You probably know the basics, but not every one does so: The grain in brisket runs lengthwise through the cut, as it does in tri-tip. This image shows it good. You’ve got to cut across the grain the shorten those long ass muscle fibers if you want it to be tender. Its the source of the “meat spaghetti” effect you sometimes see with braised or boiled brisket. Though I kind of like that with corned beef.
The issue is that the flat and the point are 2 separate muscles. And the grain of the two muscles aren’t lined up. Best practice is to separate them after cooking so each section can be carved across the grain.
Of course that’s only an issue with a whole brisket. If you’re only cooking the flat (which is the more common cut) or the point (which is the vastly better cut) in isolation you don’t have an issue.
The tri-tip has a similar-ish problem. Its only one muscle and the grain is consistent. But because of the shape of the cut, and the orientation of the grain, it can be kind of curved or bend off from the straight line as it hits the thinner areas or the corners. Seems to vary from piece to piece.
for the squish thing, I use water submersion to get the air out of the bag instead of using my vacuum sealer. as far as holding together, i just make sure i handle with care and a gentler seal may help remedy the issue as well. also; make sure the pan you finish it on it smokin’ hot.
Can you smell Parkinson’s disease, or the unique scent that pressure cooking imparts to all meats? Can you tell instantly when a menstruating woman walks into the room?
Humans don’t have identical carbon copy sensory apparatus or neurological wiring. Somewhere out there, there’s some poor benighted soul who doesn’t like fried chicken and watermelon.
Consider, intellectually if you will, that your senses and asthetics may not be canonical; and that our differences might be worthy of celebration, rather than a problem we must solve.
Well, yes, that’s why I said “I don’t understand that” rather than something like “you’re crazy”.
Since sous-vide cooking is generally just a gentler version of what normally happens when food cooks, I do question what could possibly give what you’re describing. And if it’s just a personal thing that may or may not have a grounding, then it’s a bit odd to use a blanket statement like “eating food cooked in plastic bags is disgusting”. But, to each their own.
Taste and scent are heavily skewed by impression and expectation, I find it more likely that your “tastes like bag, always and with the proper equipment” would be a manifestation of this. Anything’s possible, but it’s such a low temperature, assumedly new (gross if not) bags, and with other flavors going on that I can’t imagine how someone, even a “supertaster” would think they can taste bag.
I mean, I believe fully that you do, but would you if the samples were distributed double-blinded?
Good question! I don’t drink beer from cans, because it tastes like ass to me, but I did the double-blind experiment and found that once it’s poured into a glass I can’t tell the difference from bottled beer. Further experimentation showed that the lip of the can always has some bare metal exposed where the coating’s worn off in shipping, and that’s what I’m tasting. I’ve never liked the harsh, alkaline taste of aluminum and adding beer makes it worse.
Perhaps I wouldn’t mind sous vide if I had nose plugs, or if a sufficiently redolent sauce were applied. Scent affects perception of taste and texture, and apparently I have an unusually acute sense of smell for a former smoker. I dunno!
Weren’t you the one arguing a particular cooking method was disgusting, wrong, and universally provided objectively inferior results? And also placing value judgments on people based on the presumed complications and finickiness of the technique involved?
If you don’t like the idea you don’t like the idea. If you prefer the results from something else you prefer the results from something else. Its not bad or wrong because something about it rubs you the wrong way or strikes you as frighteningly new or immasculine. I like steak cooked pretty much any way it can be cooked (provided its cooked competently). The worst steaks I’ve ever had were cooked over live fire. But so were some of the best. For me steaks seared in a pan fall more reliably towards the “best” end of the spectrum. And sous vide steaks subsequently seared in a pan even more so. Doesn’t mean its the only way I like em. Doesn’t mean its the only way I’ll cook them. Doesn’t mean I’m about to shit on some one who goes a different way.
Shit I’ve had deep fried steak (kitchen workers get bored some times) and that shit is both insanely good if you can make it work and totally wrong according to everyone. At some point the meat Jacuzzi will team up with the Turkey fryer to make that a thing that’s practical and actually good at home.
From the pictures, it looks mostly like the drip pan is enclosed, so I’d be less likely to get burnt if I’m grilling in shorts, I guess?
They call it an ash catcher, but it does get some drips too. Both grills cook the same, but the clean up on the premium model is a little easier. Instead of having to sweep up the ash and coals from the tray, you just pop out the ash catcher and dump it.
