Cook Using Sous Vide
Sous-vide, which is French for “under vacuum”, also called cryovacing, is a method of cooking that is intended to maintain the integrity of ingredients by heating them for an extended period of time at relatively low temperatures. It was developed by Georges Pralus in the mid-1970s. It uses airtight plastic bags placed in hot water, which results in more flavorful and nutritious food because flavor compounds don't evaporate and the off-flavors of oxidation don't emerge. Sous-vide is used mainly in restaurants by professional cooks, but others are also beginning to use this way of cooking.
Steps
- Gather your food and materials.
- Digital thermometer: It is preferred that you get a high quality digital thermometer because in sous-vide, it is extremely important that the temperature is correct while pasteurizing, or else the necessary cooking times can change.
- Vacuum sealer: Many professional cooks use chamber style vacuum sealers, which are stronger than clamp style vacuum sealers and can package liquids without freezing. The downside is that they are larger, heavier, and cost more than ten times as much as clamp style sealers. Clamp style vacuum sealers, such as FoodSaver, are less expensive, but also not as strong, and they use more expensive bags.
- Water baths:
- If the cooking time is short, you can use a pot of water on a stove, but since you must watch the temperature closely with a good digital thermometer the whole time, it is not recommended that you use this method if the food requires a long cooking time.
- You can also use a counter top food warmer, a commercial rice cooker, an electric burner, a slow cooker (or crock pot), or a roaster. If you use one of these, make sure it uses a manual switch so that the temperature will not be reset when the power is turned on and off. Rice cookers, steam tables and electric burners are preferred over slow cookers and roasters because their temperature is steadier since they are heated from below. These are used with a digital temperature controller. The simplest and cheapest are on-off controllers and work well enough, keeping the temperature at ±2.1°F (±1.2°C). Another type is the PID controller, and although it needs to be tuned to the cooking device being used, it allows only ±0.7°F (±0.4°C) of temperature change.
- Laboratory immersion circulators are very popular because they can keep the temperature of a large amount of water to ±0.1°F (±0.05°C). These can be bought on eBay, although if they were used before, they were probably used with carcinogens and pathogens, which means you will need to clean them. You can clean them with bleach, then with vinegar, and finally rinsed with a 70% (140 proof) alcohol. Or, you can just buy a new one. WARNING: Be sure to completely rinse all bleach before cleaning with vinegar. When combined, these two chemicals can create caustic (and very harmful) gas.
- Convection steam ovens can cook large amounts of food, but the temperature can change up to 10°F (5°C) in gas models and 5°F (2.5°C) in electrical models.
- Prepare the food.
- Because sous-vide is different from regular cooking and the temperatures are lower, seasoning can be hard. Although the flavor of most herbs and spices won’t change much, some can and will overpower the dish. Because most vegetables need to be cooked at higher temperatures, they should be cooked separately from the meat.
- Marinating will not cause any problems unless it contains alcohol; this may cause the meat to cook unevenly because the alcohol can change from liquid to vapor while cooking. To solve this problem, just cook the alcohol before marinating.
- Some people find that extra virgin olive oil makes the food taste metallic.]
- Cook the food in the water bath. When you find a recipe, it's very important that you follow it strictly, in order to prevent bacterial growth (see Warnings below). Pay careful attention to the ingredients (some acids, salts and spices help to control microorganisms) and temperature. Submerge the pouches completely in the water (sometimes they'll float and you'll have to weigh or pin them down), and don't crowd them or let them overlap; you want maximum surface area exposed to water so that the food cooks thoroughly. Here are some of the basic methods used in sous vide cooking:
- Cook-hold: Vacuum seal the ingredients, pasteurize them, and hold them at 130°F (54.4°C) or above until served. The holding prevents food pathogens from growing, but it can also make the food too soft. Tough cuts of meat can be held at 130°F (54.4°C) for 24–48 hours, but most other foods can only be held for 8–10 hours before getting too tender.
- Cook-chill/Cook-freeze: Vacuum seal, pasteurize, and rapidly chill the ingredients (usually in an ice water bath for a specified period of time) in order to avoid sporulation of C. perfringens, which can cause food poisoning. Keep the food cold or frozen until it's reheated right before serving. To prevent botulism, keep the food chilled or frozen as follows before serving:
- below 36.5°F (2.5°C) for up to 90 days,
- below 38°F (3.3°C) for less than 31 days,
- below 41°F (5°C) for less than 10 days, or
- below 44.5°F (7°C) for less than 5 days
- Sear the meat. This is optional, and is done because food cooked using sous-vide looks poached. Since meat usually is not cooked by poaching, it is seared so that it is browned and has a better flavor. Other foods like fish or skinless poultry, which are traditionally poached, don’t need to be seared. Searing is usually done with a blowtorch. Before blowtorching, brush the meat with vegetable or nut oil. Propane and butane blowtorches can both be used, but butane blowtorches are preferred. Some cooks pan sear using a heavy cast iron pan with smoking vegetable or nut oil.
Tips
- If the food is held for too long when using the cook-hold method, it could become mushy.
- Cook-hold is a safer and simpler method than cook-chill and cook-freeze, although it is less popular.
Warnings
- Because Clostridium botulinum bacteria can grow in food in the absence of oxygen, temperature control is extremely important while using sous-vide. After being pasteurized, if you are using cook-chill or cook-freeze, the food should be frozen at a specific temperature. Closely follow the temperatures and times given on recipes.
- If you don’t pasteurize the food, it needs to be consumed within four hours and only by people who are immune-competent.
Things You'll Need
- Food
- High quality digital thermometer
- Vacuum sealers
- Water bath
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