steaks would be.
Anyway, here’s a few tips.
It seems to me our community’s consensus is not to pre-salt steak before cooking. However i always apply Kosher salt and grind fresh pepper over my steaks before packaging and sealing. I always have, i always will. Bad habit? Maybe, but I don’t notice any substantial loss of moisture as a result and i get the flavourful steak taste i expect.
Now then, the next time you want to prepare this kind of a meal you need to think through the process and formulate your meal preparation plan well in advance. If you care about achieving a successful outcome please never attempt cooking a complex meal without having a written plan.
Start with meal timing. When, and in your case, where will service occur?
- That sets your total cook timing end-point and gets you thinking about potential problems you need to address.
May i suggest logistics is one of them in this case?
Working backwards, what degree, or degrees, of doneness do you require?
- all the same? - or all different?
- That informs you of the cooking temperature(s) you need. It’s important.
What is the thickness of, and type of items being cooked?
- Most of us time our cooks by a using a combination of thickness and the specific attributes of the items being cooked. For example in your request, the Prime grade NY Strip Steak will require less cooking than the Coulotte Steak if they are of the same thickness because the NY will naturally be more tender.
- You can find lots of detailed advice on cooking times on this site. It’s important too, but you are going to have to take some time to do it for yourself.
- You can also fine-tune your cooking time by deciding just what degree of tenderness you want to achieve. Longer time = more tender. It’s up to you. That’s why keeping a personal record of each cook with comments and suggestions is so important.
Before it’s too late, write down your cooking process for Christmas dinner so you will have a record of your success, and perhaps some ideas on how to potentially improve in the future. It should be every cooks objective to become ever-better. Do the work.
And i hope you got to enjoy some of that Coulotte Steak, it’s my personal favourite when properly cooked SV with Rib Eye firmly in second place. Did you serve a Béarnaise Sauce with your steaks? I can’t think of any method that says steak-celebration better than steak with Béarnaise Sauce, oh, - except maybe Choron Sauce. If you are a steak lover then you owe it to yourself to try them some time. Do the work.
When cooking a meat recipe will the meat look or be like boiled food