COOKING BISON SOUS VIDE
By, Jill O'Brien
For the last few years I’ve resisted purchasing a sous vide cooking appliance. The first ones that came out were the size of a roaster and I didn’t need one more cooking gadget taking up prime real estate in my very limited cupboard space.
Some of our customers have called in with questions about how to use one with our bison products, and having no experience, I haven’t been able to help. With sous vide machines shrinking to the size of a wand that works with any vessel that holds water, I finally caved-in and purchased one.
My first frustration was in the limited instructions it came with. Other than suggesting I download the app, (and I am not an app person) that was about it. I then went to the manufacturer of the machines (Anova) website to look for assistance and recipe guidelines for cooking a roast. The first page of information suggested the app, but after a little more scrolling and poking around I found “learn about sous vide” (pronounced, sue veed and means under vacuum). There were temperature and time suggestions, for steaks and burgers, but nothing for a roast. Onward to the recipe page, which had limited roast recipes, which seemed a bit complicated, and none of them were grass-fed/finished. So – I thought I would just try to guess my way through “the what and how to do” based on what I was trying to achieve, which was a medium rare chuck roast.
Here’s what I did and what I learned.
Sous Vide Chuck Roast for Medium Rare Results
Ingredients:
1 – 3-pound Wild Idea Chuck Roast, rinse and pat dry – leaving netting on
2 –tablespoon of olive oil2 - sprigs of rosemary and thyme, destemmed and chopped
1 – teaspoon each garlic & onion powder
1 – teaspoon salt
2 – teaspoons black pepper
1 – re-sealable gallon bag
1 – pot water
½ -onion, cut into wedges
¼ - cup, wine, brandy or broth
Preparation:
1 - Set sous vide to 129 degrees and place in pot filled with hot water. Press the arrow to start. And allow water to heat. You will hear a beep when the temperature is achieved.
2 - Mix 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and herbs together and rub over roast. Place roast in plastic bag, removing air and seal. *They suggest vacuum sealing – but I did not have one the bag worked fine.
3 - Place the bag in the water and allow it to cook for 6 hours. *Total guess here.
4 - Remove roast in bag and place in a pan. Empty roast and juice into the pan, reserving juices.
5 - In a cast iron or heavy skillet, over medium to medium high heat, heat the oil. Place the sous vide roast in the phot pan and sear for four to five minutes before turning. Add the onion wedges to the pan shortly after the searing begins.
6 - Turn the roast three times and searing for the same amount of time. Butt the ends up to the edge of
7 - Remove the roast and the onions form the pan and transfer to a platter and cover with foil. Let the roast rest for up to 10 minutes before slicing.
8 - Deglaze the pan with a liquid of your choice and whisk in the reserved juices to incorporate.
9 - Quickly whisk in the butter until smooth. Transfer the gravy to a bowl immediately.
10 - Slice the roast and pass with the gravy.
Results: The roast was super juicy and with the add searing it gave a nice medium rare outcome. The meat was tender, however cooking the roast at a lower heat will not breakdown the connective tissue, which didn’t bother us. To accomplish this – the next time I would cook for maybe 8 hours at the same temperature, but I’m guessing that if you wanted the connective tissue broken down, like what braising gives you, it may take increasing the heat to 160 degrees or higher for maybe 6 to 8 hours. This would give you more of a medium well roast – but I’m pretty sure it would still be juicy.
I liked the outcome enough - that there will be more sous vide cooking experimenting, lessons and recipes to come. Hopefully with less guess work each time.
https://wildideabuffalo.com/blogs/recipes/cooking-with-a-sous-vide
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