In Which I Learn About Thermal Dynamics
Dec. 27th, 2017 03:34 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madbakerI had some Ideas for Christmas Eve dinner with my dad. I would sous vide a hippy leg of lamb that's been taking up room in our freezer for several years, and likewise do the pecan-goo-in-a-jar for dessert.
My current usual setup for the sous vide is a large round pot. It's not ideal due to shape and also heat/water loss, although we usually put tinfoil over the pot and around the recirculator to limit that. I also have a Cambro container, which is much better for this - square and well insulated - except that it's ginormous, much bigger than the recirculator, and way bigger than I've ever needed so far.
The leg of lamb was bigger than the pot. So I pulled out the Cambro. Between boiling water in aforesaid large pot and stacking Tupperwares (filled with boiling water to weigh them down) we got it set up. The lid with a cut-out for the sous vide that I had previously ordered didn't fit, aargh. Because it's a different brand. We made it more-or-less work and sealed as best we could with plastic wrap. All that took much longer than expected (Thermal Dynamics 1) but we still had plenty of time to cook the lamb for its eight hours overnight.
Next morning. I pulled out the lamb and started the pecan goo. First failure: this recipe makes four half-pint jars. The Cambro is ginormous, as I said above; without the weight of the lamb leg, the Tupperwares shifted around and the sous vide recirculator wouldn't stay upright. Also the jars wouldn't fit easily on the Tupperware. And... the lamb cooked at 131, while the pecan goo needs 195 degrees. This was taking a very long time to heat up.
Thermal Dynamics 2: remove sufficient water from the Cambro into the usual large pot. With a much smaller quantity of water, it will heat up much faster! Score.
Thermal Dynamics 3: one of the jars was manufactured incorrectly and the lid wouldn't seal (diameter was wrong). I transferred to a new jar. That took time. On top of the time it took to heat the water, that meant the jars were now cold. When I put them into the pot - crack! one of them broke cleanly at the base, leaking pecans and sugary liquid into the pot. And into the sous vide recirculator.
I dumped everything out, managed to clean the pecans out and clean the sous vide as best I could, and heat up more water. Which I still took from the Cambro, and meanwhile put the jars in the Cambro to equalize a bit. (Thermal Dynamics 4.)
That ended up working, but we were significantly later than planned. As well as having a lot more mess than expected. At least the lamb and pecan goo were both good...
My current usual setup for the sous vide is a large round pot. It's not ideal due to shape and also heat/water loss, although we usually put tinfoil over the pot and around the recirculator to limit that. I also have a Cambro container, which is much better for this - square and well insulated - except that it's ginormous, much bigger than the recirculator, and way bigger than I've ever needed so far.
The leg of lamb was bigger than the pot. So I pulled out the Cambro. Between boiling water in aforesaid large pot and stacking Tupperwares (filled with boiling water to weigh them down) we got it set up. The lid with a cut-out for the sous vide that I had previously ordered didn't fit, aargh. Because it's a different brand. We made it more-or-less work and sealed as best we could with plastic wrap. All that took much longer than expected (Thermal Dynamics 1) but we still had plenty of time to cook the lamb for its eight hours overnight.
Next morning. I pulled out the lamb and started the pecan goo. First failure: this recipe makes four half-pint jars. The Cambro is ginormous, as I said above; without the weight of the lamb leg, the Tupperwares shifted around and the sous vide recirculator wouldn't stay upright. Also the jars wouldn't fit easily on the Tupperware. And... the lamb cooked at 131, while the pecan goo needs 195 degrees. This was taking a very long time to heat up.
Thermal Dynamics 2: remove sufficient water from the Cambro into the usual large pot. With a much smaller quantity of water, it will heat up much faster! Score.
Thermal Dynamics 3: one of the jars was manufactured incorrectly and the lid wouldn't seal (diameter was wrong). I transferred to a new jar. That took time. On top of the time it took to heat the water, that meant the jars were now cold. When I put them into the pot - crack! one of them broke cleanly at the base, leaking pecans and sugary liquid into the pot. And into the sous vide recirculator.
I dumped everything out, managed to clean the pecans out and clean the sous vide as best I could, and heat up more water. Which I still took from the Cambro, and meanwhile put the jars in the Cambro to equalize a bit. (Thermal Dynamics 4.)
That ended up working, but we were significantly later than planned. As well as having a lot more mess than expected. At least the lamb and pecan goo were both good...
