OT General Off Topic Thread - [NO POLITICS OR RELIGION]

[ReasonablySober]

Just made the best in-door steak. A few months ago t-bones were going for $8.99 a pound so I bought about 10, vacuumed sealed them and stuck them in the freezer. Sous vide one tonight with a tablespoon of butter and a few sprigs of thyme. Two hours at 131 degrees. Took it out, pat it dry, into a ripping hot skillet with a little butter and took it out when both sides and a thick brown crust. Topped it with bleu cheese crumbles. **** it was amazing. Perfect medium rare throughout. I'd been mistakenly giving it a vegetable oil coating before cooking because I thought it would help the browning. Don't ever do that. Just a little butter and you're golden.

[MickeyDavis]

LOL at Mickey editing one of my posts.

?

[ReginaldDwight]

Just made the best in-door steak. A few months ago t-bones were going for $8.99 a pound so I bought about 10, vacuumed sealed them and stuck them in the freezer. Sous vide one tonight with a tablespoon of butter and a few sprigs of thyme. Two hours at 131 degrees. Took it out, pat it dry, into a ripping hot skillet with a little butter and took it out when both sides and a thick brown crust. Topped it with bleu cheese crumbles. **** it was amazing. Perfect medium rare throughout. I'd been mistakenly giving it a vegetable oil coating before cooking because I thought it would help the browning. Don't ever do that. Just a little butter and you're golden.

Sous Vide worth it? What do you cook up using it?

[ReasonablySober]

Just made the best in-door steak. A few months ago t-bones were going for $8.99 a pound so I bought about 10, vacuumed sealed them and stuck them in the freezer. Sous vide one tonight with a tablespoon of butter and a few sprigs of thyme. Two hours at 131 degrees. Took it out, pat it dry, into a ripping hot skillet with a little butter and took it out when both sides and a thick brown crust. Topped it with bleu cheese crumbles. **** it was amazing. Perfect medium rare throughout. I'd been mistakenly giving it a vegetable oil coating before cooking because I thought it would help the browning. Don't ever do that. Just a little butter and you're golden.

Sous Vide worth it? What do you cook up using it?

I think it's the best kitchen device I own, and I own literally all the kitchen devices. I've sous vide steak, lobster, brisket, burgers, chicken, pork loin and chops, turkey and probably many things I'm forgetting. Anything that requires precise temperature is worth sous vide'ing. The brisket in particular was mind-blowing when I cooked it for 48 hours and finished smoking it on a Webber, but I REALLY want to try this one soon:

Watch on YouTube

Tell me that doesn't look **** amazing.

The Anova is frequently on sale and I love mine.

[ReginaldDwight]

Just made the best in-door steak. A few months ago t-bones were going for $8.99 a pound so I bought about 10, vacuumed sealed them and stuck them in the freezer. Sous vide one tonight with a tablespoon of butter and a few sprigs of thyme. Two hours at 131 degrees. Took it out, pat it dry, into a ripping hot skillet with a little butter and took it out when both sides and a thick brown crust. Topped it with bleu cheese crumbles. **** it was amazing. Perfect medium rare throughout. I'd been mistakenly giving it a vegetable oil coating before cooking because I thought it would help the browning. Don't ever do that. Just a little butter and you're golden.

Sous Vide worth it? What do you cook up using it?

I think it's the best kitchen device I own, and I own literally all the kitchen devices. I've sous vide steak, lobster, brisket, burgers, chicken, pork loin and chops, turkey and probably many things I'm forgetting. Anything that requires precise temperature is worth sous vide'ing. The brisket in particular was mind-blowing when I cooked it for 48 hours and finished smoking it on a Webber, but I REALLY want to try this one soon:

Watch on YouTube

Tell me that doesn't look **** amazing.

The Anova is frequently on sale and I love mine.

Yeah im apartment living so no smoker or grill at the crib. Been thinking about popping on a sous vide for awhile now. Might grab one on sale.

[Ill-yasova]

Just made the best in-door steak. A few months ago t-bones were going for $8.99 a pound so I bought about 10, vacuumed sealed them and stuck them in the freezer. Sous vide one tonight with a tablespoon of butter and a few sprigs of thyme. Two hours at 131 degrees. Took it out, pat it dry, into a ripping hot skillet with a little butter and took it out when both sides and a thick brown crust. Topped it with bleu cheese crumbles. **** it was amazing. Perfect medium rare throughout. I'd been mistakenly giving it a vegetable oil coating before cooking because I thought it would help the browning. Don't ever do that. Just a little butter and you're golden.

I’ve been looking into this for a while and I’m about to take the plunge. Quick question, aside from the Sous Vide appliance itself, what else will I need to buy to get started?

[ReasonablySober]

Just made the best in-door steak. A few months ago t-bones were going for $8.99 a pound so I bought about 10, vacuumed sealed them and stuck them in the freezer. Sous vide one tonight with a tablespoon of butter and a few sprigs of thyme. Two hours at 131 degrees. Took it out, pat it dry, into a ripping hot skillet with a little butter and took it out when both sides and a thick brown crust. Topped it with bleu cheese crumbles. **** it was amazing. Perfect medium rare throughout. I'd been mistakenly giving it a vegetable oil coating before cooking because I thought it would help the browning. Don't ever do that. Just a little butter and you're golden.

