sous vide Archives - Munchies and Munchkins

Before we start talking about my sous vide ham, let me tell you how much I love ham all year around but especially as we start to edge towards the festive season. Every year on Christmas Eve my mum baked a ham and I remember the smell of it wafting up the stairs as I lay in bed too excited to sleep. As I reached my teens I was allowed to sneak a little bit whilst my younger siblings were in bed and help with the Christmas preparations – which normally involved my mum panicking that one child’s pile of gifts was smaller than the others.

I have made ham in every way, baking, boiling, slow cooking and by my very favourite method – sous vide. When you cook any meat in a Sous Vide ( water bath ) you set a temperature, generally the recommended temperature for food safety and you only cook the meat to that temperature. If you cook a joint of meat by any other method you will always have to get the outer layer of the meat to a far higher temperature just to enable the centre to reach the minimum temp. This means your meat can often be dry or chewy or lacking flavour – or at worst, all three. Sous Vide meat is like butter in your mouth, ah if you haven’t tried it then you really need to. By vacuum packing the meat you ensure that all of the juices remain leading to moist and succulent meat and the best gravy or sauces you will ever make.

24 Hour Sous Vide Ham in Whisky, Lemon & Brown Sugar

You will need:

Smoked ham joint – mine was approximately 2kg

For the first marinade:

150ml whisky

Juice and zest of 1 lemon

125g brown sugar

5-10 cloves

good pinch of sea salt and black pepper

Final glaze:

100ml whisky

1/2 juices from Ham

200g brown sugar

good pinch of sea salt and black pepper

Add your marinade ingredients to a small saucepan and simmer until you have a sticky sauce. Allow to cool. Place your ham into a vacuum bag and pour over your glaze, use your hands to rub into the meat. Seal your bag and place into your Sous Vide, set to a temperature of 62C and leave for 24 hours.

After 24 hours remove from bag, retain juices. Pour half of the juices away and add the rest to a pan with the remaining final glaze ingredients and simmer until you have a thick and sticky glaze. Pour over your meat and pop into a very hot oven for 15 minutes – alternatively you could pop under a hot grill or use a blow torch as this stage is mostly for aesthetic reasons. Leave to rest and carve thinly.

I served this to my family at a bonfire night party and I am really looking forward to making it again over the festive period. Ham is good for a few days after cooking so it is a really handy dish to make in preparation for a party or just to have with salads and potatoes in those filler days between Christmas and New Years!

Next week I will be sharing a collection of ham recipes from myself and fellow food bloggers so keep an eye out for that!

We have had our Sous Vide for about 2 months now so I feel I’m at a point where I can give you a fairly honest and thorough review of it.

The question in the blog title will hopefully have grabbed your attention.

I will tell you that before my SV arrived and perhaps even for the first few days I was very much in the gadget camp. Now I’m firmly in the home kitchen essential one.

I suppose I couldn’t tell you that it is absolutely essential for you to have one. After all you can cook everything you would cook in it in the oven or on the hob/BBQ or even your microwave instead. Instead I will tell you what I use it for and how much time/effort it saves.

I won’t write a list because I use it for nearly everything these days so the list could go on a bit.

Easy Meal Prep

I buy chicken breasts in bulk from my butcher then separate into vac bags ( normally about 3 in each) I add a dry rub or some simple seasoning, seal and cook in bulk using the rack. I turn it on leave it for a set amount of time and when it’s cooked I will open one bag up to use for that evenings meal and quick chill the other bags to freeze or refrigerate depending on my meal plan that week. So there in 5 minutes of prep is ALL my poultry cooked for that week.

Weaning foods

I cook veggies such as sweet potatoes and fruits like apples and pears for my weaning baby. Cooking in the sous vide gets them perfectly cooked and soft but none of the precious vitamins escape. Sometime I purée them other times I just squish the bag to mush it up before opening.

Stocks For Soups and Stews

Whenever you cook meat in the sous vide you get the most beautiful stock from the juices, I have added it to soups, stews, casseroles and pies with delicious results. Also the meat is perfectly moist and tender meaning you don’t need to add as much sauce to your dishes so less calories too.

BBQ delights

I’ve made the most stupendous ribs in the SV. Seriously they are incredible. One of the best things I’ve ever cooked. My dad ( who doesn’t like ribs) hasn’t stopped talking about them for a month. I’m perfecting my recipe at the moment but will share it very very soon.

It may seem like an expensive bit of kit to add to your kitchen but if you love really good food you will never look back. It has transformed our meals.
It saves me time and I don’t feel like I constantly have to check my dishes to ensure they haven’t dried out or overcooked so I spend that extra time on the important things like playing with my children.. Or drinking tea. I know the meat will taste amazing even if I use a less expensive cut and that is a huge plus for me. It’s also a big guilt reliever for someone (like me) who doesn’t always find time to cook the perfect meal for her children knowing that their veggies are packed with nutrients and nothing has drifted away in a pan of water.

I believe your initial outlay for the price of a machine will repay itself easily over the years.

So maybe you wouldn’t consider it an essential ( although I certainly do) but it’s definitely not a gadget or a fad. In fact in ten years I expect more and more home kitchens to have one.

One of the most recent dishes I’ve made using my SV is an utterly perfect roast beef..just look at the juices. Gravy was delicious.

Visit the Sous Vide Supreme site to find out more.

* I was given a Sous Vide Supreme and Vacuum sealer for the purpose of a review.

24 Hour Sous Vide Ham in Whisky, Lemon & Brown Sugar

24 Hour Sous Vide Ham in Whisky, Lemon & Brown Sugar

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24 Hour Sous Vide Ham in Whisky, Lemon & Brown Sugar

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