Grub Hacker

40 Hour Pork Belly

I really wanted to try a pork belly cooked Sous-Vide.  I put the belly in at 142 and let it cook in the marinade for 40 hours. I had bigger plans to finish it on the grill and mop it with the rendered juices and marinade from the bag.  I was lazy tonight and hungry when I got home so I decided to fry them up quick in the deep fryer and drizzle with honey, sriracha and lime juice.

  

  

   

      

 

Asian inspired Pork Belly

1.5-2 lb pork belly
1/4 cup of soy sauce
TBS Honey
1 TBS Mirin
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp sriracha
1/2 TBS chives, minced
Pinch of Salt
pinch of pepper

Sprinkle salt, pepper and garlic powder on pork belly.
Mix remaining ingredients in bowl
Put pork belly in vacuum bag and pour marinade over pork
vacuum seal

Cook at 142 for 40 hours.
 Finish in a hot pan, grill or deep fryer
Drizzle with a bit more honey, sriracha and and squeeze some lime on top.

Seth

New york strip + Sous-Vide + Blowtorch = Killer Steak?

So enough with all the cooking of innards that I have recently been preparing Sous-Vide.  I wanted to show you what could be accomplished with just a vacuum sealer, water bath and blowtorch. 

Simply seasoned New york Strip with sea salt, pepper and light dusting of garlic powder and vacuum seal.

Cook at 130 in Sous-Vide for 1.5-2 Hours

Take out of bag and blowtorch steak.  I chose the blowtorch over the grill for no other reason then that I use a grill so much that I wanted to play around with something new. (You could also put on a raging hot grill at this time to sear outside)

Sous-Vide Wild Duck Confit

So we had duck leg quarters left over from the five ducks we trimmed up this weekend and we figured no better use than Duck Confit.

Wild Duck Sous Vide Confit

Legs quarters of 5 wild ducks
Small Tub Duck Fat
4 Bay Leaves
5 Sprigs of Thyme
Garlic Powder
Kosher Salt
Pepper

Sprinkle leg quarters on both sides with Salt, pepper and garlic powder
Put leg quarters in bag and evenly disperse Bay leaves and Thyme over quarters
Evenly disperse duck fat in bag

Cook Sous-Vide 170 for 8-12 Hours
If using Farm Raised Ducks cook for 8-12 Hours at 180

Closer look of Sous-Vide Cooker

Granted, Sous-Vide cooking does have a disconnected culinary experience.  You cant smell, hear or taste anything that’s going on... Its all trapped in a locked bag, without any of the normal culinary triggers of when things are done and when things should be pulled for other finishing processes.   But something about this feels so futuristic, so precise.  I am into computers, technical things, this style draws me in.  Not something to take over your cooking methods, but another tool in the culinary hacking belt.

I wanted to give you all a closer look since my other pictures were a bit grainy.  This is the low tech Sous-Vide cooker that has been super consistent and cranking out bionic, perfectly cooked food....

Beef tripe for Tacos de Tripas

Seth

Sous-Vide Tacos De Tripas

 

I have really been on a dark tangent with my cooking of organ meet lately.  I think my favorite street food of all time would be the tongue and intestine tacos that I ate so much when in Texas and here in the Midwest.  People don’t give organ meat enough of a chance....  It has the most amazing flavors that vary from organ to organ.  Textures span an equal array of diversity.  Maybe its the drastic differences that turns people off...  What do you think?  Anyone a fan of the "other" meats?

I found some good small beef intestine the other day and when I saw it I knew its fate.... Tacos de Tripas!  Normally the tripe is boiled in a pot with various ingredients such as onions, garlic, Mexican oregano, etc.  I wanted to achieve the same result in a much smaller environment with a much more concentrated flavor. 

Here is the meat before entering the vacuum chamber.

Seth

Sous-Vide Lengua Tacos Result

The tacos were amazing!  The combination of cooking the tongue sous vide style and blending up the cooking juices for a chopped tongue hot tub, made this offal meat some of the best I have had to date.

Here are the tacos

Tacos need no more than cilantro, onion lime and salsa

Sous Vide Lengua Tacos

Since starting my Sous Vide adventure i have been fascinated with converting the great Mexican classics that I see prepared all the time in the tacquerias around me to sous vide.The Midwest is blessed with some amazing Mexican fare and dozens upon dozens of Mexican restaurants, tacquerias and grocery stores dot the landscape in northern Illinois.  This is my take on on the great Tacos de Lengua.

Sous-Vide  Tacos de Lengua

1 Beef Tongue
5 pearl onions split in half with ends cut off
3 garlic gloves, bruised and cut in half
pinch of Mexican oregano
1 bay leaf
2 large new Mexico red chillies crumbled
generous sprinkle of Adobo Seasoning
pinch of black pepper
2/3 cup chicken stock

Put all ingredients into sous vide bag and cook at 155 for 20-24 hours

Open bag and remove tongue, puree contents of bag in food processor and reserve

Remove outside skin of tongue, discard

chop tongue meat into cubes and place into pureed liquid

Fry meat before filing tacos

Garnish with Cilantro, onion, squeeze of lime juice and salsa roja

Roast some Jalapenos and small bulb onions for a great side treat.

Morning = bomb tacos!

Cheap Sous Vide Machine built on a budget

I recently received a copy of Thomas Keller's new book "Under Pressure" on Sous Vide cooking. The general concept of a trapped, pressurized cooking bag with zero loss of liquids really blew my mind.  The thing that fascinates me with Sous Vide cooking is the lack of any resemblance to normal cooking technique where eyes, ears and taste are used as your primary indicators of progress.  The sinister idea of cooking something compressed in a bag with zero moisture loss and having to only use small amounts of spices really forced me to think in different directions in my cooking and preparation ways and really opened my mind to new ideas on how to use classical cooking techniques. 

!New is Exciting!

This style of cooking is not for all and requires significant amounts of time and some odd materials. Surely you can do something even cheaper than this but remember that Sous Vide cooking is all about consistency and timing and super cheap might not be the way to go due to lack of consistency.  Seeing that the full blown recirculator from polyscience is around a thousand dollars I set off to make something that could achieve a 1-3 degree temperature difference for under 150 dollars.  This project came in at right around 130

Budget Sous-Vide Machine

• 27 Quart or similar size Crock Pot/Roaster 29.99 Walmart
• Ranco Temperature controller 99.99- Temperature Probe
• Small Aquarium Air Pump 9.99
• 3 foot Aquarium hosing .99
• 1 foot section of silicon tubing - Home Depot 5.00
• Zip Ties
• Aluminum Foi
• Stone or Pestle from your Mortar and Pestle

The first step is covering the temperature controllers sensor with the silicon tubing as this model is not water proof.  In order to lossen up the silicon tubing, boil it in water for a minute or two.  Slip the silicon tubing over the temperature probe and leave 1/2" tubing at the end of the probe.  Fold tube over and zip tie to seal.

Fill Crockpot/Roaster up with warm water and plug the Crockpot into the temperature controller. 
Situate the controller probe so its even in the center of the water column.  Zip tie this to the rack if you have one

Attach air hose to air pump and place end in center of roaster and also zip tie to rack to hold down.  You want an even air bubbling in the center, this will keep the water moving at a consistent temp.