I’ve been looking into this for a while and I’m about to take the plunge. Quick question, aside from the Sous Vide appliance itself, what else will I need to buy to get started?

Would recommend:

A good food saver. This is my second and it's light years better than the first. Highly recommend. You can use the water displacement method and just use plastic bags, but this is easier.

Rubbermaid Commercial Space Saving Food Storage Container, 12 Quart. This cover keeps the water that evaporates in. Useful for really long cooking. Otherwise a thick layer of ping pong balls works. I'd just get the cover.

The container is big enough to cook multiple steaks or chops. Bigger stuff like brisket you'll have a problem with, though. For that I went to Menards and got this big ass bucket.

To keep things secure at the bottom of the water, this pot lid organizer rules.

Since you'll want to sear most of the foods you sous vide, a kitchen blow torch is handy. This one is fine, but it won't give the crust you want alone. It is useful to give your food a pre-sear before putting it in the pan. I did that tonight with the steak to minimize the smoke that comes with searing fat and meat in a **** hot pan. The upgrade is the SEARZALL with a blow torch but even the positive reviews I've read say it's still better to use a cast iron pan. I'd stick with the torch I linked to.

[Beorn]

Guys, I really hope you won't marry a woman of Greek origin, weddings here are a huge business, with 150-300 people usually present. Obscure relatives, drunk uncles and screeching children everywhere. A total nightmare, unless you get relatively drunk yourself too

[Jez2983]

You could have a "destination wedding". Everyone has to pay their own way to get there. That weeds a lot out without you having to pick and choose.

That would be a great way to have me not show up to my own wedding.

Make the destination Cudahy. That would keep the Hartland snobs away.

Hang on, what?

You wouldn't pay to get to your own wedding?

Jez's tip: you will pay for more than transport costs if you get married.

[Ill-yasova]

Guys, I really hope you won't marry a woman of Greek origin, weddings here are a huge business, with 150-300 people usually present. Obscure relatives, drunk uncles and screeching children everywhere. A total nightmare, unless you get relatively drunk yourself too

They should make a movie about this!

[crkone]

We loaded up a Sequoia and a trailer and drove to Nevada over a few days for the wedding. It was a pretty awesome road trip there and back.

[Mags FTW]

What's the etiquette on inviting some family and not others? I have no plans to get married any time soon but my mom has 8 siblings, all are married, all have kids, some of those kids are having their own kids. There's just no feasible way to invite them all but they all talk so how do you get away with the I invited this person but not that person?

Same thing with my dad's side but he has slightly fewer siblings.

You set a certain time frame, say a year, and if you haven’t seen that person face-to-face within that time span, they are out. You can make exceptions for people that live out-of-state or whatever.

[humanrefutation]

Just made the best in-door steak. A few months ago t-bones were going for $8.99 a pound so I bought about 10, vacuumed sealed them and stuck them in the freezer. Sous vide one tonight with a tablespoon of butter and a few sprigs of thyme. Two hours at 131 degrees. Took it out, pat it dry, into a ripping hot skillet with a little butter and took it out when both sides and a thick brown crust. Topped it with bleu cheese crumbles. **** it was amazing. Perfect medium rare throughout. I'd been mistakenly giving it a vegetable oil coating before cooking because I thought it would help the browning. Don't ever do that. Just a little butter and you're golden.

I’ve been looking into this for a while and I’m about to take the plunge. Quick question, aside from the Sous Vide appliance itself, what else will I need to buy to get started?

Would recommend:

A good food saver. This is my second and it's light years better than the first. Highly recommend. You can use the water displacement method and just use plastic bags, but this is easier.

Rubbermaid Commercial Space Saving Food Storage Container, 12 Quart. This cover keeps the water that evaporates in. Useful for really long cooking. Otherwise a thick layer of ping pong balls works. I'd just get the cover.

The container is big enough to cook multiple steaks or chops. Bigger stuff like brisket you'll have a problem with, though. For that I went to Menards and got this big ass bucket.

To keep things secure at the bottom of the water, this pot lid organizer rules.

Since you'll want to sear most of the foods you sous vide, a kitchen blow torch is handy. This one is fine, but it won't give the crust you want alone. It is useful to give your food a pre-sear before putting it in the pan. I did that tonight with the steak to minimize the smoke that comes with searing fat and meat in a **** hot pan. The upgrade is the SEARZALL with a blow torch but even the positive reviews I've read say it's still better to use a cast iron pan. I'd stick with the torch I linked to.

I also sous-vide, and agree that you'd be set with DB's recommendations there. But I don't own most of them, personally.

I use water-displacement to seal my bags, but foodsavers would make things a million times easier (especially for long-term freezer storage, IMO). I'd definitely recommend that for simplicity. I'm planning to buy one sometime soon just for freezer storage. But it isn't absolutely necessary.

