Searzall

[Barry]

Are any of you using this? If so, how do you like it?

I ordered one. I live in a relatively small condo and don't have access to a grill. I cook in a water bath (Sous Vide) on a regular basis and I think this will be a decent way to sear. Of course, I could use a hot pan and set off my smoke detector. This I can take outside in the courtyard and quickly sear steak, fish, scallops etc. I'm guessing a lot of people would use it indoors. I'd be a bit uncomfortable using propane indoors even with a good exhaust fan. Maybe I'm wrong about that though.

[ShadowsDad]

I do SV also. That's the first I've heard of the searzall. One thing to beware of, propane can impart the rotten egg smell that is put into the gas for safety, into the taste of the food. For that reason I use an iwatani (sp?) torch to finish off my steaks and such.

Don't forget a brushing of a solution of baking soda and dextrose to enhance both the browning and Maillard reaction. I brush my steaks twice between browning steps.

[Barry]

I've used the Iwatani too. This device does something to prevent the propane odor from reaching the food. I'm not sure how it does it though but people seem to say if you set it up correctly that you won't create food with off flavors.

What do you like to cook Sous Vide? I've done so many things. Polenta is a favorite. Fish/Shellfish are great too. I'm slowly cutting back on red meat (not that I eat a lot anyway) so I'm always looking for new recipes. I know there are dozens on the Sous Vide sites but it's always nice to hear about other people's experiences.

My next Sous Vide experiment will be yogurt. My starter will hopefully be from a local Afghan restaurant and I'm going to use milk from the farmer's market that's a block away from my place. I'm looking forward to giving this a go.

[ShadowsDad]

I mostly do beef, lamb, chicken, I make 7 quarts of yogurt approx' every 2 weeks. It makes yogurt making a breeze. I've tried fish, but the result wasn't good. I need to revisit the fish and shoot for a lower temperature. In pounds of SV product I easily make far more yogurt than anything else. If my cooler would fit more qt jars I'd make more in one batch.

Oh, I also make coffee in it, but it takes so much time that it's not for the breakfast wake up cup. It results in a very nice cup of coffee though for my one cup per week on Saturday.

There is a mashed potato recipe that I want to try that uses wheat enzyme (I can't remember the name- but it's made at home) to turn the mashed potato into the creamiest mash ever. One breaks all the rules for mashed potatoes to make it.

Beef and lamb are staples for us and when I SV from frozen I fill the cooler. Then when they're done I freeze them. To serve, I just pull out what we want, SV at the cooking temp', 130°F for one hour and there is absolutely no loss of quality. All that remains is the browning.

Let me know how the Searzall works out for you.

I've also finished steaks over blazing lump charcoal with wood smoke. It was indistinguishable from "normal" grilled beef except it was much more tender. Actually I did that with a very low grade and lean ribeye. It was as tender as a Prime filet.

I make simple yogurt, no special ingredients. It can be made more complicated than need be. But just give the bacteria a chance and they'll do the job. I just use live culture yogurt (2 individual servings) from the supermarket, and 2 gallons of full fat milk. I whisk one serving into a mess of the milk and divide the mix into the wide mouth canning jars, then do it again with the remaining serving of yogurt, then top off the jars. I don't scald the milk. Then it goes in the bath for 2 days thereabouts @ 105°F. Time isn't critical. It can come out a bit sooner or stay in longer. I've done it at 112°, but evaporation at that temp' is annoying, consumes energy, and I see no difference in the final product. Cost? $1 for the 2 yogurts, and $7.50 for the 2 gallons of milk, and we have milk enough for 1-2 weeks out of the 2 gallons. But disregarding the excess milk that isn't used for the yogurt, $8.50 for the 7 qts of yogurt, plus electricity which is minimal. I use it, and the dogs get it in their food - they love the stuff. But tying up the SV circulator for 2 days has shown me that I need a second unit.

