Hello
I just got my APC, I just wanted to check do you wait for the water to be preheated to the right temperature before dropping your meat in?
If that is the case, how do people start cooking when they are at work if you need to drop the meat in when it is heated to the right temperature
Thank you for your time
Kelinton, - and you probably also want to know how to get the meat out of the water when it is done. Right?
While we all wait for the hopefully soon-to-be-released Anova Precision Kitchen Robot you are going to have to introduce some basic menu and production planning with the use of your new APC.
One of sous vide cooking’s substantial advantage is the ability it affords you to separate the cooking function from actual finishing and service. That’s known as cook-chill. So you cook in advance of your immediate need to consume. As an example, I do a lot of my cooking overnight or during meal times. You will soon understand the advantage of being able to cook several batches of some of your favourite menu items at the same time.
You don’t necessarily need to wait for the water to reach the target temp before adding the food, especially if it’s going to be a relatively long cook. You just need to be sure that the food isn’t going to be sitting at an unsafe temperature for very long.
But the vast majority of target temps can be reached pretty quickly if you start out with water as hot as you can get it from the tap.
Thank you for all your replies!
What about when you are cooking when you’re not at home? Can I leave the meat in the water before I leave home and when I’m on my way home start the cooker (however the water would be room temperature already)?
Well, if you’re just looking for an excuse to visit your friends at the local ER…then I’d say that leaving a chunk of raw meat sitting at room-temperature for 8 hours before you cook it sounds like a good plan.
I normally put my food in even before I start the cooker. I reason that this way, the temperature will be more accurate as it’s preheating, and the timer will start right away as opposed to dropping a little then heading back up. For context, most of my food is frozen initially, and I hardly go over 3.5 hours of cooking.
Of course…
So what do you do when you want to cook when you are out?
Thanks for your reply,
So you put your meet frozen in the water and start the cooking when you’re on the way home?
Sorry for the trouble!
No, I reach home, put the frozen meat in, then start the cooker. I can usually wait a while, so it fits my schedule.
I often cook while I am at work. I use the ice bath notification feature built into the app. I put the meat in with ice and water. Then when it is time, I simply start the cook. Since it is 900 watts, it brings the water to temperature relatively quickly. It has never been a problem.
If it’s going to be a long enough cook, I start it before I leave the house. Possibly even earlier. For instance, last night I filled my stock pot with hot tap water, put the Anova in it and set the temp to 165°F, pulled a few lbs of vac-packed beef shanks out of the freezer, dropped them in the bath and went to bed. About 15 minutes later I heard the Anova beep, indicating the water had reached 165°F.
Some time tomorrow night I’ll pull the shanks out, give them a quick browning, strip the meat off in small chunks and toss it in a crock pot with root veggies, herbs, spices and beef stock. Then when my son and I return from hunting Saturday morning, and we’re cold and wet, there will be a pot full of delicious beef stew waiting for us.
But what if the meat you want to cook only has to cook for two or three hours? You will be gone to work for eight or nine hours… That’s when the ice bath mode comes in handy.
Check out the ice bath method if you don’t want to start the cook right away. With an insulated container, ice and water, the food can stay below 40F for many hours. A little experimentation will show how long your system will maintain safe temperatures.
I love the ice bath system. I’ve been using it frequently. I have figured out how long I can use it with a countertop 12 quart container, as well as how long in a cooler. My round cooler can go two plus days before starting the cook, if I need that.