Sous-Vide at Home

[shel]

While poking around the web this morning, the technique of sous-vide cooking showed up. Sounds intriguing (sp?). Any thoughts on what equipment to use for a couple of experiments? Anyone tried this at home, and what were your results like? What did you cook?

Shel

[Mezzaluna]

I have a FoodSaver and wondered if I could do it using a pan of simmering water. Any ideas for a recipe to try at home?

[shel]

Originally Posted by Mezzaluna

I have a FoodSaver and wondered if I could do it using a pan of simmering water. Any ideas for a recipe to try at home?

Further poking around suggested a Foodsaver, but I haven't yet found any recipes. I don't know enough about Foodsavers to know if there are different wrapping/storage materials, and if any one is better than another.

The technique is truly interesting, though, especially if one can use a Foodsaver-wrapped package.

I'm going to continue looking around for recipes and other ideas. I'm sure something will turn up.

Therre's a thread here: eG Forums -> Sous Vide: Recipes, Techniques & Equipment

Shel

[AllanMcPherson]

A "Foodsaver" type vaccuum sealer is what I use at home. It works great, most of the time. My model also has a vacuum box attachment is great for really fast marinades and cures. I've never found recipes anywhere (not that I've looked too hard) but don't be affraid to experiement. Most of the time I use it for portioning ( blanched veg, pat of butter, seal it and poach before dinner). When you're working 50 hours a week or so its a good way to ensure a decent dinner at the end of the day. Couple of tips, if you want to poach the bag use a big enough pot that the bag doesn't touch the bottom. That's a "bag popper" right there. If you're cooking you're food in a bag with a sauce, freeze the sauce before sealing. Liquids in the air pump are no fun.

Have fun,

--Allan

[Someday]

Well, you can pretty much cook anything sous-vide. One thing to remember is that if you do a steak or protein sous vide then you might miss that "brown" crusty sear on the protein, so a lot of people actually sear the meat after they sous-vide it to brown and create that crust.

Veggies are great, as are braises. I know of a chef who actually makes sabayon type sauces in a sous vide bag--he can control the temp of the water so accurately that he can set the perfect temp for the egg to set but not curdle. Pretty cool stuff.

For do at home type stuff I would keep it simple. Do some veggies with salt, herbs, and a little bit of butter and gently poach until the veggies are cooked to your liking (you can tell by taking the bag out of the water and gently pressing on the veggies--they should be soft but not falling apart).

It's hard to have a set recipe for this stuff without an immersian circulator. You're best bet would be to put the protein into water that is a low temp--about 140-150 (use a good thermometer for this) and drop in the bag. use your sense of touch to determine doneness (just like on the grill, in a saute pan, etc). Put whatever you want in the bag with the protein--salt, herbs, spices, butter, olive oil, etc. The meat still needs to rest, but since the temp. differential is less than if it came of a grill, the resting time is cut down significantly, as is the carryover cooking.

I bet with some practice you could get fabulous results.

Good luck.