Cooking, inside or outside and more.

[docj]

A couple of years ago I thought my Instant Pot was pretty slick, but now it's in storage because my new cooking obsession is sous vide cooking ("under vacuum")! If you've never heard of sous vide, it's cooking food that has been sealed in a ziplock or vacuum sealer in a water bath.

What makes sous vide so different from other techniques is that you cook at the serving temperature so your food can never overcook. As a result you can cook an entree for as long as you need to. Is dinner delayed for some reason? Need to delay serving for an hour or two? Not a problem.

Also because the food is sealed in a bag, it doesn't dry out so even something as potentially dreadful as boneless, skinless chicken breasts come out juicy and tender, every time. Other difficult things such as pork tenderloin or loin, which can easily dry out, also do extremely well when cooked with the sous vide technique.

By now someone is ready to ask the question, how can you cook at the serving temperature and still have food that's safe to eat? The quick answer is that pasteurization, which allows milk to be sterilized without being boiled, also works for food. If you keep food hot enough at a lower temperature for a long enough period of time it becomes pasteurized and safe to eat. There are all sorts of tables showing the safe cooking time at different temperatures.

What makes sous vide cooking great for RVers is that you are cooking in a water bath at 135-140 degrees which means that there is very little heat load insider your RV. There is little cleanup because all I do when the food is ready is sear it in a frying pan or on the grill for a minute or two to raise it's surface temperature and give it, for example, the desired "finish". Then I simply dump out the water and throw away the ziplock bag.

In addition, sous vide cooking allows you to take something inexpensive like a chuck roast and turn it into what tastes like a piece of prime rib after having cooked it for 30-36 hours. Similar cooking time for baby back ribs yields an equally fabulous result, with no fuss and no smoker needed.

If this intrigues anyone you can read a lot more about it here: A Practical Guide to Sous Vide Cooking

The basic concept was developed by the restaurant industry in the 1990's and it's how many chain restaurants can offer such a wide variety of meals without having enormous kitchen staffs. The basic cooking tool looks like a large immersion coil which you insert into the water bath. Although you can use a large pot for the bath, a plastic container provides for less heat loss. Some people even use Styrofoam coolers!

[cjmead]

we have a winnebago fuse and pack in a grill but i find the two burner cooktop and convection microwave good enough and use it all the time. i mean all the time.

i crack the windows, turn on the ceiling maxxair and good to go.

3 months - no stink, nothing. i’m stunned.

[yogus]

Originally Posted by docj

A couple of years ago I thought my Instant Pot was pretty slick, but now it's in storage because my new cooking obsession is sous vide cooking ("under vacuum")! If you've never heard of sous vide, it's cooking food that has been sealed in a ziplock or vacuum sealer in a water bath.

What makes sous vide so different from other techniques is that you cook at the serving temperature so your food can never overcook. As a result you can cook an entree for as long as you need to. Is dinner delayed for some reason? Need to delay serving for an hour or two? Not a problem.

Also because the food is sealed in a bag, it doesn't dry out so even something as potentially dreadful as boneless, skinless chicken breasts come out juicy and tender, every time. Other difficult things such as pork tenderloin or loin, which can easily dry out, also do extremely well when cooked with the sous vide technique.

By now someone is ready to ask the question, how can you cook at the serving temperature and still have food that's safe to eat? The quick answer is that pasteurization, which allows milk to be sterilized without being boiled, also works for food. If you keep food hot enough at a lower temperature for a long enough period of time it becomes pasteurized and safe to eat.

I love Sous Vide cooking! Not FT yet but I'll bring my cooker when we are!

Best chicken breasts ever!

BTW, I've recently made Sous Vide Limoncello...the hardest part was peeling all those lemons. Now I've got a huge batch of it and it took 3 hours rather than months of soaking....friends who travel to Italy often swear it's as good as the stuff they get over seas. 🍋

[RoadRelax]

We have an 08 Journey 39Z with basement air and in a camping area with no shade, it works hard. The hotter outside, the more I use convection to cook anything as little heat comes in or a Crock-Pot. We have the baby AKORN charcoal grill which fits easily underneath and sets up quick, ditched the gas one. In bad weather it's salad/sandwich/chips. Winter, pull out the cast iron Dutch oven for soups/stew/chili and let that cooking heat keep us cozy inside. Yeah, I love to cook!

[bruceisla]

Originally Posted by docj

In addition, sous vide cooking allows you to take something inexpensive like a chuck roast !

I'm sure you mean "something that was once inexpensive" ....

[docj]

Originally Posted by bruceisla

I'm sure you mean "something that was once inexpensive" ....

Chuck roast at Sam's or Costco is ~$4/lb. That's still pretty inexpensive in my book when prime rib costs >$10/lb

[bruceisla]

Originally Posted by docj

Chuck roast at Sam's or Costco is ~$4/lb. That's still pretty inexpensive in my book when prime rib costs >$10/lb

Depends on the timeframe ... I remember prime rib at $.99/lb. and gas at $.26/gal. for Gulftane .... heavy sigh. Quit smoking when cigs went to $.35/pack in a machine.

[docj]

Originally Posted by bruceisla

Depends on the timeframe ... I remember prime rib at $.99/lb. and gas at $.26/gal. for Gulftane .... heavy sigh. Quit smoking when cigs went to $.35/pack in a machine.

The cheapest gas I remember was ~30 cents a gallon. Three bucks bought me 10 gallons which was around 200 miles of driving in my '54 Ford!

[BHyatt]

I carry a portable gas grill and occasionally haul it out to grill steaks or chicken breasts, but my wife didn’t spend her early years tent camping and the thought of bugs in her food dictates the all other cooking (and eating) are indoor affairs.

[777 Driver]

Originally Posted by docj

A couple of years ago I thought my Instant Pot was pretty slick, but now it's in storage because my new cooking obsession is sous vide cooking ("under vacuum")! If you've never heard of sous vide, it's cooking food that has been sealed in a ziplock or vacuum sealer in a water bath.

Our son got us started with sous vide.

Totally awesome and easy to do. Very portable for use in the motorhome.

Many of the recipes work better with finishing on high heat. I've had good luck with a cast iron griddle heated on our Weber Q200.

Sous vide will do the very best steaks you've ever had. A little dry rub on the steak before you vacuum seal it, sous vide to your desired degree of "doneness" (always perfect), then a 30 second sear on each side on the hot cast iron. Can't be beaten.

I had always thought that Crème brûlée was a restaurant only dessert. Sous vide makes it easy.

I know, sous vide sounds like a lot of trouble; it's not.

Take care,
Stu

[DurangoNick]

When we had a house, we'd throw something on the grill every few weeks. When we got our class a, we added a tabletop grill. We throw something on it every few weeks. The point is that we cook just like we use to. Doesn't matter that our home has wheels or not.

[Ron1z]

We carry a small grill and a Blackstone grittle, and do almost all our cooking outside unless it is raining to hard. We also have a outdoor kitchen and love it!

[Airedale]

Originally Posted by Rojaco

3/4 inch marine grade plywood. Painted it black with deck paint. 2 pairs of 500lb 22 inch long drawer glides on Amazon. Got the longest that would fit in my compartment. My sketch is attached. May need to be modified for your compartment and appliance.

Nice! I just love it when creative people share their projects! Thank you!

[Hardroad]

AS soon as we get the MH set up, then I set up out 6' table right outside the entrance and set out our Electric Frying pan and small Electric Grill/Griddle. We try to cook outside most of the time - for convenience and because we enjoy being outside. It is called 'camping'.