Create The Perfect Meal Using A Sous Vide Machine
The French have always been highly acclaimed for their robust wines, rich foods, and pioneering culinary techniques. For centuries, French people’s unique methods of food preparation has set them apart from any other country on the planet. The sous vide cooking method is no exception when it comes to setting the benchmark high for exceptional culinary standards far and wide.
The Complete Guide to Sous Vide Cooking contains everything that you may need to know about the sous vide method of cooking. It’s all here, from in-depth information regarding this cooking technique to suggestions and the best appliances and sous vide accessories for at-home sous vide cooking. Upon reaching the end of this guide, you will have gained informative and highly useful knowledge on one of the best and most consistent cooking methods that exist.
What is the Sous Vide Cooking Method?
Consistency, perfection, and stress-free preparation can all be attained with the sous vide cooking method. Sous vide is pronounced as “sue-veed” and literally translates from the French language as “under vacuum”. Sous vide is a highly regarded method of cooking root vegetables and meats by professional chefs. It is a very favorable technique among banquet chefs and chefs that are catering for special events in which a large number of fine dining consumers are expected. Events such as weddings, black tie events, and corporate functions can be expected to have some of the food prepared via sous vide cooking.
The sous vide method of cooking requires the food item(s) being cooked to be sealed into airtight plastic satchels that are specifically created with sous vide cooking in mind. The satchels are then submerged into a steam heated water bath. The water bath is then set at a specific and constant cooking temperature for an extended period of time. The purpose of sous vide is to perfectly and evenly cook a food item of your choosing, without much room for error. With sou vide, you choose the exact temperature that you would like your steak cooked at and upon completion, your food wish is granted.
For example, if you would like a New York Sirloin to be cooked at 130 degrees fahrenheit, simply set your water bath to 130 degrees and leave it as it takes care of itself. When the steak is finished, it will be cooked to a perfect 130 degrees, as you requested. The sous vide method allows us to completely monitor and control our food to its desired temperature and texture.
The best part about this cooking technique is that anyone can do it! Using the sous vide method, anyone can achieve Michelin Star chef quality cuts of meat in the comfort of their own kitchens. The only factor that may or may not be a downside to some people is the extended cooking time for sous vide prepared foods. In most cases, this method of cooking takes a lot longer to prepare food than a stovetop, oven, or grill. However, the results are well worth the wait.
Benefits of Sous Vide Cooking
Sous vide cooking means better and easier cooking all around. Sous vide is a unique cooking method with many great benefits, especially compared to other cooking methods that are popularly used. The results from cooking with the sous vide technique will make your dish stand out from all of the other dishes at a family dinner or potluck. Impress everyone with intensified flavors and wonderful textures from food that is of restaurant quality, but with a fraction of the effort.
Due to the food item being vacuumed into an airtight bag, the natural juices and flavors are prevented from being lost throughout the cooking process. Because of the natural juices and flavors being trapped inside of the airtight bag along with the food all throughout the cooking process, the flavors and juices are soaking into food, therefore giving it more of its own natural flavor. Sous vide outshines grill, oven, and stove top cooking because of this. These other cooking methods allow the natural juices to escape, which requires more culinary skill to make up for this factor.
With the highly precise temperature control, your food will always be cooked evenly and thoroughly. This method is unlike panfrying, baking, or grilling where there is always a possibility that the outside cooks faster than the inside. Since the food is being submerged into water, it is not possible to burn any of it and is very unlikely to experience overcooking of anything that is cooked sous vide.
All of these benefits allow a sous vide cook to maintain a more organized and simplistic cooking experience. Simply vacuum pack the food, place it into one of the 3 types of sous vide machines on the market, set the temperature and time, and leave it to cook itself. This method has proven its reliability countless times since its fundamentals were first used at the end of the 18th century.
History of the Sous Vide Cooking Method
As stated before, the fundamentals of sous vide cooking date back hundreds of years. It is hypothesized that the cooking fundamentals were first used in 1799 as a foolproof way to cook and preserve foods. Back in the historic days of sous vide cooking, the food was wrapped in a plastic, submerged into a water bath, and cooked at a low temperature for a long amount of time. Somehow this foolproof method was soon forgotten, all the way until the 20th century.
The revival of sous vide cooking came hundreds of years later during the mid 1960’s, when both food researchers and engineers worked to develop this ancient technique into a modern and innovative method that can be put to use in professional culinary settings. French world renowned chef, Georges Pralus, decided to adopt the method a decade later. His initial intentions for bringing back the sous vide was to reduce product wastage, particularly when cooking foie gras. Upon perfecting the sous vide method, Chef Pralus has discovered that when his foie gras was cooked using the newly revamped sous vide method, it kept its original appearance and shape and also had increased flavor and better texture.
Another key individual who has also been crowned as a sous vide pioneer is food scientist and Chef Bruno Goussault. He has successfully trained a countless amount of chefs on the sous vide cooking method, including 47 Michelin Star winning chefs. Chef Goussault has lead a culinary revolution all from this simple and effortless technique using the sous vide method along with some of the best sous vide machinery that is available on the market.
What Sous Vide Machine Is Right For You?
In order to be a successful master of the sous vide cooking technique, you will need to find the best machine. There are 2 main types of sous vide machines, immersion circulators and water baths. Both device styles have spectacular features that may be advantageous in your kitchen.
