Sous Vide Pork Belly Porchetta [Zack]

I've enjoyed using my Anova Sous Vide machine for long, slow cooking sessions on big hunks of meat.  It's so much easier to get a perfect, consistent, and repeatable outcome.  I've actually been following recipes that I've found online while I'm learning to use the new tool.

Everyone loves pork belly, and this porchetta recipe is perfect if you want to make something besides bacon.  It's crispy, rich, salty, fatty, and balances well with something light and fresh.  All of the credit goes to my favorite food writer, J. Kenji Lopez-Alt for creating the All Belly Sous Vide recipe.

Process:

Lay the pork belly skin-side down on a cutting board and cross-hatch the inner meat portion with about 1/2 inch diagonal cuts.  Rub salt, crushed black peppercorns, crushed fennel seeds, red pepper flakes, smashed garlic, and rosemary all over the inside.  Roll the belly tightly and tie it with butcher string.

Season the outside of the belly with a 2-to-1 ratio of salt and baking powder.  Vacuum seal the belly and let it rest in the fridge for 12 hours or so.

Sous vide the belly at 155F / 68.3C for 36 hours.  Transfer belly to an ice bath if you're not cooking it right away.

Remove the belly from the pouch and reserve the liquid that it exuded.  You can reduce this down for a sauce if you want.

Shallow-fry the porchetta, spooning oil over it and turning when needed.

Remove from the oil when it's nicely golden brown and crispy on all sides.

Slice, and serve over crusty toast and with some cole slaw to offset the richness.

Ingredients:
See Kenji's Recipe

Song:  Since this cooks for a while, just jam out to James Blake's whole album:  James Blake

Sous Vide Teriyaki Beef Short Rib [Zack]

This is by far my favorite recipe to make with the Sous Vide machine (so far).  I've had varied results making teriyaki beef short ribs by braising or simmering.  The flavor has been there, but the ribs would never stay together.  Using the perfect temperature control of Sous Vide, I was able to achieve my ideal consistency of the short rib, while having a better visual presentation.

I like to pair these short ribs with horseradish mashed potatoes and some type of zingy veggie like Kimchi.  Here is a quick snapshot of the process and a rough recipe:

Process:

Prepare your teriyaki sauce first.  Dice the garlic, ginger and chiles and simmer in 1T of sesame oil.  Add the wet ingredients and sugar and simmer the sauce until it's thickened and coats the back of a spoon.  Adjust the sauce as needed.

Vacuum seal the beef short ribs with 2 T of teriyaki sauce per short rib.

Place the rib packs into the immersion circulated water bath at 63C for 48 hours.  Use a plate if they float above the water line.

Remove the ribs from the pouches after the timer goes off and brown all sides of them in a saute pan.  Brush with the teriyaki sauce before serving.

Ingredients:  (qty for 4 short ribs)
1T sesame oil
a few garlic cloves
1 inch ginger, diced
1-2 birdseye chiles
1 cup soy sauce
dash of rice wine vinegar
2/3 cup brown sugar (to taste)

4 beef short ribs

Song:  James Blake - I Only Know

Sous Vide Lobster Tail Beurre Monte with Angel Hair Squash Pasta [Zack]

I just got an Anova sous vide immersion circulator.  Sous vide means "under vacuum" in French.  To cook sous vide, seal the food with a vacuum sealer, and then immerse it in a temperature-controlled water bath.  It allows you to precisely control temperature and time to get a perfect outcome each time!  For a steak or other foods that require browning, you can quickly sear it after you've finished cooking in the water bath.

I've been interested in learning how to cook food sous vide because many fancy restaurants use the method.  If you've ever had an impossibly tender steak with the inside perfectly pink from top to bottom, there's a chance it's been cooked sous vide.

I decided to try to cook a lobster tail as my first try with my Anova.  Since seafood gets tough and rubbery if you overcook it, cooking sous vide becomes a cheat-code.

This recipe is for lobster tail Beurre Monte.  The traditional recipe calls for poaching the lobster tails in a pot of butter.  Since I'm using a vacuum sealer, I can use a lot less butter because the lobster tails will still have full contact to the butter inside the bag.  Serve the lobster tails straight out of the bag over a bed of fresh pasta.

Process:

Defrost the lobster tails if frozen.

Start up your sous vide circulator at 54C to get your water up to temperature.

The first step is to remove the tail meat from the shells.  This is apparently much easier if you quickly blanch the tails in salted boiling water for 45 seconds.  So, do that.

Cut shell down the middle with kitchen shears and carefully separate the meat from the shell.  This will take a few minutes and is the hardest part of the recipe.

Place the tail meat in a vacuum sealed bag.  Make sure that the bag has enough area around the tail(s) so you get a proper seal.  Add in 5 pads of butter and 1 sprig of thyme per tail and vacuum seal it.

Submerge the sealed tails into the water bath and cook at 54C for 30 minutes.

If they float, make sure to put a plate on top of them so they are totally under the water.

While this is going, you can cook your pasta dish.  Get your water boiling.  Slice the squash, and dice the onions and garlic.  Heat up a pan over medium heat and add butter and olive oil to the pan.  Saute squash, yellow onion, and garlic for about 5 minutes.

Cook the pasta when you're ready to serve the lobster.  Toss the pasta with some grated parmesan cheese and the veggies.

Remove the lobster bags from the water.

Slice open the bag and slice the tails.  Serve over the pasta.  If some lobster-flavored butter from the bag happens to make it on the noodles, keep it a secret.

Ingredients:
1 lobster tail per serving
5 pads of salted butter per tail
1 sprig of thyme per tail

1/2 lb of angel hair pasta (serves 4)
1 green squash
1 yellow squash
1 white or yellow onion
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup grated parmesan reggiano
freshly-cracked black peppercorns

Song:  Stromae - Quand C'est