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Tracey Kusiewicz
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As the primary cook in our household, Peter uses the sous-vide equipment several times a week, mostly in preparing seafood. The quality of the final product is unsurpassed, he claims, as is the ability to do more with less. For example, a conventional recipe for salmon confit, found at Epicurious, calls for four cups of light olive oil for six fillets. Peter achieves similar results using a tablespoon of olive oil per fillet. Sablefish poached gently at 60°C comes out sublimely silky and unctuous, with a finish that would not disgrace a fine seafood restaurant. Prawns are firm yet tender and delectable, because sealing them under pressure keeps the muscles from contracting and toughening. Root vegetables like carrots and beets retain their vivid colours and crunchy texture, with tastes intense enough that butter or other flavourings are superfluous. There is a learning curve in cooking sous vide. Meats, for instance, are an off-putting grey and need to be seared in a hot pan or with a blow torch for an appetizing brown crust. Green vegetables, such as broccoli, don’t take well to the method at all. Because sous vide intensifies flavours, garlic can be bitter and overpowering—this is one of the few times when garlic powder is the better choice. Extra-virgin olive oil, if cooked for a long time, imparts an unpleasant, metallic taste. More critical are the food safety issues. While vacuum packing creates an anaerobic environment that impedes the growth of some pathogens, other organisms, most notably botulism, thrive in the oxygen-depleted conditions. For that reason, foods must be fresh and kept cool, then cooked immediately after sealing. The water temperature must be consistent throughout the process. Because sous-vide cooking keeps foods in the danger zone (estimated at 5° to 60°C by the Canadian Food Inspection Agency), sometimes for several hours, food should be served as soon as possible after cooking. Botulism spores are still present even after cooking and can germinate during storage. Food that will be stored must be cooled quickly to bring the internal temperature down to 3°C within 90 minutes after cooking. Thomas Keller recommends plunging the food into an ice bath that is mostly ice, replenished as needed. For those who are intrigued, but not yet prepared to invest in professional-grade equipment, there are some alternatives. The Sous Vide Supreme, developed by Drs. Michael and Mary Dan Eades, and introduced to the North American market last fall by Michelinstarred chef Heston Blumenthal, is the first commercially available system designed for home use. At about U.S.$450, plus the cost of a vacuum sealing system (not included) it is not cheap, but it is considerably cheaper than professional rigs and is, according to reviews in the New York Times and other sources, more than adequate for most purposes. The system is available through Sur La Table in the U.S. There is no shortage of inventive DIY water baths, as a quick Google search will demonstrate. An inexpensive FoodSaver vacuum sealer system serves perfectly well for that part of the process. In a pinch, you can even use a Ziploc bag and a straw, provided the bag is food grade. Be warned, though – if the bag leaks, you will likely be underwhelmed by the end results and have a mess to clean up afterwards. Beyond that, you can improvise with a slow cooker or rice cooker, a high-quality digital thermometer and a keen eye for maintaining your water temperature for the required time. Personally, I’m too pathogen-phobic to try any of the jury-rigged methods on anything more susceptible than carrots, but the Web abounds with tales of those who have tried and survived. So far, there is a dearth of cookbooks covering sous vide for the home cook, and what is available is expensive. Thomas Keller’s is $75 and while it contains valuable, practical advice, the recipes tend to be somewhat esoteric. Sous-Vide Cuisine by Joan Roca and Salvador BurguÊs is the acknowledged bible of the technique, but it’s difficult to track down and will set you back almost $300. Fortunately, the Internet has a wealth of resources free for the searching. Mathematician Douglas Baldwin’s Practical Guide to Sous Vide Cooking (amath.colorado.edu/~baldwind/sous-vide.html) is authoritative, comprehensive and reader-friendly. Egullet has an extensive and on-going discussion dedicated to sous vide (forums.egullet.org/index.php?/topic/116617-sous-vide-recipes-techniques-equipment), with some very knowledgeable participants who have probably already answered any conceivable question you may have. Given the prep time, length of cooking and safety precautions involved, sous vide probably won’t replace the microwave oven in the hearts and schedules of busy parents who just want to get a decent meal on the table as painlessly as possible. But neither is it just another flash in the pan. For adventurous home chefs who want to replicate restaurantAt about U.S. $449.00 The SousVide Supreme quality dishes, or find other, possibly is considerably cheaper than professional rigs better ways to prepare old favourites, and is more than adequate for most purposes. sous vide opens up fresh new avOrder from their website and they will deliver enues of discovery. anywhere in Canada. www.sousvidesupreme.com
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