Sounds good. I know what you mean about mushy; I've never been a crockpot fan. Simple braises have always worked out better than crockpot cooking for me.

As for the thermometer, I'm using three and they're all in agreement. I did let those eggs sit on the bottom of the pan, though. They may have gotten too much extra heat there. I've got more in the sv now, this time on a rack.

Save that stock! I would anyway. If it were me. I would make a batch of salt-free chicken stock and combine them. I can't stand throwing away flavor.

Aw! Good idea, unfortunately my stock is nourishing the fishes now... or probably on it's way to a water treatment facility. I thought about freezing some into cubes and using for SV veggies, but didn't feel like fussing over it.

Just fished another custard out of the water bath Wow, this thing makes making custards such a breeze. They don't look as gorgeous as ones done in a double boiler with no lumps at all. There are little micro-lumps you can see, but they don't have any texture, the custard feels completely smooth in the mouth.

This one I did just a tad cooler, 152 instead of 155 and it's a little less firm. But I didn't mind the firmness of the other one.

Here's my recipe:

1/3 cup of lemon juice
1/2 tsp of vanilla
About 12-15 tsp of sweetness -- depending how sour you like it
6 large eggs

Dump into a blender, sweeten to taste. Dump into a ziplock bag. Remove as much air as possible. Invert a bowl on the bottom of the cooker so the eggs won't be in contact directly with the hottest part of the cooker. Place eggs bag in, place something on top to weight it down. Put in probe.

Don't know how long it has to cook but I fish it out around 20 minutes or so after water bath hits the temperature.

152: A more pudding like consistency
155: More like a baked custard, except perhaps softer.

So far I'm seeing the major good points of SV as:

1) Making cheap steaks taste insanely good.
2) Cooking without heating or smelling up the house.
3) Easy, easy custards.
4) Nice change having coddled eggs.
5) Convenience. Prepackage meat for cooking and freeze it. Drop it in the water bath. Or the other way around, cook and freeze right in the sealed bags.

I like the FoodSaver too. I bought some canisters and a sealer for using with Mason jars and it's kind of nice. I had an open things of guacamole and its stayed a lot fresher when I put it in a canister and suck out the air.

I've been forming hamburgers and packaging them indivudually, pre-seasoned. Then I just drop them frozen into the water bath and they're ready for searing in about 90 minutes. Taste really good that way too.

Allison, I wonder if you might like roasted, minced garlic? It smells really, really good. I have had some for a long time and never really used it much. Just used some today in my sv tomatoes, I'll let you know how it tastes. I found it at TJ's, dunno if they still carry it.

http://www.spicebarn.com/roasted_minced_garlic.htm

Here's a spiffy write up on some of the virtues of SV: http://www.kamikazecookery.com/blogs/133

That link is pretty funny. I've come to the same conclusion, that sv is another tool in my cooking repertoire, but I won't use it everyday. Till I get properly controlled equipment, anyway.

My coddled eggs came out very nice yesterday. I see it as one more way to vary eggs rather than the definitive method. I still like fried eggs that are crispy around the edge with runny yolks, warm hard-boiled eggs chopped up with butter stirred in, and filled omelets. I need to try your custard.

I tried doing a frozen salmon patty from Costco in the pseudo-sv (finishing it in a pan) and another that was pan-fried only. In this case, the pan-fried was better, though I can't say why. Neither was very good, there's something fake-tasting in them. I wish they would make them unseasoned, like the way they sell hamburger patties.

The roasted dried garlic sounds better than garlic powder.

I've bought more of the chuck on sale to make cubes of beef for some beef soup. I have a pot of beef stock that I need to use (making good beef stock is much harder than making good chicken stock, so I need to do something soon before it goes off). I'm thinking I might try to sv the veggies too, after the beef is done and I can crank up the heat a bit. I've become a very lazy cook lately, and throwing everything in a plastic bag is about the right level of difficulty lately.

Yeah, I can imagine it'd be a lot harder to do manually than with the controlled pot. For me it has definitely become an everyday thing, although I'm still figuring out how to utilize it best. For instance today I'm doing 3 hamburgers and I'll put two in the freezer and re-sous vide them when I'm ready to eat them. We'll see how that works.

From what I read fish has to be really super fresh, not sure how fresh the costco stuff is.

I bought a beef brisket and some artichokes. I'll have to try to sv both! (but not together)

Oh yeah, I've reached new heights of laziness. Instead of forming my hamburger into patties... it comes in a square 1# brick (from Trader Joes so I just cut it into thirds. Looks like a log. Then I sprinkle two sides with McCormick Montreal Grill seasoning and onion powder. Comes out looking a bit like a mini-meat-loaf.

Why do I need round hamburgers? I don't put them in a bun?

Ok, figured something out today. Don't spoil a piece of SV meat by microwaving it! My pork shoulder got dried out when I reheated it in the microwave. But sticking it onto my cast iron skillet and heating it up with some of my SV grape tomatoes it came out super tasty.

I pretty much just use the microwave for warming the dog's pre-cooked meat and occasional thawing.

SV grape tomatoes? I've been trying to lay off the tomatoes lately because they're carby and I overdid it this summer, but I'm curious. What are they like?

Oh, I thought I'd given you that recipe! I always love a spoonful or two with meat, super tasting stuff!

I mix olive oil, hot pepper flakes, lots minced or pressed garlic (fresh unless SV), salt, maybe some onion, and fresh herb (usually marjoram). Cook it until the skins on the tomatoes pop. Usually the next day or so the flavors have mixed into together really well. It's an amazing accompaniment to meat!

Oh -- the one based on the epicurious recipe for chicken with tomatoes and marjoram. That's a winner. So just the same but now in the sv.

Yeah, I don't think the SV is necessary though. The skins tend not to pop in the SV and it doesn't get that kind of sticky quality which I really like.

Hey, just read in the big SV thread on egullet that some people think salt pulls out too much juice in meats that are cooked a long time. So maybe next time I'll add the salt later.

I think I have perfected custard. 155' seems perfect, but it confused me at first because it sets up like a baked custard (like flan) rather than a stirred custard. But that's fine! I just use my basic lemon curd recipe (without the added butter, that didn't really work) and get a nice baked custard.