Parenting is hard and often comes with little appreciation. But some of the smallest things can feel like the biggest rewards–something as simple as cooking your daughter’s favorite meal or winning a “golden spatula” on a daddy-daughter camping trip.
To celebrate Father’s Day, we caught up with two dads who are conquering cooking and making lasting memories along the way with the help of their Anova Precision Cookers.
Meet Floris
Ever since my daughter could formulate her opinion on food (about 2.5-year-old), she’s been asking for two things on her birthday: my spareribs and chicken drumsticks. Both take a long bath with the Anova, 36 and 12 hours respectively.
This past May on her 6th birthday, she helped with marinating, rubbing, and sealing the bags. Once the chicken drumsticks were seared, she called all twelve of her friends playing in our garden and said: “Kids, stop playing, get over here, because my dad finished the drumsticks and we don’t want the adults to find out before we’ve had at least one each”. Then, they all ran towards the BBQ!
Here’s the recipe to my daughter’s favorite drumsticks!
Measurements are for 20 drums. I quickly rinse the drumsticks with water and let them dry while making the marinade. In the bag, I add soy sauce, a knob of grated ginger, and a couple of cloves of minced garlic. Stir it a little and then add in the chicken. Seal the bag, then shake the bag around so all the chicken is covered.
Warm up the bath for 60C/140F and then place the bag of chicken into the bath for about 8-12 hours. I typically make the chicken the day before. Once the chicken is done, I dunk the bag in cold water to cool it down and then leave it in the fridge.
Before serving, I warm up the chicken for 20 minutes with the Anova. The finishing touch is a quick sear on a fire starter when I heat up the coals for my ribs. Once the flames start I put a grill rack on top and put 2-3 drumsticks on, turning them after 20 seconds. The skin gets nice and crispy and the meat gets a little color.
Meet Doug, the “Golden Spatula” winner
A few weekends ago I was at a daddy-daughter campout, with 20 girls between the age of 4 and 11 and about ten dads. A big part of these campouts is the "Golden Spatula" prize, where the dads from each cabin compete to create the best campfire meals - a competition our cabin is famed for losing every year. Despite the fact that I am a notoriously terrible cook, I was determined to change that.
I grabbed my old cast-iron skillet and picked up a big stock pot from Goodwill on the way up, along with some avocado mayo and some nice Costco ribeyes. A few hours before dinner I set the Anova to 133 degrees, sprinkled the ribeyes with salt and pepper and used the water-displacement method to lower them in. That's when I learned one of the other dads had made the same recipe- I'll admit I was relieved to have someone experienced on-hand.
It was beautiful. The Anova had cooked the steak just a shade south of medium rare, while the mayo gave it a perfect sear, with amazing color and crunchiness in all the right places. It tasted as good as it looked. This was far and away the best food I've ever made. We devoured the rest of the steaks immediately, saving one to make when the judges came by (mainly to see the looks on their faces when that mayo went on).
The result: the next morning, I had dads from other cabins coming up to me all through breakfast asking about sous-vide cooking, and wondering if the rumors were true that we'd put mayonnaise on ribeyes. Oh, and together with another dad's excellent slow-cooked Italian beef, our cabin won the coveted Golden Spatula.
We Love You Dads!
Floris and Doug are just a couple of dads that have earned bragging rights that will be shared for a lifetime with their daughters.This Father’s Day, join Floris and Doug and share your cooking success stories below in the comments section. Go ahead, brag a little bit. You deserve it!
We bragged about these Dads, now we want to brag about you! Open your ios Anova App, enter your best sous vide recipes, and we’ll feature the best in an upcoming email!
Oh and by the way. Happy Father’s Day from Anova.