Sous vide can be intimidating when people approach it for the first time, but once you understand a few key concepts you realize how easy it is to use. Whether you are looking to make convenient everyday meals that taste great, or you want to up your "gourmet" game and really impress your friends and family, sous vide is an amazing tool to have in your cooking toolbox.
Trying to decide how much information about sous vide is always a tough decision for me. I don't want to leave new people out in the cold and confused about how sous vide works, but I also don't want to just fill up space that experienced sous viders will skip over.
As a compromise, this book offers a brief overview of how sous vide works and then provides links to my free online articles that look at these topics in much more detail. That way the novice sous vide cook can get up to speed while the experts can jump right to the recipes. So keep an eye out for the bolded "Note:" blocks that will have links to more information.
And if you are really unsure about how sous vide works, I recommend my free email course which will step you through the entire process from start to finish at AFMEasy.com/HExplore.
When sous viding food, it almost always follows the same process.
The first step is to trim and season your food, just like you normally do in traditional cooking. Many of the same seasonings can be used, including spice rubs and most herbs. I usually salt my food before sous viding it, though many people omit it for longer cooks. The only big difference is that aromatics like raw garlic and onion are usually not used in sous vide because they will not break down with the lower temperatures used in sous vide.
The second step is to determine the time and temperature at which you want to cook your food. If you are following a recipe this information should be provided. If you are cooking something without a recipe, you can use the charts in the back of the book to figure it out for other foods.
The third step is to enclose your food to protect it during the sous vide process. This is usually done by sealing it in plastic sous vide bags but some recipes use Mason jars or other vessels. Most of the sealing is done using a vacuum sealer or Ziploc Brand Freezer Bags.
Then you place the bags in a water bath that is held to the specific temperature you decided on and let it cook for a set amount of time.
Finally, once it is cooked, you remove the food from the water bath and the bag, then finish it off by searing.
Once you've gone through the process a handful of times it'll become second nature to you!
Before moving into other areas of the sous vide process, I want to talk about sous vide safety. The main areas we will look at are the Danger Zone, Temperature Vs Time, and Plastic Safety.
I do think it's important to point out that sous vide is no more or less safe than other methods of cooking. There's a lot of talk about the safety of sous vide, but it's just as easy to make yourself sick by under-cooking a chicken in the oven or not pasteurizing grilled pork. So don't be intimidated, once you know a few rules of thumb you will be all set. And what you learn for sous vide is also applicable to all of your cooking.
If there is one takeaway about food safety, it is understanding the danger zone.
The bacteria we are trying to remove during cooking thrive from around 40°F (4.4°C) to 126°F (52.2°C). They stop growing, but don't start dying quickly, until around 130°F (54.4°C). That range between 40°F (4.4°C) and 126°F (52.2°C) is known as the "danger zone" (cue Top Gun music) and it's often referred to in food safety circles.
Note that sometimes the danger zone is even considered to be up to 140°F (60°C) but that is based on building in a margin of error for restaurants, not the actual growth and death of the pathogens.
The longer food is held in the danger zone, the more likely you are to get sick from it. Most government agencies suggest that anything less than 4 hours is safe. Above that, it depends on what your tolerance for risk is, and whether or not you are serving it to people with immunodeficiencies.
One of the things that is most confusing to people about sous vide cooking is why it is suddenly ok to cook chicken or pork at 140°F (60°C) when traditionally it has to be cooked to a much higher temperature.
The answer is we have always been taught that temperature is what makes food safe, but this is only half of the equation. What makes food safe is actually a combination of the temperature it is heated to, and the length of time it is held at that temperature. That time and temperature combines to pasteurize the food, making it safe to eat.
A piece of chicken heated to 140°F (60°C) and hold there for 30 minutes is actually just as safe as one heated to 165°F (73.8°C) for 1 second. The reason the government suggests such a high temperature is that the pathogens are killed instantly at that temperature, but the same levels of pasteurization occur at much lower temperatures over longer periods of time. Using sous vide allows you to take advantage of this, since food cooked to lower temperatures results in much moister food.