I use a large pot to cook in, instead of the rubbermaid DB linked up there. But the rubbermaid would give you more space. and the organizer would let you cook multiple things at once. I just don't usually sous-vide for more than a couple people at a time, so I didn't feel the need to drop some dough on that.

The torch is great, but I just sear my steaks post-sous vide in a cast iron skillet. Yeah, it can get smokey, but if you use an oil with a high smoke point (like grapeseed oil), and you turn on your vents/open a window, it minimizes the smokiness considerably. FWIW, you usually only need to sear the meat for 90 seconds total (40 sec each side, maybe 10 for the edges), so it shouldn't be terrible.

[humanrefutation]

On a somewhat related note, I've got my dinner plans marinating right now.

http://gimmedelicious.com/2016/03/10/spicy-shrimp-tacos-with-avocado-salsa-sour-cream-cilantro-sauce/

I've got about 20 large shrimp marinating. I'm going to pick up a couple avocados tonight and mix them in with some spicy-as-hell salsa that I adore. Tonight I'll make some tacos.

I'm sure I'll have some leftover shrimp and fixings. With the leftovers, I'll add some cilantro lime rice made in my instant pot, some salsa, and some cheese, and leftover sour-cream sauce, and make a burrito bowl for tomorrow.

It's going to be so damn good.

[Siefer]

I was very involved in the decision-making going into the wedding/party, even one that was relatively low key -I think I actually cared more about the aesthetics than she did. Luckily, we both have relatively relaxed families when it comes to tradition and the like, so we were largely free to pursue what we wanted. We didn't invite any extended family, and only invited a handful friends each. We had a courthouse wedding, rented out the backroom at the Sugar Maple, catered Glorioso's, and paid for all the beer and wine. Overall, we managed to keep it below $1500, which I understand is pretty insane for a wedding.

[humanrefutation]

I don't think any podcast has made laugh as hard as the 90 minute daily recaps of the Dan Le Batard show with Stugotz. Stu is legitimately hilarious and they conduct some of the funniest segments and most interesting interviews.

[ReginaldDwight]

On a somewhat related note, I've got my dinner plans marinating right now.

http://gimmedelicious.com/2016/03/10/spicy-shrimp-tacos-with-avocado-salsa-sour-cream-cilantro-sauce/

I've got about 20 large shrimp marinating. I'm going to pick up a couple avocados tonight and mix them in with some spicy-as-hell salsa that I adore. Tonight I'll make some tacos.

I'm sure I'll have some leftover shrimp and fixings. With the leftovers, I'll add some cilantro lime rice made in my instant pot, some salsa, and some cheese, and leftover sour-cream sauce, and make a burrito bowl for tomorrow.

It's going to be so damn good.

You gotta brine those shrimp man, If anyone is making shrimp cocktail get some good frozen wild shrimp shell on, keep the shells on and clean them. Hit them under the broiler and boom best shirmp cocktail youll have.

[humanrefutation]

On a somewhat related note, I've got my dinner plans marinating right now.

http://gimmedelicious.com/2016/03/10/spicy-shrimp-tacos-with-avocado-salsa-sour-cream-cilantro-sauce/

I've got about 20 large shrimp marinating. I'm going to pick up a couple avocados tonight and mix them in with some spicy-as-hell salsa that I adore. Tonight I'll make some tacos.

I'm sure I'll have some leftover shrimp and fixings. With the leftovers, I'll add some cilantro lime rice made in my instant pot, some salsa, and some cheese, and leftover sour-cream sauce, and make a burrito bowl for tomorrow.

It's going to be so damn good.

You gotta brine those shrimp man, If anyone is making shrimp cocktail get some good frozen wild shrimp shell on, keep the shells on and clean them. Hit them under the broiler and boom best shirmp cocktail youll have.

That's a great idea. I also love grilling shrimp, too.

[ReginaldDwight]

On a somewhat related note, I've got my dinner plans marinating right now.

http://gimmedelicious.com/2016/03/10/spicy-shrimp-tacos-with-avocado-salsa-sour-cream-cilantro-sauce/

I've got about 20 large shrimp marinating. I'm going to pick up a couple avocados tonight and mix them in with some spicy-as-hell salsa that I adore. Tonight I'll make some tacos.

I'm sure I'll have some leftover shrimp and fixings. With the leftovers, I'll add some cilantro lime rice made in my instant pot, some salsa, and some cheese, and leftover sour-cream sauce, and make a burrito bowl for tomorrow.

It's going to be so damn good.

You gotta brine those shrimp man, If anyone is making shrimp cocktail get some good frozen wild shrimp shell on, keep the shells on and clean them. Hit them under the broiler and boom best shirmp cocktail youll have.

That's a great idea. I also love grilling shrimp, too.

Yeah i find it harder to get them done just right, shrimp are really important to get to the right temp imo. I also work in the seafood world so I see lots of different types and ****, and IMO getting a big flash frozen brick of good wild shrimp is so much better then some peeled farmed ones.

[trwi7]

The best thing you can do with shrimp is freeze them and chuck them at cars.