Sous Vide

I'm about to SV some pork loin "steaks"* and was about to go online to find out about Trichinosis and SV. But your comment about "kills everything" pretty much covers that.

Yes, coming to grips with the time and temp' for pasteurization (sterilization?) at much lower than traditional temps was the hardest thing for me to overcome. I think that's the kicker for lots of folks.

* I wanted something different for supper the other night and fried 2 of the 4 I had spiced up days before. Even the wife commented on how good they tasted. Now I'll SV the 2 remaining boneless chops or steaks whatever one wants to call them. I've mentioned previously that I've never SVed pork before this. (What's the past tense of Sous Vide in French? IMO Sous Vide'ed doesn't really work in English, I hope folks realize what I mean by SVed and don't pronounce the "ed". Everytime I write SVed I cringe. Anyway...)

Very True ShadowsDad , nobody wants to make themselves sick, or worse, make others sick.  Fish is interesting - apparently freezing fish kills all the parasites, worms etc that might be there which is why you can get sushi at the gas station and it probably won't kill you.  Bacteria on the other hand can contaminate it after usually by bad food handling practices but thats usually on the surface so getting the surface up to a temperature generally kills that.  With SV you can use lower temperatures but longer time so you get a safe result as well.  Lower temperature usually results in more tender fish and the fact that there is no evaporation helps prevent drying out.  I'm always careful and I haven't made anyone sick yet.

I love our Sous Vide.  Our friend in Italy (funny enough his name is Marco) recommended one to us about 3 years ago.  Although I never did fish, everything from soft boiled eggs to meat comes out fantastic.  I really enjoy the reverse sear after on a porterhouse.  If you like bone in pork chops, really thick cuts of steaks, chicken breast that is not dry, then a Sous vide and 90-120 minutes fixed all of this.  

Strangely, I went through several brands to find a quiet one I like.  I actually settled on the cheapest one (Inkbird), a plastic tub with lid and magnets.  

Sad to say my 250 and 150 dollar units were much louder and were given away to friends who have bigger homes or children and don’t mind the noise.  Our 69 dollar one is the quietest and works fine.

2 more top round roasts @ $2.99/lb in the SV bath tonight. They'll be done Thursday morning sometime. I'll cool them and then freeze them. Good outside temps for freezing, -20 friday night into Sat' morning.

Hmmm, I still have those faux Canadian bacon loin pieces to SV. Maybe I''ll SV them this week. They have to be cured by now.

2 more top round roasts @ $2.99/lb in the SV bath tonight. They'll be done Thursday morning sometime. I'll cool them and then freeze them. Good outside temps for freezing, -20 friday night into Sat' morning.

Hmmm, I still have those faux Canadian bacon loin pieces to SV. Maybe I''ll SV then this week. They have to be cured by now.

Sounds great! I love nature’s blast chiller.     I’m doing a couple of strip loins SV then seared right now. I’ll post some pics later.

I love nature’s blast chiller.    

I've often kicked around the idea of building a simple aluminum box "freezer" with alum' shelves for freezing things. We have coyotes and other mammals and birds that would love to get their teeth on what would be in it, so it has to be more than just laying it out on the picnic table. But so far I haven't built it.

The SV Canadian Bacon saga continues.

I sliced one of the smaller pieces and it clearly didn't have enough smoke. Liquid smoke can be tricky to use and it's easy to overdue it but that wasn't the issue here. So I added another Tablespoon of mesquite smoke after slicing and made sure each piece was coated, then sealed them in the remaining smoke. The liquid was absorbed the next day and the taste was much better.

Then I got to thinking and that's always dangerous. Why is Can' bacon sliced? Sure, it needs to be cooked, but mine was already cooked in the SV process. So to simplify things, since I can't imagine a use where I actually need slices, yesterday I had the meat grinder out and decided to try grinding the CB. I added additional smoke throughout the grinding. I compressed it into a bowl and let it sit overnight in the refrigerator for the smoke to meld. Tomorrow I'll give it a try, but the rest is in 1# packages, vac' packed, and in the freezer. It smelled really good as I was packing it away.

