Cheap Meals: Eating on a budget.

Sludig

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Wife is going to a women’s conference at church and i get to go to the farmers market place that has an amazing butcher shop without her…

So much red meat is about to be had… ribeye is on sale… mmmmm… maybe some scallops as well, always take a peek at the seafood
Sounds like a coming thread not broke dick meals thread
 

Dr.Retarded

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I sous vide chicken about 2x a month. Either breasts or boneless thighs. I add a small jar of pesto to the bag, then cook for 2 hours. Poor the juices over pasta, easy dinner. My kids love it, call it green chicken
The oil in the pesto doesn't give it a weird greasiness?

I ask because anytime I tried putting fat, like butter or oil in with a protein, it was disgusting. The fat started to break down and it's like everything was just coated in slime. The stupid hipsters that make Jule presear and put butter in with things like steak, and it's pretty bad.
 
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fris

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Butter on steak is pretty common in restaurants, Pan or grilled

You're right about too much oil fat in sous vide though. That much can coat the tongue and prevent you from tasting anything. Like Homer at that chili contest

But pesto is also a lot of strong flavors, and it's folded into plain pasta. The win here is how easy it is. Just dump into zip lock, cause my vacuum sealer is broken, set wand to 145? I forget, I have to ask Alexa every time. Come back an hour or 2 later, maybe 3. Boil pasta, dump bag on cooked pasta. Only 1 dirty pot.
 
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Lanx

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Butter on steak is pretty common in restaurants, Pan or grilled

You're right about too much oil fat in sous vide though. That much can coat the tongue and prevent you from tasting anything. Like Homer at that chili contest

But pesto is also a lot of strong flavors, and it's folded into plain pasta. The win here is how easy it is. Just dump into zip lock, cause my vacuum sealer is broken, set wand to 145? I forget, I have to ask Alexa every time. Come back an hour or 2 later, maybe 3. Boil pasta, dump bag on cooked pasta. Only 1 dirty pot.
145 sounds high, maybe 135
 
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mkopec

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I can use my beer all in one to do accurate temps for days, just set and forget. Keeps temps within +/- 2F. Plus its large enough to do a whole brisket if not two. 8 gallon capacity. Never tried it though.
 

Dr.Retarded

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Butter on steak is pretty common in restaurants, Pan or grilled

You're right about too much oil fat in sous vide though. That much can coat the tongue and prevent you from tasting anything. Like Homer at that chili contest

But pesto is also a lot of strong flavors, and it's folded into plain pasta. The win here is how easy it is. Just dump into zip lock, cause my vacuum sealer is broken, set wand to 145? I forget, I have to ask Alexa every time. Come back an hour or 2 later, maybe 3. Boil pasta, dump bag on cooked pasta. Only 1 dirty pot.
100% butter is wonderful with protein, but anytime I've tried using a tablespoon or so and some aromatics to go in with some steaks, it just turned out weird. It was just greasy and there was this bad mouth feel. I guess that's why I was asking about the pesto because it's a lot of olive oil. I've not ever sous vide chicken before, and maybe that's just a good combination. If it doesn't get that greasiness, that's actually a pretty nice deal to make an easy pasta.

At this point though it's easier for me to fire up the gas grill and cook the chicken there pull it off and then add it to whatever pasta I want to.

Does it cooking with the pesto really make that big of a difference overall flavor wise? I'm like pesto pretty often and even buy the trader Joe's stuff which is surprisingly good if you're being lazy. They've got a sun dried tomato pesto that's actually really good too.
 
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fris

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because i don't have a real vacuum sealer, having some fluid in the bag helps get all the air out. no homo, i do my best to either suck out the air or hold it under the water of the pot holding the sous vide. my problem now is cooking chicken almost any other way risks over cooking. chicken, especially breasts, just dry out so easily. i can feel a steak and cook it perfect, i just don't do chicken enough.
 
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Lanx

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because i don't have a real vacuum sealer, having some fluid in the bag helps get all the air out. no homo, i do my best to either suck out the air or hold it under the water of the pot holding the sous vide. my problem now is cooking chicken almost any other way risks over cooking. chicken, especially breasts, just dry out so easily. i can feel a steak and cook it perfect, i just don't do chicken enough.
have you tried the clipping method?
0743c04eb4b1f5e8dff4681ac519ab68.png
 
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Dr.Retarded

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because i don't have a real vacuum sealer, having some fluid in the bag helps get all the air out. no homo, i do my best to either suck out the air or hold it under the water of the pot holding the sous vide. my problem now is cooking chicken almost any other way risks over cooking. chicken, especially breasts, just dry out so easily. i can feel a steak and cook it perfect, i just don't do chicken enough.
When I sous vide, it's typically in a gallon sized Ziploc bag. I don't do the sealing shit, just use the water pressure to push the air out.
 

