General Tips for Sous Vide Cooking | Blue Jean Chef - Meredith Laurence (2024)

FAQs

General Tips for Sous Vide Cooking | Blue Jean Chef - Meredith Laurence? ›

Cover up the water bath.

Let us help you and take the guesswork out of what to make first. These 5 things are a MUST to make with your new immersion circulator! A steak is 100% the #1 thing you need to make with the sous vide! I have not used anything else to cook a steak since!

The key to successful sous vide is to vacuum seal the flavors into the food. Without a vacuum sealer, you can do this by placing your fish or meat in bag along with all the seasoning. Then you place that bag in a bowl of water, and allow the pressure of the water to “displace” the air in the bag.

As temperature and time are two of the essential variables in sous vide cooking, similar to conventional heating, some studies have examined the effect of these two parameters on the eating qualities of meat.

Here at Sous Vide Tools we often like to add a small amount of butter to the bag and find that for best results, flavoured butter works really well to add a little something extra during the cooking process. Our preference is to place butter into the bag itself, rather than on top of the product.

Rare sous vide steak (120°F/49°C): Your meat is still nearly raw. Muscle proteins have not started to contract much and will have a slippery, wet texture. Chewier cuts, like hanger or flap meat, will be particularly tough at this stage. Fat has not yet started to render, so fattier cuts will have a waxy texture.

Season steaks generously with salt and pepper. Place in sous vide bags along with herbs, garlic, and shallots (if using) and distribute evenly. Seal bags and place in water bath for desired time according to charts.

If you're not careful about cooking times (as specified by the product manufacturer), your food can become contaminated. In addition, if your food is not properly vacuum sealed, or your food becomes contaminated during prep, cooking sous-vide poses an additional threat.

Can you use Ziploc bags for sous vide? ›

Ziplock and Glad brand bags are made from polyethylene plastic, and are free of BPAs and dioxins. A good rule of thumb is that when a bag is rated as microwave safe (which requires FDA approval) you can use it for sous vide. Even Dr. Schaffner agrees.

Sous vide cooking is all about mastering time and temperature. These two factors determine the final texture and flavor of your dish. Selecting the correct cooking temperature is all about knowing your desired doneness. Cooking time is less strict, but still important.

Most dishes require only a few minutes to prepare the ingredients and seal them in a vacuum pack. After this, it's a case of simply heating up the water bath to the desired temperature, drop in the ingredients and leave them to cook for at least the required time to ensure a properly-cooked dish.