Sous-vide

My Sous-vide Machine, the Sous Vide Supreme demi!

Thanks to my dad for the best christmas present ever!

What exactly is Sous-Vide ?

Sous-vide (French for under-vaccum), is a method of cooking that involves placing food into a bag and vacuum sealing it then submerging it into a water bath that is maintained at a precise temperature, for a relatively long duration of time.

The result, if done right, is perfectly cooked meats, fish and poultry. It can also be used to cook vegetables, but arguably, meat highlights the benefits of Sous-vide more. You can even use it to accelerate and control the proofing of bread.

A variety of Sous-vide machines exist, from the laboratory grade immersion circulators costing thousands of dollars, to the simple DIY sous-vide of hot water, a thermometer and a beer cooler.

Helpful hints-

With Sous-vide, place the food in a Ziplock and immerse unlocked bag in a large enough container of water keeping the opening above the water level. The water will force out the air creating a decent vacuum. Seal without letting any water in, and you’re ready to Sous-vide! This is great cause now you can skip on buying the vacuum sealer and the special bags.

You can make your Sous-vide cheap… since its all about keeping the water bath at a certain temperature, all you need is a insulated container ( like a chest cooler, an accurate thermometer and something to heat water up with. I’m sure it likely won’t be able to keep the temperature for long, but you could always remove the cooler water and add more hot water to try get the temperature in a range. Or, if you’re good with your hands, check out this DIY build at makeprojects.com

More to come soon!

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