Sous Vide

Many people try to calibrate their thermometers in an ice/water bath. That gives you one point. Unfortunately, that is not a point we use for cooking. Calibration at higher temperatures is more difficult. Although the boiling point of water is 100C/212F at standard sea level pressure, even if you live at the sea shore, the pressure might not be "standard". I live at an elevation of 900 ft where water boils at around 210F. My daughter lives in the Denver area where water boils at 200F. Thus, getting a good calibration at the upper end is difficult. 

I get around that problem by owning several thermometers. If they all agree within 1 degree, I figure I am pretty close to being accurate. I know that might not be good enough for precise laboratory work, but it is good enough for cooking.

I agree that pinpoint precision, while nice, isn't required for most SV cooking.  If you test with a couple thermometers and theyre within a degree or two of each other that should be ok.  I live at altitude of 3,600' so not quite as high as Denver but high enough to mess with things, especially baking.  I can remember back in my younger days when I worked as a carpenter.  We would check our spirit levels periodically especially if they were dropped.  If they were off we'd have to replace them.  You always checked the levels before buying them and a significant number were off from new so we'd leave those for the home handyman.

If you've ever cooked eggs sous vide and are trying to get that perfect soft creamy yolk you know the difficulty is that the white won't be as firm as you'd like because the yolk and the white set at almost the same temperature so to get a firm white in a SV bath you'll also get a firm yolk and I dont know about you but I dont like hard yolks except for egg salad sandwiches.  Theres some tricks like taking the eggs out when the yolks/whites are still soft and briefly immersing them in a pot of boiling water which will apply heat from the outside in and by leaving them in just long enough to firm up the white you can get the desired result.  I found this recipe on the website for my Anova sous vide device which varies that recipe slightly by boiling the eggs for 4 minutes first then chilling in an ice bath and then cooking in the SV bath to a temperature that will cook but not set the yolks.  The white being already cooked firmly in the boiling water.  All in all its still a pain to get the desired result but if you want to cook eggs for a special purpose like ramen and need that firm white soft yolk and its important to you then it can be achieved.  This recipe adds an additional step of marinating the eggs in soy sauce.

https://recipes.anovaculinary.com/recipe...e-soy-eggs

I check the water temperature with an instant read thermometer. A Thermoworks brand. I could always double check with a second thermometer but how do I know if my thermometers are accurate? More thermometers!!

Exactly. We rejected lots of thermometers and when we got a new order in (glass thermometers break) we tested all of them for accuracy and rejected many. Our testing required precise temps for test accuracy. We assume our thermometers are accurate, but they aren't and never were. How did we determine which thermometer was our accurate one against which all others would be tested? That was above my pay grade. Maybe a roll of the die determined it?

Did a couple of bone in pork chops @140 for about an hour and 3/4. Then seared for about 30 seconds a side. They were very tasty. Followed this recipe more or less. 
https://www.seriouseats.com/sous-vide-pork-chops-recipe

I always heard it said that if you want to check a thermometer, take your oral temperature. If it does not read as expected, you have to decide whether to see a doctor or replace the thermometer.

Likewise, if you have two thermometers and they fail to agree, you never know which one is correct. If they agree, you are good to go. I check the water temperature of my sous vide bath with a 3rd party thermometer. In my case, it is agrees with the readout on my Inkbird ISV-200W, so I am happy.

With three thermometers, you can have a good idea of the actual temperature. That is what I do with my Traeger grill. I installed an analog grill thermometer in the hood of my Ironwood such that the tip of the probe is just above the top grate where I do most of my cooking. I also use a 3rd party digital thermometer probe just above the grate level. Then the third thermometer is the RTD probe that the controller uses to maintain cook temperature. While my analog and 3rd party digital thermometers normally agree within a few degrees, the RTD probe is pretty close at 200F, off 25F at 300F, and off 50F at 400F. As long as my other thermometers agree, I set the controller at whatever value is needed to maintain the temperature at grate level.

