It took me a while to get all the pieces together but this weekend I finally had a chance to assemble a temperature-controlled circulating water bath so I can do some sous vide experiments.
The rig is built around a digital thermostat for a kiln, wired to a solid state relay with a wall outlet powering a couple of coil heaters. A high-flow aquarium pump keeps the water moving. It’s not quite perfectly accurate (I was getting fluctuations of a couple degrees in either direction once the bath stabilized) but the results of this first run were pretty good.
The first test? Steak and eggs.
The propane torch works okay for getting some char on the meat but I’ll be more aggressive about it next time. Even hitting it full blast the well-done only penetrated a couple of millimeters, not quite enough to give it a really flavorful crust.
Dinner: Just barely medium-rare flank steak with garlic and rosemary pan juices, roasted asparagus with miso butter and a two-hour egg. Also a salad of kale with lemon dressing, Gran Padano, and toasted breadcrumbs.
Next test, Minimum-Fat Duck Confit. Details forthcoming…