What is Sous Vide?
You may have heard people talking about it and seen chefs on shows like “Top Chef” and “The Taste” using the technique, but what is sous vide cooking? What does sous vide even mean? The origin of the term, sous vide (pronounced soo-veed), is French, meaning “under vacuum”. Sous vide is a unique process of cooking, where the food must be packaged in a vacuum sealed bag, then cooked at very low and consistent temperatures in a water bath.
This is nothing new. In fact, you have probably eaten food cooked sous vide before at a restaurant. Ever wondered how the steaks you order in a restaurant are so juicy and tender and wished your home cooked steak could be as perfectly prepared? Well, it is because they use the gourmet culinary sous vide technique. No more is sous vide limited to chefs with fancy and heavy equipment in a restaurant kitchen. Now, thanks to VacMaster® Prep, Cook, Package technology, you can prepare sous vide food at home!
How to Sous Vide
Sous vide is easy to do even if you don’t have much cooking experience. With the push of button you can cook your dinner. An immersion circulator keeps the water in motion to make sure that the heat is distributed evenly, which is how the temperature of the water stays so precise. The water is held at the final temperature you wish the food to reach, and the food is then cooked until it reaches that temperature. To cook sous vide the food must be “under vacuum”, though often this step is sometimes overlooked. Vacuuming out the air from the bag and then sealing it is very important as it holds the food in an airtight seal. Making sure you have a quality vacuum sealer that will suction out the air and get a very tight vacuum is necessary. If you do not vacuum and seal the bag, there will be too much air left in the bag and it will float on top of the water bath, which means that it will be heated unevenly.
A good vacuum intensifies the flavors of the food, making the final product downright delicious. Any seasonings you add are infused through the food evenly, rather than being cooked away. You can use less salt and pepper because the flavors of the food are so enhanced and well-rounded. Capture all the taste of your food with airtight vacuum bags. The vacuum protects not just the juices, but the nutrients and aroma of the food. If you use a bag that hasn’t been vacuum sealed the juice will evaporate while cooking and the aroma will be lost. Don’t lose the salivating scent of your food, instead vacuum package. Let the flavor of your food shine by cooking under vacuum!
Sous Vide vs. Traditional Cooking
When using a stove or an oven, meat is cooked at a higher temperature than the final temperature you want the meat to reach. In traditional cooking, to cook a chicken, you roast it at 350 degrees in the oven or cook it on high on the stove until it reaches the USDA recommended 180 degree internal heat. Because the interior of the oven is at such a high temperature the cell wall on the outside of the meat bursts, causing the meat to lose its juices and taste bland and dry. Water bath cooking with an immersion circulator transfers heat better than a traditional oven. Sous vide cooking allows you to cook meat at the exact temperature you want it to reach, retaining all its juices! The results are a mouthwateringly savory and moist piece of chicken. That is why cooking food for a long time at low temperatures makes it so tender and juicy. It takes much longer to get the meat to the necessary internal temperature when the cooking temperature is the same, but the sous vide immersion circulator makes it so easy, you won’t even notice the time. Cooking a steak can be accomplished with only 5 minutes of prep time!
Sous vide has become very popular for cooking eggs, which conveniently have their own water tight seal in the form of a shell and don’t require an airtight bag. For example, if you were cooking an egg sous vide, you could cook the egg at 148°F until it reaches that exact temperature. After an hour, you can have a perfectly cooked egg! Your results are consistent, because the food is always cooked at the precise temperature you want. When buying a sous vide immersion circulator, you are not just buying a kitchen tool, but flawless execution every time!
Sous Vide in Your Kitchen!
As you can see, perfectly prepared food at home is now a real possibility with sous vide immersion circulators. Traditional cooking methods do not cook food evenly, undercooking the middle, overcooking the outside, or burning the meat. But, the low, consistent temperatures used in sous vide cooking ensure improved food texture, doneness and taste. This precise, temperature-controlled water bath for vacuum packaged food, is transforming the contemporary kitchen. Don’t miss out on this new technology! Sous vide is the ultimate in tenderizing and temperature control. Enjoy healthy, melt-in-your-mouth meat, fish, and veggies, with a fraction of the work it would normally take. Don’t lose any of the vitamins or nutrition benefits of your food, even while feeling like you are indulging yourself on flavorful dishes. These tools are indispensable to anyone who cooks or eats food! Cooking sous vide is like having your own professional chef around to help you cook. Sous vide allows everyone, regardless of cooking experience, to be able to create gourmet meals without spending tons of time in the kitchen. Once you go sous vide, you never go back.