Sous-vide cooking

Years ago, I helped in the kitchen at a catering company. The owner was raving about sous-vide cooking. I always thought it would be unaffordable, but eventually I found out that with a few simple purchases this is also available to the home cook.

All you need is a vacuum device and a sous-vide stick. You will need a container or a large pan that will hold the ingredients plus enough water.

Online you can find cooking temperatures and times for just about any product that can be cooked sous-vide. Sometimes meat needs to cook very slowly and long at a low water temperature. Think of beef stew. That sometimes needs to be vacuum cooked in a 58-degree water bath for up to 72 hours. Turkey breast can be cooked in about 6 hours at 62 degrees.

The trick is to season or possibly marinate the meat. This is because if you vacuum meat and there is too much moisture in it, the bag won't seal properly. In that case, I put the meat in a zipper bag, take out as much air as possible and then put that in a vacuum bag. Then the moisture stays in and the bag closes well.

In the coming time, I will share some recipes for cooking enthusiasts.

The beauty is that the meat or vegetables remain very juicy and flavorful. If you think this cooking takes too much time: that's true. But. you can cook the product (even overnight). Once the cooking time is over, it's not an issue if it stays in the water. Then you can put it sealed in the refrigerator or freeze it. If you want to use it, take it out of the refrigerator and let it warm up in a hot water bath for a while (30 minutes or so, depending on the product and size). You can also let it come to room temperature and then fry it a little more in the pan for a nice brown crust. If you enter sous-vide in the search field you will find all the recipes I have collected.