For meats that don’t have a lot of fat, then adding butter, or oil, will be beneficial; as it will help create more flavor. However; meat that has some fat on it, the butter flavor will get lost. It is better to just add spices to those items.
Fresh herbs also work great in sous vide cooking. Herbs such as rosemary, thyme, bay leaves and sage can be used in any length of cooking at most temperatures. The softer, more delicate herbs can be used in low-temperature preparations or added once the food has been cooked.
Yes, you can add your spice rub directly to the meat before going into the bag to then be cooked in the sous vide. You can also add the the spice rub just before you sear it. By adding the spices to the meat before cooking it in the sous vide, means that those spices will be more infused into the flavor of the meat, since it has had more time to cook in with the meat.
To pre-sear, or not to pre-sear; that is the question.
The jury is still out on this, again preference comes into play.
Though there is agreement: if you are going to pre-sear, then you should do it with meat that has come directly out of the fridge. This will help start the “Maillard reaction”, so that after cooking the meat in the sous vide, you won’t need to post-sear for as long, and will add so much more flavor by having the crust from the beginning of the cooking to the end in the post-sear.
Keep in mind that pre-searing will work better on some things better than others. Some fish which are pretty flaky, will do better to just post-sear after cooking it sous vide.
Yes, you can deep-fry instead as opposed to searing after having cooked the meat in the sous-vide. The whole point is just to get a good sear on all of the meat, and now you’re just focusing on getting a really great crust, since the meat has already been cooked in the sous vide. Deep frying also really works a lot better for cuts of meat that are irregularly sized, since all of the sides will be seared at the same time. You do have to make sure to have a lot of fat on the meat to get a really great crust, or you may end up with an overcooked piece of meat; and no one wants that.
We don’t believe that you should. By cooking the meat via sous vide, the temperature doesn’t differ enough in order for it to make a difference. Just like with everything else, it comes down to preference.
The short answer is “Yes.”
However; that is as long as your frozen food was in a bag that had been sealed in a Ziploc® bag, or vacuum-sealed prior to going into the freezer.
Keep in mind that the cook time will need to be adjusted accordingly.
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