“Sous vide” means “under vacuum” in french and refers to the technique of cooking it in temperature controlled water bath typically around 55-60ºC/131-140ºF. The technique is about bringing food to a very precise temperature and holding it there for a period of time, which is why we refer to the technique as “precision cooking”. The idea is cook the food evenly, both inside and outside while retaining the moisture.
To apply this technique you need an immersion circulator which is now designed for home use and easier and cheaper to get and good news if you have a small kitchen, easy to store. It clips onto the side of a pot or any container that you can fill enough amount of water. It brings your water to the required temperature and continuously circulates the water to keep the temperature even. You just place your vacuum sealed food in the water. If you do not have a vacuum sealer, do not worry, zip lock bags do the job as well. As your sous vide gadget is circulating your water, place your zip lock bag with your food in the water carefully, the immersion will apply pressure on the bag, just zip it and clip it in the side of your container.
The advantage of sous vide cooking is gentle, oxygen-free cooking environment helps retaining its nutrients Proteins can be served at lower temperatures than when following traditional cooking methods. The increased minimum cook time for the sous vide cooking process essentially pasteurizes the meat, which means that medium-rare meat is perfectly safe to eat.
The other advantage is foods cooked in a vacuum-sealed bag are far more shelf stable than those cooked on the stovetop, this means you can cook meals ahead of time without worrying about your dinner spoiling. You can prepare perfectly cooked food and have it ready to serve in couple of minutes with very little effort.
I will be sharing couple of recipes that I prepare with sous vide technique soon. Just follow my blog...