[Barry]

I have the larger sized SVS and the water doesn't circulate. I'm fine with it - it's all self contained. I probably would go for a circulator next time around though and then just insulate a plastic bin or use a modified cooler in the event I want to cook larger amounts of food.

I'll try and post a picture of my next SV meal. It'll probably be this weekend.

[ShadowsDad]

Right after I wrote the above I began some boneless beef ribs, done BBQ in the SV. I'd been playing with SV BBQ a small bit previously.

This time I SV the experimental ribs 24 hours @ 130°F. Then removed them, patted dry, dry rubbed them, and bagged and chilled them. Yesterday I did a mess of ribs and put in the SV ribs for the first hour to get the smoke. Then pulled them out of the Primo, rebagged them, and put them back into the SV bath @ 130 to warm through. I never seared them.

They weren't traditional 'Q, they were definitely different, but they were tender and moist (and these ribs had virtually no fat running through them), and tasted delicious. But, none of the caramelized build up that I like so much on the outside of traditional BBQ. It would be super easy to freeze a bunch of these after the smoke part, and just rewarm them at a later time for faux BBQ with no time expended at some future time.

[Barry]

I tried some 48hr baby-back ribs in the sous vide. Unfortunately, I adjusted the temperature too high and they basically fell apart completely. I misread the recipe. The flavor was there after torching the pieces of meat that I could (I seared some of the bbq sauce). Next time I'll lower the temp by 20+ degrees. I was only able to eat about 3-4oz of meat at most. The rest was kinda gross.

Today I'm doing a 3-4oz eye round. That's my usual weekly red-meat allotment. After sous vide I'll sear it and mix it into a salad with lots of vegetables. Add to that a small side of bulgar wheat and I'm good to go.

A few hours in the SV and it's as tender as prime rib. Of course, the flavor isn't quite there...

I need to do the yogurt next. Maybe Wednesday.

[ShadowsDad]

Did you try the Sodium Bicarb' and dextrose (or corn syrup) wash before searing? It will increase the Maillard reaction and give that fantastic "grilled meat" taste. To enhance it even more some dry milk can be put into the solution to make protein more available to the dextrose. Just a little milk though.

What a shame about the ribs. They can be done SV, but I'd need to look into it. I don't do many pork ribs at all.

There are cookbooks available for SV, but I confess I've never bought one. I'm on a BBQ forum with a section containing SV cookery, actually modernist cooking, and I get plenty of times and temps from there.

[Barry]

I finally set it up, seasoned it, and then seared a steak. I like it a lot. It left no propane flavor on the meat whatsoever. I made sure the small filet was very dry and then I just went at it almost full blast. I'm impressed and can't wait to give it a go with other food items.

[ShadowsDad]

Glad to hear it!

I find that the leaner the steak the better SV works on them. I buy flatirons already sealed in plastic for a great price and they are just super.

[Barry]

I bought a small package of boneless beef short ribs at Whole Foods. I'm going to cook one for 36hrs in the water bath. After that I'll hit it with the Searzall and hopefully remember to post a photo.

[ShadowsDad]

Good luck ! Please let me know how you make out with them.

[Blue As A Jewel]

I've just gotten into sous vide and saw the Searzall but in spite of being a gadget freak I couldn't bring myself to buy one.

It just seemed it would take too much time to sear 4-steaks for a family dinner. My preference is to simply sear in my beloved Lodge.

Check this out http://www.seriouseats.com/2016/06/how- ... ested.html for an Adam Savage and J. Kenji López-Alt Mythbuster approach to the best searing technique.

[ShadowsDad]

I especially like it when someone uses a fork in their mouth and then puts it on the cutting board. Like others want to trust where their mouth has been. What ails people!? Are they really that ignorant of hygiene? Or do they think others want to swap spit with them? And on a cutting board!

I've been wanting to try the chimney method since I first saw it on ATK.

The searzall is just too expensive for me. I normally use an Iwatani butane torch. I've also been known to use the IR broiler in our BlueStar oven. That IR broiler is just insanely hot and I can do more than one steak at a time.