On a family trip and I have dinner duties 2 days from now. My plan was to sous vide a 6 pound brisket... Problem is, I forgot to bring the clamp for my Anova. I have the huge stock pot, I have the Anova itself... Just no ****ing clamp.

Any suggestions? I'm thinking to get a wire hanger and MacGyver my way through this, somehow.

IIRC Gobbo is a big fan on the carbon steel pan. I just got a carbon steel wok this holiday which >>>>>> the crappy nonstick wok I had.

I think as long as it's sufficiently thick that searing in a carbon steel pan is fine. Kenji warns against searing with stainless steel pans since they don't heat up evenly and have hot & cold spots. That said, I don't plan on searing without my cast iron any time soon.

Cast iron is the worst material if you're worried about hot and cold spots. Steel-clad aluminum is far better on that issue. Cast iron's advantage is temp retention.

Steak bros,

I recently moved to a new place that I mostly like a lot better, but the gas stove at this new place just can't seem to get as hot as the electric stove at my old one, and it is seriously cramping my steak sear game. As I am on Team Pan, this is important.

1. Any hacks for getting more heat out of your gas stove? The internet suggested trying to increase the flow of the gas line was a Bad Idea, but maybe I missed some other idea.

2. Anyone try out plug in induction hot plate for this? I have both an All-Clad steel pan and a cast iron pan that both should work with one in principle.

3. Or should I just get a torch and sear that way? Does a torch do an OK job on e.g. chicken skin?

How hot does your oven get? You could pre-heat your cast-iron to 550 if it goes that high, then crank your gas stove up as high as it goes to help the cast iron retain its heat from the oven--maybe this will be an improvement? Just did some quick googling and it looks like most induction hot plates top out at 460 degrees or so.

Not really an issue as long as you heat the pan up for a reasonable amount of time before throwing your steak or whatever in.

I don't think a torch will be all that successful. I believe I've seen Kenji or someone like him advocate preheating the cast iron in the oven rather than the stove top. This will also address the uneven heating of cast iron I mentioned above. I'd try 15 minutes at as high a temp as your oven goes (550 or higher).

But I don't have all that powerful of a gas stove, and I get good crusts just doing a double sear in an all-clad pan (in oil, then in browned butter). The second sear in butter really develops a deep crust quickly.

I guess I'd try both and see if they work before springing for induction.

I emailed Anova after my clamp broke and they shipped one to me pretty quickly. You might try emailing their customer service to see if they'll fedex you one.

I would imagine that you could kluge something together with materials from a local hardware store. This should be a new 2p2 contest: how can you create a new Anova bracket.

With a six-pound brisket, you're going to need a solution that works for a while -- what, 24 hours or so?

How the hell did your clamp get separated from the unit, anyway? I normally leave the clamp on my unit all the time, unless I'm cleaning it. And then I put it right back on.

ALL THIS CLAMPS TALK IS MAKING ME CLAMPY

It's more about constantly moving the pan around than the amount of time, since cast iron is such a poor conductor. The cold spots stay relatively cold even after a decently long time. We did a half assed experiment on it once and the uneven spots were stark even after a 10-15 minute stovetop preheat over gas.

http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/02/e...n-cooking.html

I mean, it's mainly nittery since it's obviously possible to get a good sear using cast iron. I was just taking issue with the notion that cast iron is good for hot/cold spots.

Thanks. I got it sorted out. Wire hanger did the trick. Brisket is on and cooking. I'll try to hammer out a pic soon.




I leave the clamp out of pack and in my drawer usually.

Team Sous Vide,

Purchased that 22 qt. beauty of a plastic tub. Do I really need to mod the lid to penetrate it with the Anova? Is putting a lid on the water vessel important?

Only for long cooks over a day or two (I have a lid but haven't used it yet)

The poor man's method is just to pour in some hot extra water to make up for what evaporates every half day or so.

Ahh, for evap. Gotcha. Ashamed to say I'm 100% the dummy that buys a $1500 electric guitar without knowing how to play. Anova, food saver, thermapen, cast iron all ready to roll but have yet to steak one up. 2017 is the year of the steak, rejoice.

Get yourself a bacon press to do weighted sears and you will have my identical steaking kit.

About to get this two pounder started that I got marked down from 32 bucks to 14 about an hour and a half before they couldn't sell it last week. I'm going to go to bed fat and happy tonight

I usually just tinfoil over the container for overnight cooks.

Back at it again. Choice NY strip. SV @128 for an hour. Got the cast iron heated up for about 5mins on high with avocado oil. 45 seconds per side then added butter for another 45 seconds per side





So good. Probably my best effort yet

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Nice work Eddie!

This looks bad ass.

Eddie, that strip looks awesome. Any reason you use avocado oil? Does it add flavor?

Edit: Also, how long between SV and sear? I ask because I did SV at 128.5 and then sear 45 secs/side the other day and mine came out substantially more done than that.

Reverse seared a couple filets tonight and made Alton Brown's brandy cream pan sauce (basically an au poivre but a bit thicker and not totally overboard on the pepper). Sorry, no before pics, but they turned out pretty good.





Sauce was delicious, but could have used a bit more flavor, maybe an herb or something.

it has the highest smoke point, is relatively healthy, and tastes good/pretty neutral. the only downside is it's very expensive.


miajag: omnomnomnom

Miajag, wowowowow