Sous Vide Mojo Roast

JCB #4   Sous Vide Mojo Beef Roast

As I've said before, my friend Sara has all kinds of great kitchen toys even though she lives aboard a 52 foot cruising boat with her husband John. She's the one who suggested doing this "out there" cooking technique, because we wanted to see a beautiful roast that is a perfect medium-rare red in the middle shading out to a crusty brown on the surface, just like I can get with a filet mignon. The only way to come close to that goal, with a roast, is to use the "new French" style cooking called sous vide ("under vacuum").

Sous Vide (sue veed) came along in the 1960s but until recently has been prohibitively expensive for the home cook. Even Sarah's setup will set you back $180 to $200. Here's a link to an article on selecting a home sous vide tool:

http://www.amazingfoodmadeeasy.com/info/modernist-equipment/more/inexpensive-immersion-circulators#Recommendation

If you want perfectly cooked, moist and tender meats and veggies, with minimum fuss, this is the way to go. Be advised though, that is is the opposite of “fast food”.

Sous vide, or immersion cooking, cooks meats or veggies, vacuum-sealed in plastic, at a much lower temperature than conventional techniques -- about 130F. The sealed package is kept in a constant temperature water or steam bath for a much longer time than normal cooking -- as much as 96 hours! This is the epitome of "low and slow" cooking!!

Sara's "cooker" attaches inside any pot, brings the temperature of the cooking water to a set temperature, and keeps it there.

Mojo (mo-hoe not mo-joe) is the short name for Mojo Criollo (moe-hoe cree-oh-low), a classic Cuban/Caribbean garlic and citrus flavor base. You can buy it in the ethnic section of many megamarts, or make your own (see below). Marinate the roast for 1-3 hours, but not more. The citrus juice will “cook” the beef, just as it does the fish in ceviche.

 

Roast in a zip-top bag full of marinade.

Remove the roast from the marinade and use a vacuum sealer to encapsulate the meat. 

 Place the meat in the liquid of your immersion set-up, and using the immersion cooking tables set the time and temperature. We used 130F and 72 hours for the two-pound Jones Creek roast.

Now take a break for a couple days!

Even though the beef is cooked to the desired temperature, it isn't browned and lovely on the outside, so I used the Reverse Sear technique, like I did at the World Food Championships Filet Mignon Cook-off back in November.

 

NOT brown and lovely!

Once the roast was cooked, I removed it from the sous vide bath, and unbagged it. Then we heated a dry heavy skillet blisteringly hot, patted the roast dry (otherwise you don't get a good sear), and seared the roast for a couple minutes per side until we got a nice crusty brown while keeping the beautiful medium-rare color inside:

Dig In!

Side Dishes

We served the Sous Vide Mojo Roast with my Bajan Chilled Vegetables described a couple weeks ago, and a capered rice-pilaf that Sarah made.

Make Your Own Mojo Criollo Marinade

Sure, you can buy mojo criollo at the megamart (I did for this cooking).  But it's fun to make your own, and be able to adjust the relative amounts of garlic, oil and citrus.  Some of the Caribbean islands make their versions of mojo using lime and orange juices, or all lime juice.  

Mojo is great with chicken, pork, beef, fish -- you name it.  I've even added a splash to steamed vegetables now and then.

 

Yield: About 2 cups

1 full head of garlic – about 12 cloves (peeled, minced & crushed)

1 cup Olive oil

1 cup Naranja Agria (sour orange juice)*

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon ground black pepper

*Can't find Sour Orange Juice in your local megamart? Make a good substitute with half regular orange juice and half lime juice.

Mince the garlic cloves. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and mash everything together with a mortar and pestle or the flat side of your chef's knife.

Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat until it is fragrant. Add the garlic and cook just until the garlic is soft; be careful not to burn it. Add the sour orange juice, stir and cook until just heated through. Pour into screw-top containers and store in the fridge for a week or two.

Foster Genies Cooking
 This past weekend I did a cooking on behalf of Foster Genies.  Foster Genies is the brain child of Sally's masseuse Craig Fischer and his wife Jennifer, who are themselves foster parents.  Check out their Facebook page.  I offered to cook a dinner for a deserving foster family, and Craig connected me with a family with six children over in Cape Coral.  So Friday afternoon I showed up at their house and  cooked the following meal for eight:

Chef Ken's Corn Dog Pie Appetizer (for the kid in all of us!)
Moqueca con Pollo (described here a couple weeks ago)
Aroz Amarillo
Chef Ken's Ginger-Orange Carrot Ribbons
Sauteed Cinnamon Apples with Gingersnaps 

I think everyone had a good time and got filled up. What a great family!  I had four young "helpers" (notice the quotes).  Mom took lots of pictures, and along with the older girls, got some good cooking tips and ideas.