Tomorrow I'll SV a bunch of steaks and burgers, all med' rare. Yes, med' rare burgers are perfectly safe done SV. I wouldn't do that to a burger cooked any other way.

Tomorrow I'll SV a bunch of steaks and burgers, all med' rare. Yes, med' rare burgers are perfectly safe done SV. I wouldn't do that to a burger cooked any other way.

SV burgers are awesome. Food safety is a factor of time and temperature. If you grilled or pan fried a burger to 135F there would not be enough time at 135 to ensure a safe product but if you SV the burger at 135 for an hour or two then it will be safe. A finishing sear to get some Maillard effect and you have a tender juicy burger. I will admit that it still takes getting used to eating a pink and juicy hamburger. We are so conditioned to cook the daylights out of it until it’s a tough dry puck that needs a ton of condiments and toppings to be palatable. Enjoy the day Brian. Hallelujah!

I will admit that it still takes getting used to eating a pink and juicy hamburger. We are so conditioned to cook the daylights out of it until it’s a tough dry puck that needs a ton of condiments and toppings to be palatable. Enjoy the day Brian. Hallelujah!

:-) I've been "threatening" to SV some burgers for many years now. But we were gifted some Omaha Steak burgers and they are already sealed in plastic so I just couldn't resist. While I'm at it I threw in the other items so as to fully utilize the hot water. :-) The wife about went nuts re: all the meat I was cooking* until I reminded her that the freezer is still working just fine and was waiting to accept the already cooked and sealed meat. Then I got an "Oh, yeah, I forgot.", as she walked away. I've written it before, once cooked take it frozen out of the freezer and warm at the cooking temp' long enough to warm it through, then finish to get the Maillard reaction. SV in an hour with no loss of quality.

* I've cooked MANY steaks at one time in the past, over 30 at a time, and refroze them to have on hand for a quick SV meal. They just need to be chilled rapidly.

Yes indeed, Hallelu JAH!

Tomorrow I'll SV a bunch of steaks and burgers, all med' rare. Yes, med' rare burgers are perfectly safe done SV. I wouldn't do that to a burger cooked any other way.

SV burgers are awesome. Food safety is a factor of time and temperature. If you grilled or pan fried a burger to 135F there would not be enough time at 135 to ensure a safe product but if you SV the burger at 135 for an hour or two then it will be safe. A finishing sear to get some Maillard effect and you have a tender juicy burger. I will admit that it still takes getting used to eating a pink and juicy hamburger. We are so conditioned to cook the daylights out of it until it’s a tough dry puck that needs a ton of condiments and toppings to be palatable. Enjoy the day Brian. Hallelujah!

I tend to eat more turkey burgers than beef burgers and, even more than beef, it took some getting used to that the turkey might still be slightly pink in the middle with the sous vide method of cooking.  However, the results are unbelievable compared to pan frying or broiling.  Like ShadowsDad, I pre season the burgers, seal and freeze them, and they make for an easy dinner.  No muss or fuss on dinner night and the turkey is moist and flavorful and definitely not a dry as dust turkey burger that most people are used to.  Because they're frozen, I just add extra cooking time to make sure they are cooked through.  As I've mentioned before, I don't mind the much longer cooking time with sous vide.  Because I don't have to constantly tend to it and watch the time, I can put together the other things I'll have with it such as a vegetable, and rice or potatoes.  I even have time for an evening shower before sitting down to eat.  So far, I have seen very little downside to sous vide cooking.

You are so right Freddy   it’s counterintuitive that experimenting with a “complicated and high tech”  new cooking system will actually reduce stress and ease time pressures in getting something done just right down to the nano second or it’s ruined. Have a guest who is unavoidably detained? Not a big deal. It really is a life changer. It’s amazing for fish. Moist and tender and perfectly done. 

One drawback is if you’re doing multiple dishes requiring different temperatures but really not that big of a problem because SV machines aren’t that expensive. Just buy another one.