Modernist Cooking Made Easy (14 page)

www.cookingsousvide.com/beginning-sous-vide-guide.html

H
ISTORY OF
S
OUS
V
IDE

Sous vide, or low temperature cooking, is the process of cooking food at a very tightly controlled temperature, normally the temperature the food will be served at. This is a departure from traditional cooking methods that use high heat to cook the food, which must be removed at the exact moment it reaches the desired temperature.

Sous vide was first used as an upscale culinary technique in kitchens in France in the 1970s and traditionally is the process of cooking vacuum sealed food in a low temperature water bath. This process helps to achieve texture and doneness not found in other cooking techniques, as well as introducing many conveniences for a professional kitchen. Sous vide has slowly been spreading around the world in professional kitchens everywhere and is finally making the jump to home kitchens.

As sous vide has become more popular and moved to the home kitchen the term now encompasses both traditional “under vacuum” sous vide and also low temperature cooking. Some preparations rely on the vacuum pressure to change the texture of the food but in most cases the benefits of sous vide are realized in the controlled, low temperature cooking process. This means that fancy vacuum sealers can be set aside for home sealers or even ziploc bags.

H
OW IT
W
ORKS

The basic concept of sous vide cooking is that food should be cooked at the temperature it will be served at. For instance, if you are cooking a steak to medium rare, you want to serve it at 131°F / 55ºC.

With traditional cooking methods you would normally cook it on a hot grill or oven at around 400°F-500°F / 200ºC-260ºC and pull it off at the right moment when the middle has reached 131ºF / 55ºC. This results in a “bulls-eye effect” of burnt meat on the outside turning to medium rare in the middle. This steak cooked sous vide would be cooked at 131ºF / 55ºC for several hours. This will result in the entire piece of meat being a perfectly cooked medium rare. The steak would then usually be quickly seared at high heat to add the flavorful, browned crust to it.

There are two basic components to sous vide cooking at home: temperature and time. Each one of these can affect the end quality, texture, and taste of sous vide dishes. Understanding how they affect the food is one of the most important things to learn as you begin sous vide cooking.

Temperature

All sous vide cooking is done at temperatures below the boiling point of water and normally not above 185°F / 85ºC. You usually cook the food at the temperature you want it served at, so most settings are between 120°F / 49ºC and 185°F / 85ºC, depending on the food being prepared.

While the range of temperature used in sous vide is much less variable than for traditional cooking, the precise control of the temperature is of great importance. When you set your oven at 400°F it actually fluctuates about 50 degrees, sending it between 375°F and 425°F, which is fine when cooking at high temperatures. When cooking sous vide, the temperature of the water determines the doneness of your food, so a 50°F fluctuation would result in over-cooked food. Most sous vide machines fluctuate less than 1°F and the best are less than 0.1°F.

This precision is why many sous vide machines are very expensive. However, there are many more home machines available in the last few years, some good do-it-yourself kits, and even some ways to accomplish “accurate enough” sous vide on the cheap
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.

Time

Cooking tenderizes food by breaking down its internal structure. This process happens faster at higher temperatures. Because sous vide is done at such low temperatures the cooking time needs to be increased to achieve the same tenderization as traditional techniques.

Also, your window of time to perfectly cooked food is much longer than with traditional cooking methods because you are cooking the food at the temperature you want it to end up at, rather than a higher temperature. This also allows you to leave food in the water bath even after it is done since keeping it at this temperature does not dry out the food, up to several hours longer for tougher cuts of meat. However, be careful not to take this concept too far as food can still become overcooked by sous vide, many times without showing it externally.

Temperature and Time Together

The power of sous vide cooking comes from precisely controlling both temperature and time. This is important because of the way meat reacts to different temperatures.

At 120°F / 49ºC meat slowly begins to tenderize as the protein myosin begins to coagulate and the connective tissue in the meat begins to break down. As the temperature increases so does the speed of tenderization.

However, meat also begins to lose its moisture above 140°F / 60ºC as the heat causes the collagen in the cells to shrink and wring out the moisture. This happens very quickly over 150°F / 65.5ºC and the meat becomes completely dried out above 160°F / 71ºC.

Many tough cuts of meat are braised or roasted for a long period of time so the meat can fully tenderize, but because of the high temperatures they can easily become dried out. Using sous vide allows you to hold the meat below the 140°F / 60ºC barrier long enough for the slower tenderization process to be effective. This results in very tender meat that is still moist and not overcooked.

B
ASIC
S
OUS
V
IDE
T
ECHNIQUE

Sous vide is actually a very easy and convenient method of cooking. First season the food and seal it in a plastic bag. Place it into a water bath preheated to the temperature you want the food to end up. Cook it from one hour up to several days, depending on the type of food. Remove it from the bag and briefly sear it for flavor and texture.

While there are variations within each dish, almost every sous vide meal follows the same steps. Here is a more detailed look at those steps.

Flavor the Food

Just like many traditional methods, you often times flavor the food before cooking it. This can be as simple as a sprinkling of salt and pepper or as complicated as adding an elaborate sauce, spice rub, or even smoking the food. Depending on the type of seasoning it can either be rubbed directly onto the food itself or added into the pouch with the food.

