Harry Stewart - Sous Vide Cookbook: Remarkable Sous-Vide Recipes for Cooking at Home (Cooking in Vacuum)

Harry Stewart (c) 2017

TERMS & CONDITIONS

No part of this book should be transmitted or reproduced in any form whatsoever, including electronic, print, scanning, photocopying, recording or mechanical without the prior written permission of the author. All the information, ideas and guidelines are for educational purpose only. The writer has tried to ensure the utmost accuracy of the content provided in the book, all the readers are advised to follow instructions at their own risk. The author of this book cannot be held liable for any incidental damage, personal or even commercial caused by misrepresentation of the information given in the book. Readers are encouraged to seek professional help when needed.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

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There is no secret that the Sous Vide cooking technique is something special & really delicious. But a lot of people are still afraid of it & as a result continue to order Sous Vide dishes only in restaurants. You can cook Sous Vide at home - that's a stupid dream, is it? No. Today is a great time to get these thoughts out of your brain, because you can cook tender & juicy meat, flaky fish, & even super awesome desserts using your own home Sous Vide method.

Sous Vide (French for "under vacuum") is a really amazing technique of cooking when the products are sealed in a special plastic bag with air pumped out. The next step is to transfer the bag into a water bath with preheated water at a constant temperature. Usually, the temperature does not exceed about 60 to 65 degrees, but it depends on the product & its desired doneness. As a result, you get a properly cooked meal without overcooking or burning. Please note that this cooking technique should not be confused with boiling, because the product has no contact with water & the temperature is maintained at a level below boiling point. The chemical & physical processes that occur with the product make it a juicy delicacy.

You can buy a special Sous Vide machine, usually used in restaurants, but you can gather all materials & make Sous Vide water bath by yourself.

Here is the list you need to transform your kitchen into an amazing Sous Vide restaurant:

• Digital thermometer. To maintain the water at a stable temperature is the most crucial challenge cooking Sous Vide.
• Water bath. Large stockpot about 9 to 10-quart will be perfect for it.
• Weights. Please use small weights to prevent floating food on the top of the water bath. Weights can be replaced simply by anything not afraid of high temperatures; put it with the product right in the plastic bag.
• You should use ladle or other kitchen tool to get your ready meal out of the water bath.
• If you still want to continue cooking after the Sous Vide technique, you can use a cast iron skillet or maybe a grill. Get your tender steak with a golden crust, yummy!
• Plastic bags. You should use freezer-safe ziplock bags with a double seal. You can also keep your ready meal in these bags in the fridge & then finally use the Sous Vide technique to get warm again.

Some useful advice for home Sous Vide cooking:

• Almost any food is suitable for Sous Vide cooking, but the cooking time & temperature depends on the product you choose & also its toughness. Using the table of Times & Temperatures, you can see the approximate measure of cooking. And also you can always vary them according to your taste preference. Check as you go; if its not ready, you can toss the Sous Vide product back in the bath & continue cooking.

• Cook your favorite desserts Initially fill a glass jar with ingredients for cheesecake or mousse & put the jar in the heated water. The jar wont break at this temperature, & the dessert will be tender & delicate. You should be able to cook different marinades or sauces using this technique with jars too.

• It is difficult to pack products with liquid (For example with marinade or maybe sauce,) inside the plastic bag, but it is not impossible. You should use the water immersion technique: pushing the bag with ingredients into water, you transfer air out of the bag & eventually create a vacuum. Now if its still difficult, you should freeze the liquid first & then put it in the bag with the remaining ingredients.

With all cooking method heat penetrates the outside of the food until the centre gets to the right temperature. If you wanted a very special piece of beef you would cook the centre to 55C. To do this you should roast it in the oven at around 178C. By the time the centre of the beef is at 55C the outside of the beef is overdone. Perhaps most of the joint would be grey &.well done.

But if you roasted it at about 55C, none of the meat would get overdone, although it takes so long for the centre to get to the right temperature the meat would dry out. Also if you stopped roasting too early so it didnt dry out, the centre may still be raw.

Now with the sous vide method you cook food at the temperature you want the whole joint to be at. By properly sealing it in a vacuumed bag, or pouch, none of the meat is overdone or dry, & you keep all the flavours & nutrients.

WHY IS PRECISE TEMPERATURE CONTROL IMPORTANT?

Basically the art of sous vide cooking is finding the perfect core temperature to achieve the desired textures & taste. You may think of a dish that features an egg with a creamy, custardlike texture. For example one chef might cook that egg to a core temperature of 60.7C, while another one may prefer cooking it to 64.3C. The finished eggs will be very different from each other. This is what makes each chefs dish unique.

THE SCIENCE

The science is simple. When cooking, the heat induces chemical reactions with different effects at different temperatures. For eg, the different pro- teins in the albumen of eggs coagulate at specific temperatures. For example just a few degrees difference in cooking temperature will affect just how much the egg white solidifies.

Temperature affects meat in the same manner. Please note that cuts with high collagen content, for eg pork belly, should be cooked for longer & at higher temperatures. This will eventually break down the tough connective tissue. Meat with little connective tissue, like fillet steak, would get tough if cooked at those temperatures. Just a few degrees can make a major difference in an expensive cut of meat.

CAN I NOT JUST USE A SLOW COOKER OR PAN OF WATER?

The right equipment is a crucial part of the sous vide technique. Unlike slow cookers or simmering pans of water, sous vide equipment offers exact & precise temperature control along with set it & forget it convenience. Simply you set it to cook food to a precise core temperature, within a fraction of a degree, with just one simple adjustment.

You probably know that maintaining a slow cooker or pan of simmering water at just the right temperature is just impossible & it is actually much harder for results to be consistent. Also, because they do not circulate the cooking liquid, these technique can develop hot & cool zones that affect the cooking method.

HOW DO COOKING TIMES VARY?

Simply cooking at low temperatures for long periods of time is what creates the tasty results of sous vide. However, it does take experience & testing to determine the right amount of time needed to cook a dish exactly how the customer wants.