I got an Anova Sous Vide cooking appliance for Christmas. Have used it several times so far, including at a campout two weekends ago for a group of Scout leaders. We had 13 guys drinking, shooting (not at the same time), drinking, and eating copious amount of food over a three day period.
I am typically the "Grubmaster" for these events. Two years ago, i did sous vide ribeyes for 16 along with 10 lbs. of crab legs. The ribeyes were in a couple of beer coolers and I had difficulty keeping the right temps. They turned out OK but I knew I needed a sous vide cooker to properly achieve the desired results.
I decided on tri tips and shrimp as the main entrees along with a baked potato bar (12 toppings). Tri tip is a cut that is very popular in the western U.S. It is very hard to find here in Tampa and is pretty expensive at $8.99 a lb. I stumbled across already cut up tri tip steaks at Sam's club and loved the price there at $4.99 a lb. Was very happy with that price. I had vacuum sealed the meat (with the rub on) and shrimp the day before. I dry brined the tri tips with kosher salt on Thursday before vacuum sealing them on Friday. I had bought 10 lbs. of some big ass shrimp from a guy on Facebook. My lovely wife chopped off their heads and peeled and deveined them. I made the sauce and vacuum sealed the shrimp on Friday before I headed out to the camp site.
Right after lunch (pressed Cuban sandwiches made with some smoked pork loin I cooked), I started the water bath in a cooler big enough to hold four tri tips (about 10 lbs. of meat). Due to the volume of water, it took a couple of hours to reach my desired temp of 122F. Since sous vide cooking isn't about the length of time needed to cook, I put the tri tip in the water bath four hours before I planned on searing.
My dilemma was that I had to cook the shrimp sous vide as well as the trip. My solution was to cover the cooler with the meat still in it. After 40 minutes, the water temp was only down a degree to 121. I started the charcoal for the tri tip before the shrimp got started. My goal was to sear the meat as the shrimp was done. The time window for shrimp is right around 30 min. to an hour so I had a bit of leeway. Too long and the shrimp will get mushy.
I have a "beater" Weber kettle that I use to sear larger quantities of meat. I have three fire bricks I use to raise the coal grate closer to the food grate. When the charcoal is in place, there is about an inch or two from the food grate. When the coals were totally ashed over, I took the four tri tips out of their vacuum bags and put them on the Weber. I had my MK4 thermometer ready to go to get to my target temp of 130. There is carryover cooking so I knew I would get to my target temp of 135 (med rare). I flipped the tri tips every 30 seconds, looking for a nice crust on both sides. After 4-5 min. the trip tips hit 130 and I pulled them off. I cut the bags of shrimp (after cooking 37 minutes) and put them in a waiting chafing dish and then started carving the tri tips. The result was very good. A prefect med rare edge to edge. The shrimp was at the proper texture.
Everybody enjoyed the food, or so they said. I started the bacon in the sous vide water bath for the next morning, at a temp of 147. I was cooking six lbs. of bacon so having the bacon in the sous vide for 12 hours certainly reduced the cooking time the next morning.
The tri tips, C.A.B. $5.98 a lb.
The cooler for the shrimp, almost to 140
The Weber, ready to sear
The trip tip. Continued to cook a bit. Had one guy want med well (smh)
The shrimp, sauce was sherry, garlic, smoked paprika and sherry vinegar
All in all a good cook. Will be posting more pics of other cooks soon
I am typically the "Grubmaster" for these events. Two years ago, i did sous vide ribeyes for 16 along with 10 lbs. of crab legs. The ribeyes were in a couple of beer coolers and I had difficulty keeping the right temps. They turned out OK but I knew I needed a sous vide cooker to properly achieve the desired results.
I decided on tri tips and shrimp as the main entrees along with a baked potato bar (12 toppings). Tri tip is a cut that is very popular in the western U.S. It is very hard to find here in Tampa and is pretty expensive at $8.99 a lb. I stumbled across already cut up tri tip steaks at Sam's club and loved the price there at $4.99 a lb. Was very happy with that price. I had vacuum sealed the meat (with the rub on) and shrimp the day before. I dry brined the tri tips with kosher salt on Thursday before vacuum sealing them on Friday. I had bought 10 lbs. of some big ass shrimp from a guy on Facebook. My lovely wife chopped off their heads and peeled and deveined them. I made the sauce and vacuum sealed the shrimp on Friday before I headed out to the camp site.
Right after lunch (pressed Cuban sandwiches made with some smoked pork loin I cooked), I started the water bath in a cooler big enough to hold four tri tips (about 10 lbs. of meat). Due to the volume of water, it took a couple of hours to reach my desired temp of 122F. Since sous vide cooking isn't about the length of time needed to cook, I put the tri tip in the water bath four hours before I planned on searing.
My dilemma was that I had to cook the shrimp sous vide as well as the trip. My solution was to cover the cooler with the meat still in it. After 40 minutes, the water temp was only down a degree to 121. I started the charcoal for the tri tip before the shrimp got started. My goal was to sear the meat as the shrimp was done. The time window for shrimp is right around 30 min. to an hour so I had a bit of leeway. Too long and the shrimp will get mushy.
I have a "beater" Weber kettle that I use to sear larger quantities of meat. I have three fire bricks I use to raise the coal grate closer to the food grate. When the charcoal is in place, there is about an inch or two from the food grate. When the coals were totally ashed over, I took the four tri tips out of their vacuum bags and put them on the Weber. I had my MK4 thermometer ready to go to get to my target temp of 130. There is carryover cooking so I knew I would get to my target temp of 135 (med rare). I flipped the tri tips every 30 seconds, looking for a nice crust on both sides. After 4-5 min. the trip tips hit 130 and I pulled them off. I cut the bags of shrimp (after cooking 37 minutes) and put them in a waiting chafing dish and then started carving the tri tips. The result was very good. A prefect med rare edge to edge. The shrimp was at the proper texture.
Everybody enjoyed the food, or so they said. I started the bacon in the sous vide water bath for the next morning, at a temp of 147. I was cooking six lbs. of bacon so having the bacon in the sous vide for 12 hours certainly reduced the cooking time the next morning.
The tri tips, C.A.B. $5.98 a lb.
The cooler for the shrimp, almost to 140
The Weber, ready to sear
The trip tip. Continued to cook a bit. Had one guy want med well (smh)
The shrimp, sauce was sherry, garlic, smoked paprika and sherry vinegar
All in all a good cook. Will be posting more pics of other cooks soon
