Cooking Sous Vide at Home

Image above: A soft egg prepared perfectly using sous vide techniques, served with salsa verde and parmesan cheese. Photograph by the author, sockii.

Sous vide cooking can also guarantee that your steak comes out exactly the way you like it, every time. Just set your water bath to the right temperature for rare, medium-rare, medium-well, however you prefer your meat. Cook it for at least the minimum amount of time to reach that temperature through the entire steak and you will get exactly that degree of doneness—and best of all, you can't over cook it! For instance, if you set a filet for medium-rare at 134F, it will not over cook, even if you leave it in the water bath longer than recommended; all that will happen is the meat will continue to tenderize. (You will have to separately brown or sear the meat for a traditional crust, but more on that later.)

On this page I will talk more about the basics of sous vide cooking: the history of its development, the tools you'll need to do it at home, and also some of the important safety concerns and guidelines you need to follow to ensure you can enjoy sous vide-prepared foods in your own kitchen.

Although it is only in recent years that sous vide has become so hugely popular with chefs, it has actually been described as a cooking technique going back all the way to the 18th century!

In 1799, Sir Benjamin Thompson first talked about cooking sous vide, albeit using air instead of water as the medium for heat transfer. Engineers in the United States and in France re-discovered the technique in the 1960s, realizing it could be useful for industrial-scaled food preparation and preservation.

In the next decade, restaurant chefs started experimenting with the technique when they discovered the unique and desirable qualities of sous vide cooking: the way meats and vegetables retained their vibrant colors and flavors even after extended cooking times, the evenness and consistency in cooking and temperature, and the way tough meats could be tenderized...all of these qualities are great for professional kitchen environments. Now home chefs are discovering the benefits of the method as well, as consumer-priced equipment is increasingly available to everyone (that is, you no longer need to shop from a scientific equipment company to get the tools you need!)

Learn more about the history of sous vide cooking at wikipedia.

First you will need to prepare your ingredients for cooking. It's always a cook idea to include some seasoning or aromatic herbs along with your protein, fruit or vegetable that you are preparing, but remember that a little will go a long way. A single small snip of thyme or rosemary, for instance, along with a sprinkling of salt can be enough for a steak—remember that you will be searing it before serving, so you can add additional seasonings or sauces at that stage. A little olive or other oil added to the bag can help add flavor as well.

Meat in general should be removed from the bone, as sharp edges can pierce the vacuum bags. Once you've sealed your bag, try to shape the product in it so that it is even and attractive in appearance—it will hold that shape after cooking. You can leave product in the vacuum bags, at this state, to marinate if you wish, just make sure you do so only in the refrigerator and that it remains at a safe storage temperature up until you are going to cook it.

Determine the cooking temperature and time required for your product. Most sous vide recipes have this information carefully calculated. There are also some fabulous apps for your mobile device, such as the SousVide Dash, which will help you calculate time and temperature for just about anything you wish to cook and dependent on your equipment. It will even give you detailed information on product pasteurization and pathogen reduction, so that you can be sure you are preparing your food with necessary safety and care.

Fill your waterbath and set the temperature to your desired degree. Once it has reached that temperature, take your vacuum-sealed food bags out of the refrigerator and submerge under water. Cover, if your oven has a lid, and set a timer so that you know when it's done. It's just that simple! If your water bath does not have a cover, you may have to keep an eye on it that the water does not evaporate below safe operation levels, especially during extended cooking times.

When the cooking time is up, remove the bags from the water bath. If you have a probe thermometer with a small needle gauge (and sous vide tape to cover the needle hole), you may want to check the internal temperature of your product before proceeding. Otherwise if you are reasonably sure your product is done cooking, proceed on.

Now, if you are pre-cooking this product to then serve later (perhaps during an evening dinner party so you've prepared it several hours in advance), it is critical to immediately plunge the bags into an ice-water bath to bring their temperature down into a safe zone. If you just leave it to sit to cool, or put into the refrigerator while still warm, you are inviting the dangerous growth of bacteria! (More on safety concerns and issues below.) In such case just bring the food back up to temperature before serving, and finish the dish as you wish. If you are going to be eating the food immediately, just take it out of the vacuum bag to finish and plate. For a steak or piece of poultry, that might involve grilling or searing it very quickly at high heat with additional seasonings. For vegetables, it might mean tossing with a dressing or mixing in other elements as desired.

One of the main concerns people have regarding sous vide cooking is the safety of the technique. There are certain types of bacteria which can thrive and grow quickly in an oxygen-free vacuum environment - namely Clostridium botulinum which can cause the very serious condition of botulism poisoning!

But that shouldn't scare you off trying sous vide cooking for yourself; just follow the important rules of safe preparation and handling which include:

• Cooking items long enough, and at a high enough temperature, topasteurize the food if it will not be consumed within 4 hours of preparation. There are plenty of charts and guides to let you know how long this will take.
• Keep in mind that foods cooked below 131 °F will never be pasteurized.
• If you are storing sous vide cooked food for later consumption, always chill itimmediately in an ice bath before then moving it to the refrigerator. This makes sure the food isn't lingering outside of the "safe zone" of storage temperatures, which is when bacterial growth can bloom.
• Use only vacuum bags that are designed to be food safe for cooking.
• Be sure of your food sources and use fresh, high quality ingredients as much as possible.

It is also recommended that pregnant women and those with compromised immune systems avoid any sous vide food that has not been cooked through to pasteurization.

• Sous Vide | Modernist Cuisine

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• Cooking Sous Vide

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• PolyScience - Innovative Culinary Techology

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• SousVide Supreme | Official Site

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