I’m a vote in favour of the vacuum sealer, to be honest. Yes the ziploc bag approach works — I used it for a long time after getting the circulator. But it’s more of a faff and sometimes requires you to weigh down the bag. A vacuum sealed item will just sink. Also once you get the vacuum sealer, you’ll find yourself using it constantly for storing and freezing stuff too, and it does a great job minimising freezer burn.
To what @Ginger_Yellow just said, there are a lot more uses for the vacuum sealer than just sous vide. I have one, I really should use it more. I keep telling myself once I make room and get a chest freezer, I’ll use it more to get better seals on things I’m freezing.
That being said, I’ve used ziplocs for sous vide so far. From watching way too many videos, there is a huge amount of folks that use vacuum sealing. You can go either way here. I’d love to hear your comments on it. I put some water in my side sink and used it to push the air out of the bags for ziplocs, They sank fairly well. Since the cooker moves water around, you’re probably still going to want clips or something to sink and hold them anyway, no matter which method you choose.
EDIT: I’m imagining the best use for one would be to prep bags the day you buy future sous vide food from the store. You can then do the mini-prep of things, put them in the bag, seal them and freeze them until you have a day when you want to make things. Even though I use ziplocs for tha sometimes, they have a shorter freezer lifespan, especally as they get moisture in them and I think getting the air out with a vacuum would help that a bit.
Yup. For reasons I won’t got into, I unexpectedly ended up with a dozen lamb leg steaks recently. No problem, I just vacuumed them up with a sprig of rosemary and stuck them in the freezer, taking one out every few days to sous vide.
Ginger I really should use mine for that. Just another thing I need counter space for, though. :(
Gendal
5130
I do variations on that all the time. Sous vide plus freezing works out really well.
Just remember to label with the date and name, otherwise you can be like me and have to declare tomorrow a mystery meat day. I found a package from last month that I do not remember doing. I mean I put the date on it, and it kinda looks like two whole chicken legs plus sauce/marinade/etc but damned if I remember what it is. So the plan is to start it up at something low until it defrosts enough for me to see, then I can crank up the heat.
Man I love beet salads, going to have to try that with some goat cheese and greens.
Dayum. This really gets to me, Lantz. I freaking love beets. I love roasting them, especially for pickling and for making borscht.But I’ll slice them up and serve them alone as a side. The roasting doesn’t take all that much prep–taking off the skins is mildly annoying…and I don’t see that covered in the recipe you’ve linked–but I just tend not to do it that often because of the time window.
I do love the idea of this as a possibility though. Thanks, Lantz!
-xtien
CraigM
5132
I’ve got a row of beets in my garden that I plan on mixing with the jalapenos I’m growing and pickling. Spicy pickled beets are one of mans greatest accomplishments.
I’ve not done that. I’ve just done them with thyme vinegar and red onions. I love them so.
Adding the jalapenos sounds freaking great.
-xtien
CraigM
5135
Me either, but there is a vendor for a local farmers market that would have all sorts of pickled veggies, and they made pickled spicy beets that were to die for. So I’m getting adventuresome!
I like this very much. And now I want to go looking for beets at the farmer’s market this weekend.
-xtien
Indyls
5137
I just want to thank everyone in this thread for posting your tips, recipes and photos. I’ve been inspired to try something new so many times and printed off countless recipes. Please don’t stop!
Why aren’t you posting pictures?! :P
Indyls
5139
Ha! I said I’ve been inspired. I didn’t actually make anything. I just plan to… one day.
Timex
5141
Pizza Friday!
Whole wheat dough, mostly veggies on the pizza with some soppressatta.
nKoan
5142
Good looking pie!
We did a simple cheese pizza here tonight.
Those are both absolutely gorgeous, gentlemen!
@nkoan are you British, by chance? Looks like a fan back there in the oven, and I always hear British Youtube chefs talk about temperatures set “to fan,” which confused the bejesus out of me :-D
Welp. I’m poor this week so I went with a $4 frozen pizza.
Timex
5145
Cheap ass frozen pizzas are one of the greatest things in the world, bar none.
I still have this gadget I got in college, called a Pizza Pizzaz, and the damn thing is awesome for frozen pizzas.
