sous-vide cooking

The egg is a fun one, we like to shape the yolk, and serve it w/ asparagus salad. Just did a chili braised pork shoulder sous vide, about 20 hours at about 157 F. turned out great, served w/ house made baked beans(smoked hock, bacon, and cured chorizo, yum) and a cabbage, apple, and jicama slaw. Also had great results with chicken, the quick pickle, and fish. Never thought I'd consider plastic bags indispensable but they sure have cut down on lost product due to age, as well as giving us they ability to prep in larger quantities without quality suffering. We've got a pretty diesel vacuum sealer, and 2 immersion circulators. We also use the sealer for most things we freeze to prevent freezer burn...

I've never used it at work but I do at home (go figure) on occasion. I have a "home game" sealer/vacuum that suits me fine. It is ideal for a fois gras torchon. Its also great for portioning. I have played with cooking full mains in the vacuum bags. Thus far my fav. was my "roast chicken lasagne." I glove boned a chicken and stuffed it a pave of lasagne (chicken farce, mushroom and fresh mozza), browned it and sealed it all up with a small block of frozen tomato sauce. Poached the bag for about an hour. The work was worth it for the look on my wife's face when I "carved" the bird!

I only wish that there was a way to nicely present a sous-vide bag to the customer. Half the fun of the method is the smell when the bag opens.

--Al

My friend at FCI did a whole striped bass, and then ladled hot oil over it to create a whole fried wild striped bass!