Sous Vide

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Try It Yourself: Sous Vide

 

“Sous Vide” is a French cooking term that is literally interpreted as “without air.”  As a modernist cuisine cooking technique, it means that a dish will be prepared in a pouch in which air has been removed and the pouch plus food will be submerged in a water bath at temperature lower than normal cooking temperatures and often for longer times.

 What are the advantages of cooking in a vacuum?  To answer that, we need to think about what are the disadvantages of cooking in air.  Remember that the air we breathe is a mixture of gases.  About 78% of air is made up of the unreactive gas, nitrogen, which does not present a problem for cooking.  The problem arises from the approximately 20% of air that is the reactive combustible gas oxygen.  We absolutely need oxygen is what to combust the sugars that we eat and provide molecular energy in the form of ATP, but it can degrade foods during cooking. 

 By cooking without air, foods are protected from deleterious exposure to O2, which can degrade food quality and destroy flavors.  Combination of foods with oxygen before or during cooking can result in such bad effects as oxidation of fats or oils (turning rancid).  

 Slow cooking also results in even cooking results and smooth homogenous textures.   

 

Cooking Meat Sous Vide

The ability of sous vide cooking to precisely control the temperature of the water, and hence the food being cooked in it, can have amazing results on meat. The two common ways of cooking tough cuts of meat, braising and roasting, both have the drawbacks of drying out the meat and over cooking it before it is tender enough to eat. Both these techniques can produce fantastic results but sous vide can bring something different to the table as well.

When cooking meat sous vide you can avoid both the drying out and overcooking of the meat. By setting the temperature correctly, normally around 140oF/ 60oC, you can actually cook your pot roast, short ribs, or other "roast" cut to a perfect medium-rare temperature while still tenderizing it completely. This is something that cannot be achieved with traditional cooking methods.

Cooking Seafood Sous Vide _________________________________________________________________________________________________________

One of the struggles when cooking seafood with traditional methods is how hard it is to cook to a precise temperature.  Seafood quickly goes from under-cooked to overcooked in the blink of an eye.  Sous vide cooking can fix this. By setting the temperature around 125-144oF/52-62oC you can be sure that your fish will cook to the exact doneness you are looking for. 

Due to the delicious and unique flavor of salmon, we recommend a light hand when choosing additional sous vide ingredients to add to your pouch.  Since our filet are wild Atlantic salmon; additional salt is not necessary.  You can add oil or butter, a little bit of lemon or red pepper flakes and perhaps some herbs.  Or you may add nothing except the naked filet.  You decide.  

Be sure not to compress the delicate flesh when sealing the bag.  Pull the vacuum until the plastic compresses onto the flesh, then stop the vacuum and seal.   Put your name on your bag and submerge in the 125oF sous vide water bath.  The filet will be done in 40 minutes.  The food will hold in the water bath without getting overdone while you get the rest of your meal prepared. Just before serving, open the bag with scissors, remove the filets (dry if they are wet) and sear quickly – less than 2 min per side in a hot frying pan with butter or olive oil. DO NOT MOVE THE FILET DURING THE SEAR EXCEPT TO FLIP.  The pan/oil/butter should be quite hot. 

Some fish also develop a unique texture when cooked sous vide, salmon is a great example of this. The texture of sous vide salmon is somewhere between sushi and medium-rare salmon and is unique to sous vide cooking.  The lighter substance that is extruded during cooking is primarily the fatty insulation between layers of muscle that enables the fish to live in the cold waters that salmon love. The color of salmon filet can range from a pale pink to a deep orange/red depending upon how much krill and shrimp the fish eat in the wild. 

One of the potential issues with cooking seafood over high-heat is that it can become rubbery. Sous vide allows you to slowly cook the seafood over low-heat, ensuring that the result will be silky and tender.

Cooking Sous Vide Vegetables

A stumbling block when cooking many vegetables is trying to get the inside done without drying up the outside. Sous vide allows you to achieve a uniform doneness throughout your vegetables and also helps them hold together better.  Should you decide to sous vide your vegetables, be sure to cut them into pieces that are no bigger than ½ inch (~1 cm) or so and to add only a small amount of liquid.  Also, don’t crowd the vegetables in the bag.  Salt, pepper, butter, oil might be good additives.  

