Long hold of beef ribs in CVAP - what is safe and quality-preserving?

Hi there

Have CVAP (new to this equipment and its performance boundaries). Wanting to hold beef (short) ribs 24 hours - is this reasonable (in set of 4 ribs)?

We do a cook on Wednesday with 5pm finish - the pork ribs are for specials that same night, have no intention of a long hold on them - but if we do beef ribs at the same time, can we hold in a CVAP until service the next evening (Thu) - obviously concerned with safety and product quality?

If not, I guess a reheated beef rib would be OK , but never tried it with scaled-up quantities.

TIA.

Cook said:

I would not hold them for 24 hours. I would prefer to cook, cool, & reheat.

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Yes, easy enough to use the CVap to reheat as it has the humidity control as well.

Thx.

nachos4life said:

I've held briskets in an alto shaam for 19 hours for a big vending event. Not exactly the same warming environment as a CVAP. Food is perfectly safe to eat as long as temps are set right; however, after about 12 hours we felt the quality started to go downhill a bit texture-wise.

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Ah-ha, that’s interesting and something I was really wondering about. Will try this weekend with a long hold. Have some beautiful ribs to trial.

Thx.

toys4dlr said:

The benefit of the Cvap over most other holding units is the ability to add moisture to the holding cabinet. Dialing in the proper amount is the key. I like 15% in my cvap. I bet the quality will be just fine.

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... and that would be uncovered? What temp have you found good for long holds of beef - at the higher end (160-170) or the lower end (145-150)?

TIA.

toys4dlr said:

I wrap my product in foil for the big cuts and film for our St louis ribs. I don't do beef ribs. I hold at 160, with a Plus 15% on the moisture knob. I typically dont't hold over night, but had to for a couple days when I was having issues with the walk in. the product held fine.

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Thanks for the info. We are trying unwrapped, 145 Temp and +5 on Texture. The water needed a top up this morning. I’ll have more info at the 24 hour mark about 4:30 this arvo.

longwayfromhome said:

Thanks for the info. We are trying unwrapped, 145 Temp and +5 on Texture. The water needed a top up this morning. I’ll have more info at the 24 hour mark about 4:30 this arvo.

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OK, here is the picture. The 2 plates of ribs were initially done for 6 hours and were perfect when they came off. They were held for 2 hours in a chilly-bin, and then one set was cut and tasted (we are testing for the SIL's new restaurant). They were great.

The second plate of ribs was then put into the CVap for (exactly) 24 hours @145F (auto control ranged between 145-to-150) and at +3 on the Texture (basically humidity control). These were uncovered, just sitting in the tray, in the lower half of the cabinet. This plate of ribs was then pulled and cut. They were at least as good as the previous days fresh ribs (which had had a 2 hours hold), maybe even a little better. They were not mushy in any way, tasted perfect! Fundamentally, very happy that this is possible. Not intending to do long BBQ holds other than this one beef rib hold with the cook on Wed and the service on Thu.

Here is a photo of a cut rib (after 24 hours in the CVap) and one of the cabinet's controls (not the same settings as we used for the ribs).

BTW, the main use for the CVap will be for roti chicken (max 2 hour hold) which we have max capacity for 15/hr, but around 5-8 on a busy evening we expect to have a higher demand than that, so the period between lunch and dinner will be used to roti chickens and hold for dinner.