A good deep fried steak is indeed delicious and I’ve rarely had a bad one. It’s a commonplace breakfast dish in parts south of me, normally served with gravy, eggs and one or more of toast, biscuits, hash browns or grits.
Food cooked in plastic bags is disgusting and quite possibly unsafe. I include both boil-in-bags and sous vide in this entirely subjective, totally personal condemnation. The smell/taste/texture issues that I usually have with canned meat I also have had on the few occasions I have tasted sous vide meat (that everyone else raved about) and I theorize that both methods trap compounds in the food that would normally volatilize off or change through oxidation during cooking. Furthermore, I find the use of elaborate food preparation methods that require special equipment and disposable packaging boring and I consider shopping for such things tedious, although I certainly respect and even applaud those who find fulfillment in the creation of tasty dishes and those who enjoy shopping for and/or building food preparation equipment. Please, cooker folks, do get yer weird thang on; I have a 60 gallon electronic rust reformation tank currently running on my property so I hardly have grounds to criticize.
Well, there’s an experience and opinion we definitely share!
DISCLAIMER 1 Whenever I use words like “disgusting” or “delicious”, please understand that if I am using an English word that is by very definition inherently predicated on a single person’s judgment and taste, and thus I am stating a personal opinion that is subjectively true but may not be true when evaluated from any viewpoint other than my own, and cannot be considered objectively true in any usage; therefore, I am not making a claim to objectivity nor am I making any claim that physical, psychological or emotional states achieved or experienced by me can be replicated by any other person or impersonal entity when subjected to the same situations or similar stimuli.
DISCLAIMER 2 Insofar as I may be heard by anything, which may or may not care what I say, I ask, if it matters, that I be forgiven for anything I may have done or failed to do which requires forgiveness. Conversely, if not forgiveness but something else may be required to insure any possible benefit which you may require, I ask that this, whatever it may be, be granted or withheld, as the case may be, in such a manner as to insure that everyone involved should receive the fullest measure of said benefit.
“Testing (Yang et al, Barkby et al, Soto-Valdez et al) has shown migration of plastic additives from various ‘’food wrap” plastics, including additives that have estrogenic or hormonal affects.”
But these results are primarily about cling-film, not the specific bags?
“I theorize that both methods trap compounds in the food that would normally volatilize off or change through oxidation during cooking”
Again, less of a concern. Likely little large scale studies, but certainly the technology has been used for decades with train and airline food.
On the safety issue, there are a lot of things to unpack:
Many of the tests done on these plastics are done at temperatures far above what would be used for sous-vide cooking. If you’re cooking sous-vide at boiling temperatures, you’re doing it wrong.
Most of the bags used for sous-vide cooking are plastics that are on the stable end of the spectrum, with few additives. People using zip-lock bags or similar are taking more of a risk, though. Not all plastics are equivalent in stability at different temperatures or in types of additives used.
There are also food-grade silicone bags available that can work just as well in sous-vide cooking.
I’m well familiar with country/chicken fried steak. Not at all what I’m talking about. That is a thin cutlet of steak, beaten and tenderized and then breaded and fried. What I was refering to is a thick cut, traditional steak (ie rib eye, ny strip etc), tossed into a fryer bare. Its a common dirty trick in restaraunt kitchens. To either brown a steak that has been improperly cooked. Or to flash sear a frozen or raw steak without effecting its internal temp. Complain about an over cooked steak in a testy/shitty kitchen and you may receive a steak that is flash fried to a beautiful golden brown on the exterior, but is frozen or raw in the center. Frankly the oil browns a thick steak too quickly to be used as a one step cooking method. Baking the steak at low temp before hand, or sous vide to bring it up to temp (or as we used to, just parking it on the cool, flameless part of the broiler) then deep frying at high temp (375+) is crazy good. But its not terribly practical at home in most cases.
Are you chilling the patties after they are done in the bath? It might help them hold together better on and after the grill/browning. I’ve never done ground meat though.
if it’s boiling, you’re also doing it wrong. sous vide is all about fine temperature control. you want to cook an egg until the white is cooked and the yolk isn’t? no problem, you can do a dozen at a time. you want a steak at a perfectly consistent 126° thoughout? easy. but if you don’t like it, there’s no point.