So the ground CB is still an experiment, but as far as making CB from pork loin without a smoker, that's a win. All it requires is time, room in the refrigerator, pink curing salt aka Prague powder, zip type freezer bags or another container for curing, and liquid smoke. Next time to finalize the recipe/procedure I'll cure the loin first, SV it, then either slice or grind the cured and cooked loin and flavor with the liquid smoke. Vac' packed it'll "keep" in the freezer for a very long time. Esp' if one somehow wraps it so that even if the vac' bag loses vacuum air can't get to the meat. I use a cheap zip baggie and zip it almost closed. But in one corner I have a sliver of vac' bag to allow a vacuum to be sucked on the meat and inner baggie.

The SV Canadian Bacon saga continues.

I sliced one of the smaller pieces and it clearly didn't have enough smoke. Liquid smoke can be tricky to use and it's easy to overdue it but that wasn't the issue here. So I added another Tablespoon of mesquite smoke after slicing and made sure each piece was coated, then sealed them in the remaining smoke. The liquid was absorbed the next day and the taste was much better.

Then I got to thinking and that's always dangerous. Why is Can' bacon sliced? Sure, it needs to be cooked, but mine was already cooked in the SV process. So to simplify things, since I can't imagine a use where I actually need slices, yesterday I had the meat grinder out and decided to try grinding the CB. I added additional smoke throughout the grinding. I compressed it into a bowl and let it sit overnight in the refrigerator for the smoke to meld. Tomorrow I'll give it a try, but the rest is in 1# packages, vac' packed, and in the freezer. It smelled really good as I was packing it away.

So the ground CB is still an experiment, but as far as making CB from pork loin without a smoker, that's a win. All it requires is time, room in the refrigerator, pink curing salt aka Prague powder, zip type freezer bags or another container for curing, and liquid smoke. Next time to finalize the recipe/procedure I'll cure the loin first, SV it,  then either slice or grind the cured and cooked loin and flavor with the liquid smoke. Vac' packed it'll "keep" in the freezer for a very long time. Esp' if one somehow wraps it so that even if the vac' bag loses vacuum air can't get to the meat. I use a cheap zip baggie and zip it almost closed. But in one corner I have a sliver of vac' bag to allow a vacuum to be sucked on the meat and inner baggie.

That sounds interesting - how do you plan to use the ground Canadian bacon?  I appreciate you posting your science experiments here.

Thanks.

In omelets, and such, basically to add the Canadian Bacon flavor to something. Since I'm in ketosis I make lots of rolled up wheat tortillas with egg & cheese for breakfast. It should work fine in there. I can tell you how I won't be using it, and that's served as a side to eggs, like bacon :-) . Basically I make a bastardized version of an egg McMuffin and I can't see it not working in that, and it'll roll better than slices. But anyone, and that includes myself, if they want sliced Canadian Bacon I posted how to do it w/o a smoker. Just slice the cured and SV pork loin then add liquid smoke to the slices and wait overnight. Then it's good to go. Here in the USA pork loin can be had for much less than the finished Canadian Bacon and it's so easy to make, it's just time, some inexpensive ingredients, and some effort. No smoker needed but in the past I would use my smoker. Yes, that version from the smoker is good too but in my old age I'm getting lazy and I dislike the cold of winter. (and I had a hankerin' for some Canadian Bacon and am old enough to not want to wait for warmer weather. :-) )

FWIW, there is liquid smoke with all sorts of stuff added and that's not what anyone wants. I have to order my liquid smoke from Amazon. What is wanted for the ingredient list (and definitely check it) is water and smoke, that's it.

Today saw one of the low carb wheat tortillas, some melty cheese, 2 fried eggs and a mess of the ground Canadian Bacon piled onto it and rolled up, one end being closed off. Basically a rolled egg McMuffin and it tasted and worked fine, maybe even better than the original. I did put the CB in the pan to absorb some of the butter from frying the eggs so that it wouldn't be overly dry. I also burn fat and it was a way to work in into the diet.