General Sous Vide Benefits

Sous Vide Requires Less Liquid

Many traditional cooking methods can be made easier and more efficient through sous vide cooking. When you poach, make confit, or marinade food you normally need a large amount of the liquid in order to cover the food. However, with sous vide cooking you only need enough liquid to cover the food in the pouch it will be cooked in. This allows you to use much less liquid and saves money as well as being less wasteful.

New Textures with Sous Vide

When you vacuum seal your food for sous vide cooking there can be some amazing results from the vacuum sealing alone. The vacuuming affects food differently but many become denser, such as vacuum sealed watermelon. It also brightens many colors in food and helps food to hold its shape.

Consistently Perfect Results with Sous Vide

Since the temperature and time are rigidly controlled, when you cook with sous vide you can be sure that the results will be the same every time and easily replicated.

About one hour before lab get your steak or salmon started. This should take just about 15 minutes.

 

Before Lab:  The temperature of your water baths should be set to either 125oF(52oC) for the salmon or or138°F (59°C) for the beef. Prepare your Steak or Salmon as directed in the lab.  The pouches will remain in the sous vide circulators until you arrive for lab.

Sous Vide Beef Filet Medallion (see next page for salmon

Adapted from a recipe by Poly Science through Williams-Sonoma

Beef filet is first cooked using the sous vide technique. Then, just before serving, the meat is quickly seared in a hot pan until browned, which adds additional flavor and texture. The optimal result is to have even browning on all sides.

 

Text Box: 12:30 AM PRE-LAB TIME (10 minutes prep) 60 minutes sous vide cooking Ingredients: • 2 beef filet medallions, about 2 inches thick • Kosher salt and coarsely ground pepper, to taste • 1 Tbs. (1/8 stick) unsalted butter • 2 shallots, halved • 2 sprigs fresh thyme Pre-Lab Directions: 1. For medium-rare, set the Sous Vide Professional to 138°F with circulator on. 2. Season the beef filets with salt and pepper. 3. Place filets in separate small vacuum bags with 1 Tbs. butter, a shallot cut in half and a thyme sprig in each bag. 4. Seal the bags to the desired vacuum; for beef, 90% to 95% vacuum is desirable. LABEL THE BAGS WITH LABELING TAPE. 5. Once the target temperature of 138°F (59°C) is reached, place the bags in the circulating water bath. 6. Cook the beef to the desired doneness, about 60 minutes. You can hold the beef at this temperature for up to 90 minutes without affecting the quality or texture. 

 

In- Lab Directions (10 minutes before plating)

 

1.     Remove the bag from the circulating water and remove the beef filet from the bag. Pat the filet dry with paper towels and lightly season with salt and pepper.

2.     In a hot pan, warm olive oil or butter. Add the filet and quickly sear until browned on both sides.

3.     Transfer the filets to a cutting board and let rest for at least 3 minutes.

4.     Cut into slices, garnish and serve.

 

 

Sous Vide Salmon

Salmon filets are cooked using the sous vide technique. Then, just before serving, the filets are quickly seared in a hot pan until browned, which adds additional flavor and texture.

Serves 4
Time 40 minutes

 

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 6 ounce fresh Coho salmon filets (wild caught)
  • 4 tablespoons (30 to 40 ml) oil
  • Salt and black pepper to taste

 

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Preheat the SousVide Supreme to 125oF/52oC.
  2. Prepare a marinade for your salmon if you wish, remember to go lightly, salmon is a delicately flavored fish. The filets are from the ocean so additional salt is not necessary. You can add oil or butter, a little bit of lemon or red pepper flakes and perhaps some herbs.  Or you may add nothing except the naked filet.  You decide.  
  3. Put each filet into a  cooking pouch and vacuum/seal being careful not to pull a hard enough vacuum that the filets are deformed.  Once the plastic touches the flesh, hit the cancel button and then seal. Label with colored tape.
  4. Place the labelled pouches into the SousVide Supreme and cook for at least 40 minutes.  Cooking for too long might result in a loss of textural quality but we will keep them warm at a lower T bath, this won’t be a problem.
  5. Just before serving, remove the salmon.  Pat them dry with paper towels.
  6. Heat the oil/butter in a large skillet over high heat, watching carefully so as not to burn.
  7. For crispy skin, pan sear in olive oil over high heat, place filets in the skillet and quickly sear the to a golden brown on skin side, about 1 minute at most.  You may also choose not to crisp up the skin in which case you don’t need to sear it at all.
  8. Immediately serve with vegetables/starch.  You may use any product available.

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