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Thanks all. It is sitting in an ice bath now, I will put it in the fridge for a few hours while I am at work to chill thoroughly and then into the freezer it goes.

I used 167F for 10 hours. I didn't get as much skin shrinkage as I am used to with the traditional method so I am looking forward to trying this next week.

--Lisa

I'm curious. Why did you decide on that time/temp?

Amy

I didn't find anything in MCAH and I didn't find any specific recommendations on this board (although I could have missed it due the sheer volume of posts in the search). So, I just did a general search and looked at a bunch of recipes online and took a shot at it. The legs I got were very inexpensive so I didn't see any harm in experimenting.

So now I have to ask: What would you have recommended?

--Lisa

Hey Lisa,

There is a duck confit thread in the Modernist forum, but I agree searching the board can sometimes turn up too many hits to wade through...

Most of us do 180 degrees for eight hours. I just did some last week, and I find that time/temp to be perfect. I cure first for anywhere between 12 and 24 hours.

Amy

I did it once at a lower temp, and it was still very good, just the texture was less ... I dunno, 'loose' .. then I would expect for confit. But excellent eating all the same.

I pretty much follow Amy's version on the button. But experimenting is fun!

Thanks all! I will let you know how it comes out. We have one traditional version left in the fridge which will get eaten first, so it may be a while until try one of these out. I'll let you know what we think when get try it. If it is too firm we will up the temperature next time.

I did cure for 24 hours first, and the meat was very firm before going into the bags.

It is fun to try different temps for sure.

--Lisa

Here is a picture of our first effort. Steve finished the steaks on a SS pan. Can't wait to do more. Thanks Amy and Paul for the good advice.

Alina,

Welcome to the slippery slope.

Amy

Heh. I do all kinds of strange things sous-vide. For example, in the winter especially, I often do sausage SV. Do a few, portioned out. Get them nicely thoroughly cooked (to pasteurization) and then, when needed, finish under the broiler. I put some cuts to help let some fat out when they are under the broiler (after the first turn). You get quickly done sausage (in terms of when you use them), thoroughly cooked but not over cooked. This like that are surprisingly effective. This weekend I'll probably do elk burgers sous-vide (probably in the morning), but then finish by a quick deep-fry to give a nice crust. Elk is tasty but doesn't like to be overcooked, this again gives safe lightly cooked ground meat, and tasty.

Fish and pork are very nice; rub a tenderloin with thai green curry (or anything else), cook for a while, finish. Very tasty! We buy 'club packs' of tenderloins, sous-vide them up, and then use throughout the week.

And, of course, to really utilize the cooking advantages (past just using it to cook to exact temperatures), long cooks of tasty but tough meats is where it can really shine.

As a side note, I recently discovered that our local, non-Whole Foods store, sells premium chicken breasts frozen in vaccum pressured individual portions. Not the cheapest approach, but as I don't have a sealer, (although the technique of pushing out air by putting a ziplock bag in water really does work) I've found that having a few of these in the freezer makes me much happier about using chicken breasts (I'm a chicken thigh type of girl). But the SV does a great job on the chicken and it makes them really useful for quick salads, soups, etc. ("useful" being a synonym for those of us who don't think ahead, and are often looking for inspiration at the last minute).