What is sous vide cooking?
If you have never heard of cooking something sous vide before you are probably not alone. Sous vide originates as a french term and it means “under vacuum”. These days sous vide cooking is a technique that uses a precise temperature regulated water bath to cook food in a controlled environment for a precise amount of time. To do this, you typically vacuum seal food and then cook it in a temperature controlled water bath.
By cooking using precise temperatures and precise cooking times, you guarantee perfect results every time. Playing with the temperature and time when cooking food allows you to get textures and results that are almost impossible to achieve using traditional cooking methods.
For many years, sous vide cooking has been limited to professional chef’s who use the technique to produce consistent restaurant quality results. In recent years, several different companies start making sous vide cookers designed for home use at affordable prices.
What are the benefits to cooking sous vide?
There are many reasons why you should consider cooking using sous vide techniques:
Little mess. By cooking in vacuum sealed bags you reduce the mess you make as you cook in the kitchen.
Consistency. By cooking with precise temperature controls for a precise amount of time, you can be certain that you will have consistent results every time.
Taste. What you cook, is typically cooked in its own juices. The end result is that when you cook foods, in particular meats, they tend to be more moist and juicy because these juices are sealed in.
What equipment do you need to sous vide?
You don’t need a great deal of equipment to get started. Below is a guide to some of the equipment you might want to consider if you want get into sous viding
Immersion Circulator
Probably the most critical part to sous vide cooking is an immersion circulator. An immersion circulator is a device that heats up the water and then circulates it around the water bath, ensuring an equal temperature throughout. A good circulator should have single-degree precision and accuracy.
The Anova Precision Cooker (pictured above) and Brevilles Joule are two of the more common models found on the market. They sell for about $200-300 and can be purchased online. Some kitchen shops have also started selling these too.
Water Bath Container
Your immersion circulator needs to sit into a bath of water to work. In a profession setting, they often have large containers that they use called cambro’s (pictured above). You might be able to find these at hospitality supply stores. If you can’t source one of these then a large pot could also work. The plastic containers tend to have better insulation properties over metal pots.
You will want to consider what you will be cooking when you decide what size container to use. A 20-litre cambro can be great for cooking several racks of ribs or 10 steaks for a dinner party.
Vacuum Sealer
A vacuum sealer is a great tool for sealing your food before adding it into a water bath. If you are serious about sous vide then you will want to probably invest in a good quality vacuum sealer. If you don’t have access to a vacuum sealer, then zip-loc bags can also be used to sous vide, but they won’t work for longer cooks.
What can be sous vide?
Sous vide cooking is very versatile in that most foods can be cooked using sous vide techniques.
Meats. Meat is probably the most frequently sous vide item. Whether this is a piece of steak, some chicken, a rack of ribs, or even a roast. They can all be cooked really well with amazing results.
Vegetable. Many vegetables go great sous vide. I would suggest to try carrots or mushrooms to start with.
Eggs. Eggs are great as they can be just dropped straight into the water bath, leaving you with perfectly poached eggs as a final result. You can also create awesome egg bites using jars to cook the eggs in.
Fruits. Try cooking different fruits in a bit of sugar and you will create awesome compotes and jams that taste amazing have really vibrant colors too.
Desserts. You aren’t just limited to bags for cooking sous vide style, why not try cooking desserts in a jar. They can be a great way to cook ahead when hosting a dinner party. My personal favorite is Creme brulee.
Other things to know about sous vide
- Once you have cooked your food, particularly items such as meats, you may want to sear it afterwards to finish it off.
- Most foods can be cooked and then reheated in a water bath later. This can be great if you are preparing a dinner party.
- You can often cook food bagged straight from the freezer. I will often prepare double the quantity and freeze half to cook at a later date, cutting down on prep work in the kitchen.
- There are many books, websites and recipes out there that will help give you a guide and times/temps for cooking foods sous vide style. I say get out there and give it a go, you will be impressing friends and family in no time.
- If you haven’t tried it, sous vide bacon is to die for. It is probably my favorite thing to sous vide, and it can be done overnight ready for breakfast the next morning.