Sous Vide

Steve Williams

Site Founder, Site Owner, Administrator
Hi Keith

I know that you are a big fan of this method of cooking and I have seen photos of some of your culinary delights prepared in this fashion

Can you give us a quick overview of this technique of cooking and what basic utensils and sous vide instruments and cooking books are needed in order to get started
 

Keith_W

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Mar 31, 2012
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Hi Steve, thanks for the question. This is really a pretty involved subject. There are already very good resources out there on the net for sous-vide. For a good introduction I would recommend these pages from the International Culinary Center:

- Sous-Vide Primer, Part I

- Sous-Vide Primer, Part II

For those who are too lazy to click on the links - sous-vide is a method of cooking that involves sealing food in a vacuum bag and then cooking it in a temperature controlled water bath. There are numerous advantages to this cooking method:

- Precision. Food can be brought precisely to the correct cooked temperature. Traditional cooking is done with a high delta-T (i.e. the temperature gradient between the cooking surface / ambient cooking temperature and the food). This means there is a short window of opportunity to remove the food before it is overcooked. Sous-vide slowly brings the temperature up to the desired cooking temperature. The temperature of the food can never exceed the water bath. I have posted a recipe for sous-vide confit ocean trout on this site. There is really no other way to cook trout precisely to 46C without sous-vide.

- Flavour. Any food which is cooked in a solvent (e.g. water in poached, braised, or stewed cooking; or oil in confits) will lose flavour to the cooking medium. For example, carrots cooked sous-vide have an incomparable flavour of fresh carrots when compared to boiled carrots.

- Convenience. Food cooked sous-vide, provided it meets pasteurization criteria, can be considered sterile. It will keep in the fridge longer than uncooked food and can be reheated by simply dropping the bag back into the sous-vide bath prior to service.

- Tenderizing tough cuts. For any food, cooking is a function of (temperature x time). For example, the breakdown of collagen into gelatin is both temperature and time dependent. The rate of breakdown rises with temperature (to an extent) and continues the longer it is exposed to the temperature. This is the principle between "low and slow" barbecues, where tough cuts like short rib are tenderized by cooking at 107C for several hours. With sous-vide, it is possible to cook a short rib such that it is both medium rare and tender - you just set the temperature at 58C for 72 hours. This gives a very different result to barbecued short rib - it is more moist but equally tender.

There are a number of downsides to sous-vide, however. Read the articles for more information, or feel free to ask me.

EQUIPMENT
In general, you need two pieces of equipment:

1. A method of sealing food in a plastic bag;

2. A temperature controlled water bath.

Sealing food - In order of expense: chamber vacuum sealer, foodsaver vacuum sealer, reusable vacuum port bag, zip-lock bag. The difference between all these methods is expense, the amount of vacuum applied, versatility, and ability to seal liquids. The least a sous-vide beginner needs to be able to do is expel all air from the sous-vide bag before sealing it. The reason: air causes the bag to float and acts as an insulator, preventing even heating.

Temperature controlled water bath - here is a breakdown of methods, from ideal to cheapest.

- Immersion circulator, e.g. Polyscience. This consists of a heating element, a PID controller, and a pump. The downside is that it is expensive - however these are the most versatile units around.

- Sous-vide oven e.g Sous-Vide Supreme. This provides most of the benefits of the immersion circulator - however this is a very bulky unit.

- Sous-vide controller e.g. Sous-vide Magic. This is a PID controller that controls another heat source (e.g a rice cooker or slow cooker), and cuts power when the immersed thermometer detects a certain threshold. The heat source can be anything - my heat source is a hot plate with a stock pot placed on it. The main benefit is that it is inexpensive.

Then there are a few non-automated options, which relies on YOU to control the temperature instead of a computer. Needless to say, the great advantage of the computer is the "set and forget" aspect.

- Pot in a pot. Place a pot in a large stockpot over a trivet. Fill both pots with water, and put your food in the inner pot. Heat the outer pot over a hob. The thermal mass of the outer pot will prevent the inner pot from overheating.

- Pot in an oven. Fill a Dutch oven with hot water. Heat the dutch oven until it reaches the desired temperature, then put your sealed food bag in it. Put the whole pot in the oven, and set your oven to the desired temperature.

I think that just about covers it. Any questions - feel free to ask.
 

amirm

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Apr 2, 2010
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Thanks for the great explanation Keith. Prompted by your posts, I researched this method a few months back. We have an induction cooktop that can control its power based on temp of the pot. It is not perfect but it worked very well in maintaining the temp. I used the stoker to monitor its temp and planned on using that to plot the progress of the cook. But it never came to that as I got scared of the food safety aspect. Seemed like it took significant knowledge about that field in order to cook safely. In a nutshell, Sous Vide allows one to creep to the target temp of the food and keep it there. That temp may be at the threshold of where food can get spoiled. While cooking all is well but as soon as one gets the food out, then bacteria can grow since the outer temp was never high enough to kill the harmful bacteria.

Of course, following the proper methods of not leaving the food out for too long and or searing it quickly with high heat killed the bacteria but I was just a bit concerned about not remembering all this and suffering the consequences. Any words of wisdom in this regard?
 

Keith_W

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but does boiled meat taste good Keith

It tastes as good as what your intended application is, Steve. Do you like poached meats? Stews? Braises? All of these have their place. Just because meat has not undergone Maillardization does not mean it does not taste good. For example, I have a recipe for a Chinese white cut chicken done sous-vide. The traditional recipe calls for poaching the chicken for half an hour. My method produces a more reliably cooked chicken with a more intense stock.

We have an induction cooktop that can control its power based on temp of the pot. It is not perfect but it worked very well in maintaining the temp. I used the stoker to monitor its temp and planned on using that to plot the progress of the cook.

