Hi All - I am new to the community. I have a Anova Culinary (AN600-US00 ) Sous Vide Precision Cooker Pro (1200 Watts),that I purchased primarily to “reheat” pre-cooked food (such as steaks cooked “rare”) for my mother, who lives with me, without “overcooking” (which, when a microwave is used to reheat a “rare” cooked steak, it turns it into a “medium” cooked steak).
My brother was in town last week for a visit and got my mother various meals, which she could not finish, leaving some “left overs”. I primarily have fried chicken, french fries, a cheeseburger, macaroni & cheese (side portion) and ribs. After I purchased the sous vide cooker, I searched Google to find out what temperature and for how long to reheat “rare” steak that I had pre-cooked for my mother. I immediately found a pot where someone recommended a temperature of 130 degrees Fahrenheit and a reheating time of 5 minutes. This has worked out well for the rare steaks, however, I don’t know if it will work just as well for the fried chicken, ribs, hamburger, fries and macaroni and cheese.
Does anyone have some advice as to whether this same temperature and time will work for reheating just about any type of food (once the food is at “room temperature”), or whether temperature and reheating time needs to be adjusted according to the food being reheated?
I am a sous vide “novice”, and know that I have a lot to learn. Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much.
-Cfguy
I think that if you try to reheat crispy food via sous vide, the food will lose its crispiness, because it will be surrounded by warm to hot, moist air. But, I’ve never tried it! Specifically to your question, I would reheat fried chicken and french fries (assuming they’re cold from the refrigerator) in your oven, for ~30 minutes at 400 F, similarly for ribs (the issue here is that the bones may prevent the warm bath from contacting the meat, through the bag). And there’s nothing wrong with reheating mac and cheese in the microwave oven, just stir frequently. Now as to a hamburger, yes, you can reheat the patty (and cheese) in the sous vide, and I wouldn’t put anything else into the machine. Reheat the bun in a frying pan and leave the lettuce and tomato cold to reassemble your hamburger. But try it and let us know!
Agree 100% with furrier…
if you want to reheat chicken & fries …no to sous vide, …produces a beautiful plethora of meats & veggies but no to crust based reheats.
You got an airfryer? …reheat in that, they don’t do badly, our instantpot duo plus AF / pressure cooker combo produces great results from small, well ventilated portions, …some ok tempura type batter & pancake rolls.
Steam / moisture squeezed out of the bag in sous vide likely to strip your “no longer crispy” batter.