Stepping Up My Game: Sous Vide

Happy Mothers Day, everyone!  Mr. Paleo Marine got me a really awesome Mother’s Day gift this year – an Anova Precision Cooker for sous vide.  I’ve never tried sous vide cooking before, and honestly I’ve been a bit intimidated by it… anything with a fancy French name sounds complicated in my book.  Turns out, there was nothing to be afraid of – in fact, I’ll say that it rivals the Instant Pot in its simplicity, with the convenience of a slow cooker.

After spending some time reading up on sous vide in general and agonizing over what to try first, I decided to go big or go home, and break in the new toy with lamb chops.  I’m a big fan of lamb, but I am always afraid of preparing it myself for fear of drying out an ruining a fairly expensive chunk of meat.  But it was Mother’s Day and while I got to enjoy a very nice lunch out at a fancy restaurant for the occasion, I really wanted to try the Anova, so lamb for dinner!

I used a FoodSaver vacuum sealer to get the chops settled in with salt, pepper, and rosemary, and then attached the Anova to one of my deeper cooking pots.  I got everything arranged, used the app on my phone connected to bluetooth to run for lamb chops, and then forgot about it while I did the rest of my Sunday cooking for the week.  About 45 minutes before dinner time, I roasted some spaghetti squash and made a simple roasted tomato sauce on the cooktop.   Right before I plated everything, I heated up some butter in a large cast iron skillet, removed the chops from their packets, and seared them.

The result was heavenly… perfectly melt-in-your-mouth lamb with a fantastic flavor and texture that rivals some of the fanciest restaurants.  E.J. said we’ll be spoiled when it comes to restaurants now because we’ve figured out the secret to amazing meats.  Next up is a slab of pork belly and some flank steak.  I can’t wait to see how these turn out!