Want to Make *Perfectly* Cooked Meals Without Fuss? Try These Sous Vide Recipes (2024)

FAQs

What is the best thing to cook in sous vide? ›

Produce that no longer looks completely fresh or already smells strange is, of course, no longer suitable for the sous vide procedure. This particularly applies to fish and meat that is cooked at relatively low temperatures.

The meat will retain its raw tenderness and raw red color, yet be fully cooked. ◊ Spices and inclusions can be vacuum sealed along with the main food item. ◊ Low temperature sous vide can be used to cook and hot hold foods for many hours without overcooking most foods. Keep in mind that sous vide is cooking in water.

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.

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.

Toxin production occurs while in the anaerobic environment provided by sous vide packaging, which can then cause severe illness if strict temperature control is not maintained.

Fill your sous vide water bath with hot tap water.

Starting with warm water will help the sous vide circulator bring the water to the right temperature more quickly.

This cooking method can present a number of food safety risks which should be recognised and controlled. These risks include the potential for survival and growth of bacteria that can grow under the anaerobic (absence of oxygen) conditions created by the vacuum packaging, e.g. Clostridium botulinum.

Lean Cuts of Meat

For example, chicken breasts can be cooked sous vide for 1-2 hours at 145°F (63°C), while pork tenderloin can be left for 1-2 hours at 145°F (63°C). The result is moist, juicy meat, perfect in salads, stir-fries, or any other dish that calls for lean protein.

Is it better to sous vide steak yes or no? ›

Sous vide precision cooking is a great method for cooking any type of steak, whether it's a tender cut, like the tenderloin, strip, ribeye, or porterhouse, or a butcher's cut, like the hanger, flap, or skirt.

Most beef cuts can be cooked sous vide, including larger, tougher cuts such as Short Ribs or Chuck Roast, but rich, well-marbled cuts such as Strip Steak also really benefit from this preparation.

When you're working in a professional kitchen, there's no room for error, and things have to be done exactly by the book. This is where sous vide really comes into its own, allowing chefs an unparalleled level of control over their dishes.

With sous vide cooking, you can tell when your beef is fully cooked by checking its internal temperature. Use a meat thermometer to ensure it reaches the desired temperature for your preferred doneness: typically 130°F (54°C) for medium-rare, 140°F (60°C) for medium, and so on.

Longer is not always better You don't always get better results by keeping food in the sous vide machine for longer. For example, many chefs recommend that sous vide steak should not be cooked for longer than four hours because the connective tissue begins to break down and the steak can become mushy.

In fact, renowned chef Heston Blumenthal even said that “Sous vide cooking is the single greatest advancement in cooking technology for decades.” Sous vide has been commonplace in professional kitchens since around the 1990s, so why do the pros love it so much?

Improved Nutrition. Quite often, when using traditional cooking techniques, food loses the fats that add nutritional value. As with the food's juices, sous vide cooking techniques keep essential vitamins and antioxidants locked in with the food.

More nutritious.

Researchers say that food cooked sous vide holds more nutrients than food cooked using traditional methods.