Sludig

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All this French shit in the cheap thread.

Should be old based telling me the latest cheap deals on Tuna and how to make it into gourmet with Walmart great value ingredients.



My kitchen is lanx-ified at this point. Too many appliances, don't tempt me to try this shit too in search of so verging easy to do.
 
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Lanx

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All this French shit in the cheap thread.

Should be old based telling me the latest cheap deals on Tuna and how to make it into gourmet with Walmart great value ingredients.



My kitchen is lanx-ified at this point. Too many appliances, don't tempt me to try this shit too in search of so verging easy to do.
this is actually the perfect place for sous-vide, cheap meals doesn't mean taste like shit and sous vide can turn cheaper cuts like chuck and round, tender. they need lots of that time to break down the collegen.

there are even crazies out there that smoke then sv an entire brisket
 
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Siliconemelons

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I have a SV thing but i used it twice… never really got what it can do better?

Used it to dethaw some stuff once heh

Interested in better chicken though…
 

Lanx

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I have a SV thing but i used it twice… never really got what it can do better?

Used it to dethaw some stuff once heh

Interested in better chicken though…
sv is really good at slow cooking, it'll turn tough cuts (muscle cuts, i.e. shoulder/rump) tender, i.e.
022945e761c6efa0876b29943d54ca4c.png

at 5$/lb can be 1/2 or even 1/3 your regular ribeye/strip price, bag it up (nothing fancy) sv at 135 for 4 hours and it'll be just as tender, throw it on a hot skillet for 2mins each side to make it look appetizing.

remember if you put it in sv for 4hours, it's not like youre actively cooking for 4hrs, it's literally taking a bath, like zero effort
 
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Dr.Retarded

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sv is really good at slow cooking, it'll turn tough cuts (muscle cuts, i.e. shoulder/rump) tender, i.e.
022945e761c6efa0876b29943d54ca4c.png

at 5$/lb can be 1/2 or even 1/3 your regular ribeye/strip price, bag it up (nothing fancy) sv at 135 for 4 hours and it'll be just as tender, throw it on a hot skillet for 2mins each side to make it look appetizing.

remember if you put it in sv for 4hours, it's not like youre actively cooking for 4hrs, it's literally taking a bath, like zero effort
Talking about cheap cuts, are you able to find flat iron steaks anymore. When I was living in Charleston the grocery store right by my apartment was food Lion. I started buying them flat irons because they were maybe five to $7 depending upon the size, but it was almost 2 lb of meat most of the time. It's a ridiculously tender cut, and because I couldn't get skirt steak in the area, I would typically buy it for fajitas, but just doing a simple grill and slicing it was always delicious. I used to buy it all the time for years to do cookouts with the family and what have you.

I just can't find it here in Texas, or when I've seen it they're charging out the ass. It's supposed to be a cheap ass cut of meat because it's got this big connective tissue line that runs down the middle of it, but as long as that doesn't bother you, it's as tender as filet. I think it's supposed to be the second most tender muscle on the whole animal.

I think unfortunately the restaurant industry caught on to them much like hanger steaks, and what was considered to be a trash cut has now been elevated because of stupid chefs, so now I got to pay top fucking dollar for something that was probably minced or cut up into stew meat.
 

Siliconemelons

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Flat irons like ribs and wings - once were cheap off cuts have gained popularity and now are more expensive.

I will try and sous vide a tougher meat and see how it goes
 
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Dr.Retarded

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Flat irons like ribs and wings - once were cheap off cuts have gained popularity and now are more expensive.

I will try and sous vide a tougher meat and see how it goes
I just remember the first time seeing it in the grocery store in a vacuum packed package, I didn't know what it was. Just did a bit of research and found out it's quite delicious. For years I used to just buy it if I wanted steak, and again I was paying $3 a lb or something. Anytime I cooked it friends and family loved it. Would typically cook some quail along with it, or maybe some shrimp or surf and turf during season.

I just don't see it very often and when I do it's stupid expensive now.
 

mkopec

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With chuck I would brown and braise all the way. Fuck SV. What you gonna SV that shit for 5-6 hours to get it tender? you can braise that shit for 2-3 hours and get perfect results every time.
 
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