If you are using a normal home vacuum sealer and want to add more than a little liquid, freeze the liquid before adding it to the pouch. This way the process of vacuum sealing will not suck out the liquid. Otherwise, you can normally use food grade ziploc bags to seal food with liquids.

When seasoning for sous vide most typical spices and flavorings can be used with a few exceptions:

• Fresh soft herbs like basil or parsley will not hold up well

• Fresh garlic or ginger can become bitter

• Vinegars can become more pronounced

• If you are cooking for more than 8 hours then you might not want to salt meat right away as it can draw out some moisture

You can also re-season the food when it comes out of the water bath. This is a good way to apply traditional rubs whose flavors you want on the surface of the food but not on the inside.

Seal the Food

Once the seasoning and food have been added to the pouch, remove the air and seal it closed. Removing the air results in closer contact between the food and the water in the water bath. This helps to facilitate quicker cooking since water transfers heat more efficiently than air.

Sealing the food can be done with anything from ziplocs or food grade plastic wrap to a FoodSaver Vacuum Sealer or even a chambered vacuum sealer.

Some vacuum sealers have different strengths of vacuum to seal the bag and can be used to affect the texture of some types of food.

Even though “sous vide” means “under vacuum” the vacuum sealing of foods is not critical to the sous vide process in any way. Any food-grade, sealable plastic bag works well. I often use Ziploc brand freezer bags and they work great.

When using non-vacuum sealed plastic bags you should use the water displacement method, also known as the Archimedes principal
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, where you hold the bag underwater with just the top sticking out before sealing it. The pressure of the water forces out the air and creates a tight seal. When done properly this is almost as good as using a weak vacuum sealer and will work great for most low-temperature sous vide cooking.

Heat the Water

Simply bring the water bath up to the temperature you will cook at. This water bath will normally be the same temperature that you will want your food to end up at.

Depending on the type of heat regulator, you may be able to have the food in the water while it heats. For others, it is best to preheat the water before placing the food in it due to early fluctuations in temperature.

The most difficult part of sous vide cooking has traditionally been the temperature control. Maintaining a precise temperature is critical, both from a quality and a safety standpoint.

For people wanting to experiment with sous vide, temperature control can be done with a large pot of water on a stove with a thermometer or by pouring heated water into a beer cooler.

For anyone that wants to use sous vide regularly there are also many options for home cooks. I personally use the SousVideMagic, Sous Vide Supreme, and PolyScience Professional
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. They range from $150 for the SousVideMagic, which hooks up to an existing crock pot, to $800 for the PolyScience unit, which is used in many professional kitchens
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.

Cook the Food

Put the food pouch in the water and let it cook for the amount of time specified in the recipe or on the Time and Temperature chart. For items that are cooked for longer amounts of time it can be good to rotate the food every 6 to 10 hours, especially if you are using less precise sous vide equipment.

At some higher temperatures the sous vide pouches can float due to air released from the food. If that happens you might have to use a plate or bowl to weight them down.

Finish the Dish

To get a good finish and texture to your food, especially meats, it is usually advisable to quickly sear the meat. This is usually done in hot pan, on a grill, or with a culinary blow torch. Some meals also call for other methods of finishing the food, such as breading and deep-frying for chicken.

You can also quickly chill the food in an ice bath which is ½ ice and ½ water and then refrigerate or freeze the food for later re-heating.

C
HOOSE
Y
OUR
F
INISHING
M
ETHOD

One of the key things in most sous vide dishes is the finishing method used. The different methods add their flavors and textures to the meat. Depending on what the dish is and what you are trying to accomplish you will want to choose one of the following methods.

Pan Frying

Pan frying or pan searing is the most common method of finishing sous vide meats. It can usually be used instead of grilling with only a slight loss of the grilling flavor. It’s usually done in oil in a hot pan on the stove. The meat is left on just long enough to brown before being removed.

Grilling

Grilling is a great way to finish meat since it adds the smoky flavor and the grill marks so common in grilled foods. For most foods it and pan frying are interchangeable.

Torching

Many people that use sous vide often will invest in a good butane food torch for searing their food. A common torch is the Iwatani torch
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.

Roasting

Roasting or broiling are not as common as the other methods but they can be a great way to finish crusts or sear the top and sides of sous vide meat. It is normally done at 450ºF / 232ºC or under the broiler. You can also do this on your grill by using very high, indirect heat.

Smoking

Some recipes call for food to be smoked either before or after you cook them. You can still accomplish this by smoking it after you remove the food from the sous vide bath. For longer times or cold smoking it can be better to smoke the meat beforehand to minimize the time the food is in the danger zone.

S
OUS
V
IDE
S
AFETY

Sous vide is a new and largely untested method of cooking. It potentially carries many inherent health risks that may not be fully understood. We have done our best to provide the latest information and what is currently understood about this form of cooking.

However, we feel that anyone undertaking sous vide cooking, or any other method of cooking, should fully inform themselves about any and all risks associated with it and come to their own conclusions about its safety. Following anything in this book could possibly make you or your guests sick and should only be done if you are fully aware of the potential risks and complications.

There are two main concerns when it comes to sous vide cooking; they are pathogens and the dangers of cooking in plastic.