Amir, be careful of using induction cooktops with PID controllers for sous-vide. The reason - the induction cooktop can actually induce currents in your metal thermometer probe, giving false readings at best or destroying your thermometer at worst.

Of course, following the proper methods of not leaving the food out for too long and or searing it quickly with high heat killed the bacteria but I was just a bit concerned about not remembering all this and suffering the consequences. Any words of wisdom in this regard?

Amir, I am going to give you two answers. The first answer is what I believe - that the USDA mandated minimum cooking temperatures for food is excessively conservative and will give you overcooked food. Pasteurization is a function of BOTH time and temperature. You can actually cook chicken to medium rare, provided you hold it long enough to pasteurize. Matter of fact - duck, quails, and pigeon are often cooked to medium rare and they carry the same pathogens as chicken.

The second answer is the "legal" one, to protect myself from being sued for stuff I write on WBF :) That is this: if you want to be safe, cook your food to what is recommended by the USDA. If you want to try low temperature cooking, do not serve your food to the elderly, or to the young, or to pregnant women, or to those whose immune systems are compromised.
 

amirm

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Apr 2, 2010
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Thanks Keith. I did not see any ill effects on my probes but will pay attention to that in the future :).

On the temp, I was not talking about USDA's conservative stance. As an example, what I read was that if you say, target ready temp to be 135F, you better quickly eat the food when it is ready and not leave it on the counter for a while. Whereas with standard cooking, the surface temp is so much higher that leaving the food that way was not an issue.

BTW this is the best source I found on this topic: http://www.douglasbaldwin.com/sous-vide.html

The writer is a chemist I think so had super detailed info in this regard as you see in the above. And he nicely puts most of his book in his online article.
 

lasercd

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I've been using the Sous Vide Supreme for about 6 months now with quite a bit of success. Simple vegetables take on a new dimension. The strong point of sous vide is to take a tough cut of meat and turn it into something special. So far my favorite thing is to do a 48 hour chuck roast. I use a simple rub on the meat, set the SVS for 133 degrees and walk away for a couple of days. Once its done I quickly sear it off on a very hot charcoal grill - about 30-45 seconds per side. It literally has the tenderness of filet mignon but has a real intense beef flavor. Notice how the meat is pink from edge to edge.

IMG_0460.jpg
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
15,813
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Seattle, WA
I've been using the Sous Vide Supreme for about 6 months now with quite a bit of success. Simple vegetables take on a new dimension. The strong point of sous vide is to take a tough cut of meat and turn it into something special. So far my favorite thing is to do a 48 hour chuck roast. I use a simple rub on the meat, set the SVS for 133 degrees and walk away for a couple of days. Once its done I quickly sear it off on a very hot charcoal grill - about 30-45 seconds per side. It literally has the tenderness of filet mignon but has a real intense beef flavor. Notice how the meat is pink from edge to edge.
Now this is great advertising for the technique! :)
 

JackD201

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Apr 20, 2010
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Inspired by Keith, I did Hainanese Chicken last night with the Polyscience. I used a volume replacement method since I had water in with the chicken along with some ginger and my vacuum sealer can't do liquids. Set at 144 for 6 hours the water in the bag turned into a very clear and tasty broth. Other than that the usual white chicken process applied like rubbing the raw chicken with fine salt then rinsing it, etc. Served with baby bok choi, ginger in oil, sweet soy and chili sauce as well as rice cooked in the broth.

Most succulent chicken breasts ever while retaining all the flavor.
 

Ronm1

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Feb 21, 2011
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Keith I hope you read this one.
As I have mentioned previously in other threads, both my sons are chefs actuall EC's now and both have been anti sous vide since day one. Spouting the usual cliche's. Son 2's owner got them a unit after a good showing at their JB dinner in NYC late last year.
Well his stance certainly changed. As I reminded him on his earlier negative take" you just have to use for awhile. Game changer.
 

JackD201

WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
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Manila, Philippines
When my wife and I were invited into the kitchen of Mugaritz, I spied a circulator with test tubes in it. I asked what was in them. The Chef said that those were the sauces.

Apparently bain maries do not maintain temperature as consistently. She said the reason they do it is so you get exactly the same taste, temperature and consistency as when they made the sauces.
 

Keith_W

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Mar 31, 2012
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Keith I hope you read this one.
As I have mentioned previously in other threads, both my sons are chefs actuall EC's now and both have been anti sous vide since day one. Spouting the usual cliche's. Son 2's owner got them a unit after a good showing at their JB dinner in NYC late last year.
Well his stance certainly changed. As I reminded him on his earlier negative take" you just have to use for awhile. Game changer.

Good to hear. Some of my friends are also against sous-vide but are unable to give good reasons why. It seems to me as if they are simply opposed to modern technology. One of them is also against microwave ovens. I once served him an ear of corn that I cooked in the microwave and he was marvelling at the corn flavour until I told him it was done in a microwave! Don't laugh, microwaves are SUPERB for cooking veggies, superior to boiling or steaming. The reason - flavour molecules in veggies dissolve in water and oil.
 

Matt193

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Mar 21, 2011
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Not to derail this thread, but what is the best way to cook veggies in the microwave? I've had some marginal success with those Ziploc steam bags but they are rather expensive for what they are.
 

amirm

Banned
Apr 2, 2010
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Seattle, WA
You are talking about ear of corn or individual kernels Keith? We do the latter in Micro but not the former. For the former, our favorite is to grill it on charcoal. Yum! We have entire "dinners" that are nothing but fresh, non-starchy, sweet corn. When it is in season that way, it is a meal in itself.
 

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