The Everything Guide to Cooking Sous Vide (3 page)

Perfectly Cooked Meat

Purchasing an expensive cut of meat can cause fear and trepidation, as people worry about overcooking or undercooking it. This is completely understandable. Who wants to spend lots of hard-earned money for a quality Wagyu rib eye steak, only to overcook it? This is one place where sous vide cooking excels, because the temperature-controlled water bath can ensure that the steak is cooked exactly as you like it. Set the temperature and walk away: that is it! Once it has cooked the designated time, it is done and ready to eat.

Even some cuts of meat that are challenging to cook well, like lamb chops or duck breasts, are incredibly simple with sous vide. Where these meats go from perfectly cooked to overcooked in a matter of minutes when using traditional cooking methods, there is no fear of that with sous vide. Instead, due to the precision of the temperature-controlled water, the meat is cooked to that temperature perfectly, every time.

Is sous vide meat generally undercooked?

Not at all. Food safety is very important. Eliminating pathogens in meat is fairly scientific and is measured by a combination of temperature and time. It is possible to kill pathogens in meat by cooking at some lower temperatures and holding the meat at that temperature for a longer period of time.

Oh So Tender

Since the water bath is heated to the target temperature of the meat, it is possible to hold it at that temperature for many more hours after the meat is cooked. This provides a significant benefit for tougher cuts of meat. Pork shoulder, beef short ribs, and other cuts of meat need a longer cook time to break down the collagen and connective tissues. Sous vide can do this easily, and there are some incredible recipes that use these cuts of meat to create something absolutely delicious.

There are even some recipes that cook meat in the sous vide for more than a day. Yes, you read that right:
more
than a day. If you check around online, you’ll see that there are even recipes that call for meat to be cooked in the sous vide for up to 72 hours. While this does tenderize the meat, some actually feel that cooking it for this long actually makes it a little on the mushy side. Typically, 24–36 hours is more than plenty to tenderize even the toughest cuts of meat.

As with any form of cooking, it is important to follow the proper food safety guidelines. This cookbook is just a reference and anyone cooking sous vide needs to understand and follow FDA and USDA guidelines for cooking meat according to the correct combination of temperature and time. See
Appendix A: Time and Temperature Charts
.

More Than Just Meat

While sous vide is most often praised for how well it can cook a steak or a rack of lamb, it is also a wonderful way to cook other foods. Cooking vegetables in the sous vide provides a nice firm texture to the vegetables, preventing them from going all mushy. It is also possible to cook sauces and custards in the sous vide. Crème anglaise and hollandaise sauce are great examples of other recipes to make in the water bath, as the lower temperature can ensure that the eggs do not cook, but instead gently heat, creating a super-creamy texture. Also, there is nothing that can prepare you for the amazing experience that is eating your first sous vide egg. The water bath is able to cook an egg in such a way that it is soft and almost custard-like. Sous vide eggs are ideal for eggs Benedict, hash, and Japanese noodle soup.

Time Not So Much of a Factor

The sous vide makes it nearly impossible to overcook most cuts of meat. Since the meat can stay in the water bath for hours past the cook time, it makes cooking far more convenient. It is possible to start some meat in the sous vide before you leave for work, and it will be ready once you arrive home. Since meat can typically stay in the water bath longer, if traffic is bad on the way home from work, there is usually no need to worry. The sous vide can hold the meat at that temperature until you arrive home and are ready to eat.

In the same way, if dinner guests are running late, there is no fear of the meat overcooking and drying out. If your are having a nice conversation with your guests and want to push the meal back another 30 minutes, the sous vide can usually let that happen with little to no problem.

While many different meats like beef, pork, chicken, and more can stay in the sous vide water bath longer than the minimum time, this does not work as well with seafood. For example, the texture of salmon, shrimp, and scallops can all be negatively affected by cooking longer than the set time.

Many people find this benefit of sous vide cooking to be liberating, as it significantly reduces stress around mealtime. There is no fear of the meat overcooking, as it is in the water bath ready to go when you are.

Fine Dining at Home

Sous vide cooking provides so many opportunities for home cooks to expand their culinary skills and prepare food in ways that seemed impossible before. Sous vide makes cooking some fine-dining dishes more accessible and simplifies complicated cooking tasks. Whether it is making a succulent
Halibut with Sicilian Ragu
(Chapter 11) or
Steak and Scallops with Chipotle Cream
(Chapter 9), the sous vide is ready to stretch the home cook into new and exciting culinary realms.

It makes sense that you may look at many new kitchen tools as simply a gadget that is “here one day and gone the next.” There are countless examples of these contraptions packed away in closets and garages everywhere. Many of these tools are just gimmicks and nothing more. That is not the case with sous vide, as it is so much more than some gizmo to fill up your kitchen. Sous vide is truly an innovation in the way that you cook, and it is a culinary trend that will be here for years to come.

Chapter 2

The Necessary Equipment

Starting the adventure of sous vide cooking is exciting, but it can also be overwhelming. This culinary technique is not only a new way to cook, but it also requires specific equipment. Some equipment is essential, while there are a few optional tools that can be helpful for the home cook.

Sous Vide Machines

The first thing that a sous vide newbie needs is some way to heat and control the temperature of a water bath. Sous vide cooking is all about precision. When food is placed in a water bath, it is essential that there is very little swing above or below the set temperature. Temperature swing is not as critical when cooking on the stovetop, oven, or grill, but in sous vide cooking, it is crucial because the temperature of the water is set to be the target temperature of the meat.

What kind of sous vide machine should I buy?

A water oven is a great choice if you will use it often and have room on the counter. These are quiet and typically can cook a lot of food at once. Immersion circulators are lower in price, smaller in size, a great choice for smaller kitchens or portability option, and just as effective at heating and maintaining water temperature.

A number of years ago, if someone wanted to get into sous vide cooking at home, there were few options. It was either spend lots of money for a commercial unit or build your own contraption. Today, there are many different choices that range in price, quality, design, and functionality.

Water Ovens

One type of sous vide machine available for the home cook is a water oven. These all-in-one machines are convenient and ideal for someone wanting a unit that both holds and heats water. These units contain a large water reservoir for cooking sous vide. The control panel on a water oven allows you to set the water temperature, and some models have timers on them as well. There are not a lot of different companies that sell sous vide water ovens designed for the home kitchen. By far, the most popular and well known is by SousVide Supreme.

A SousVide Supreme water oven