Sous vide cooking

[MillCreek]

Target sells food?!?!?! I guess I need to get out more. I haven't been in a Target for probably 20 years. Have you done salmon yet, it seems like the perfect fish (that and a nice thick chunk of cod) for the sous vide.

Bob

The Targets in our area added a medium-sized grocery section of about six or seven aisles, fridge cases and freezer cases some years ago.  Think of it as better than a 7-11 but less than a Safeway.  In some areas of the country, there are SuperTargets, which are supposed to have a large grocery section similar to a SuperWalMart.  The next time we go to Costco, we are going to pick up some salmon to try; I have not yet decided whether to get a whole side of fresh salmon, or go for the bag of individual cryovac frozen fillets.  We are making a concerted effort to stay away from Costco until after Christmas.

[K Frame]

"I haven't been in a Target for probably 20 years."

Well, then, you'll be shocked to know that since your last visit Target has graduated beyond selling rocks, clubs, and animal skins.

They even renamed it Target from the old name, Cavemart.

[MillCreek]

So the sous vide tilapia turned out fabulous.  134 degrees for 30 minutes, and I served the filets with a lemon-butter herb sauce (butter, lemon juice, herbs de Provence, Worcestershire and Johnny's Seafood seasoning) with toasted slivered almonds for garnish, and couscous pilaf and roasted carrots with balsamic drizzle.  My wife said she would eat this again.  The fish was perfectly and evenly cooked throughout to a flake and was very moist.

I was a bit concerned about cooking the boneless skinless filets in the individual cryovac packs, as opposed to putting them all in a bag with seasoning added, but the filets turned out just fine with the sauce.

[K Frame]

Good on you, dude.

The more I hear from everyone, the more I want to try it. I'll just have to wait to get myself a unit.

[mtnbkr]

Good on you, dude.

The more I hear from everyone, the more I want to try it. I'll just have to wait to get myself a unit.

CavemartTarget has them on sale for $80.

As for Tilapia, that's interesting about the bitter taste.  I've never noticed it.  In fact, I tend to avoid Tilapia because it is just another flavorless whitefish to my palate.  I prefer fish to have a stronger flavor.

Chris

[K Frame]

Apparently some people can taste it, some can't.


"Target has them on sale for $80."

At the moment, that's a luxury I can't afford.

[BobR]

CavemartTarget has them on sale for $80.

As for Tilapia, that's interesting about the bitter taste.  I've never noticed it.  In fact, I tend to avoid Tilapia because it is just another flavorless whitefish to my palate.  I prefer fish to have a stronger flavor.

Chris

I may have to step inside the Target to go look at this, will I need my torch in order to see once I get inside the cave store?

I just know how Tilapia is raised and what they eat and it is a fish that I really don't want to eat. Maybe I am just too sensitive about it, but that is what it is. A fish I really like is Orange Roughy. Another marketing success, its original name was slimehead but who really wants to eat a nice big chunk of slimehead? So the Australians in their marketing wisdom renamed it orange roughy and made it a desirable fish.

bob

[K Frame]

"So the Australians in their marketing wisdom renamed it orange roughy and made it a desirable fish."

Also made it an endangered fish, or at least depleted, for a number of years at the height of the craze.

And I thought the US gov. was responsible for coming up with the name orange roughy?

[mtnbkr]

Another marketing success, its original name was slimehead but who really wants to eat a nice big chunk of slimehead?

Snakehead is another one that could use a new name.  Snakehead is damn good eating, but the name and visuals turn off most folks. 

Chris

[BobR]

"So the Australians in their marketing wisdom renamed it orange roughy and made it a desirable fish."

Also made it an endangered fish, or at least depleted, for a number of years at the height of the craze.

And I thought the US gov. was responsible for coming up with the name orange roughy?

I always thought it was the Aussies, but I could be wrong. Orange Roughy is one of those slow growers, can live to be nearly 150 years old, which didn't help when everyone was making it the fish to eat. From what I understand the Australian fisheries for it has recovered for the most part. Other areas I don't know about.

The amount of overfishing is amazing in many areas. We would often stumble on either a Japanese fishing fleet or a Russian fishing fleet when patrolling the Pacific, the number of boats dragging nets was amazing, they would cover square miles of the ocean.

bob

[lupinus]

So two things. One, I was in Walmart the other day and noticed they too are selling a sous vide unit. It was stocked with the Crock-Pots. Was only 70 bucks and change.

But then, I went to Amazon looking for a temperature controller for use with a crock pot to keep it at a desired temperature range. Little redneck engineering project and I needed higher temps than the ones for use with grow/reptile mats and the like.

I got this- https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00V4TJR00?ref=yo_pop_ma_swf

It didn't even dawn on me, even with it being listed as a sous vide item, that I was basically creating a hobo sous vide with a $30 controller and a cheap $20 manual settings crockpot. It lacks water circulation of course, but I've been testing it. And filling the crock with water and moving the probe around seems to yield very even heating throughout the crock without hot or cold spots. So I wonder if the lack of water circulation makes any real difference...

[K Frame]

You'll naturally get water circulation through convection cycles. Not as fast, and probably not as even, but I can't see it being all that less effective given that you're cooking for many hours.

[KD5NRH]

Target sells food?!?!?!

Target doesn't sell anything.  They just gang rape your bank account and give you some relabeled WalMart stuff as a consolation prize.

Last one I was in the clothing was like 5% less than JC Penney regular prices for stuff that was really WalMart grade, and the food section really looked like it was straight from a truck stop grocery section, including the prices and age of the products.

[Mannlicher]

never saw the attraction.  Anyone with a pot, water and time can do the same without the fancy stuff.

[MillCreek]

I did a pork tenderloin tonight: sealed into a Ziploc with garlic, rosemary and salt and cooked at 139 degrees for two hours.  I made a pan sauce with the juices and some additional red wine and butter.  Meltingly tender, evenly cooked to a rosy pink and perfectly seasoned. I served it with fresh green beans with a lemon butter lavender sauce and home made mashed potatoes with Yukon Golds.  My wife is still talking about dinner.