A main concern of sous vide safety is cooking in plastic and whether or not this is a dangerous practice. Many scientists and chefs believe that cooking in food-safe, BPA-free plastic at these low temperatures does not pose any risk. The temperature is about equivalent to leaving a bottle of water in your car, or in a semi-truck during transport, in summer. This includes Ziploc freezer bags, sous vide bags, and most food-safe plastics.
However, I find it hard to believe that we know everything about how plastic reacts to heat, water, our bodies, and the environment. As such, I encourage you to read up on the safety of plastic in sous vide and plastic in general and come to your own conclusions about the safety of using these techniques. I hope this will at least give you some various perspectives on it and you can make an informed opinion of your own.
Note: For more information about sous vide safety, including deep dives into all of the topics above, you can go to AFMEasy.com/HSafe.
The two components that determine how your food will turn out are time and temperature. All of my recipes give you the time and temperature I recommend, but learning about why I suggest them allows you to better tweak the recipes to your own tastes. The length of time you cook your food will accomplish three different things.
At the most basic level, cooking is about heating up the food. Applying heat to food long enough to heat it through usually results in more tender, flavorful and better tasting food. This is usually how we cook steaks and tender vegetables.
With most traditional cooking methods, there is a fine line between heating the food properly and over cooking it. You need to pull your steak off the grill right when it is done, otherwise it'll be burnt. With sous vide, you have complete control over the food, and the timing is much less critical because you are cooking at the temperature you want your food to end up.
Once the food is heated, we often leave it on the heat to ensure that it is pasteurized and safe to eat. This is how we traditionally cook chicken, pork, or hamburgers.
Pasteurized food has had the amount of dangerous bacteria and parasites in it reduced to acceptable levels (the US Government suggests killing all but 1 in a million, or 1 in 10 million, depending on the pathogen). Pasteurized food is then generally safe to eat, provided it is eaten within a few hours so the remaining bacteria do not have time to re-grow. Pasteurization is achieved by holding food at a specific temperature for a certain length of time, with higher temperatures resulting in faster pasteurization.
Pasteurization time is affected by the type of food, how thick it is, and what the temperature is.
Many people wonder when to actually pasteurize foods. Some foods like chicken almost always need to be pasteurized. All foods can be pasteurized though, and many people always pasteurize for added safety. It is also safest to pasteurize all food when cooking for immuno-compromised individuals like the elderly or pregnant women.
The final step for some foods, after they are heated through and pasteurized, is to cook them long enough to become tender. This is critical for many tough cuts of meat, especially those that would traditionally be braised or smoked for long periods of time.
As food gets hot, the muscle, collagen, and protein undergo transformations that cause the food to get more and more tender. The higher the temperature the food is cooked at, the faster this tenderization happens. Many sous vide temperatures are very low when compared to traditional methods, which means it takes a longer time, but the lower temperatures result in a much moister end dish. Once temperatures in most meats go above 140°F (60°C) the meat begins to dry out and become blander. Using sous vide, you can hold the meat below 140°F (60°C) for a long enough time for the tenderizing process to run its course.
Note: For more information about sous vide times, you can read the tables at the back of this book or go to AFMEasy.com/HTime.
The most important thing to know when trying to consistently create amazing food with sous vide is understanding how time and temperature work together to cook your food. In the previous chapter, we talked about how sous vide times work and now we will look at sous vide temperatures.
As opposed to most traditional cooking methods, sous vided food is cooked at the temperature you want the final food to end up at. This is usually between 120°F (48.9°C) and 185°F (85°C), depending on the food being prepared.
Viewed from a high-level perspective, as meat is heated the components that make it up change. These changes result in structural transformations that affect the texture, juiciness, and mouthfeel of the meat. The higher the temperature of the heat applied to the meat, the faster these changes occur.
As proteins are heated, they begin to contract. This contraction squeezes moisture out of the meat, which is one reason well-done steaks are so dry. On the flip side, when collagen is heated, it breaks down, releasing gelatin and resulting in tender meat, which is one reason pot roasts and braises are fall-apart tender. Choosing the right temperature for what you are trying to accomplish is critical to consistently creating amazing food.
As meat is heated above 120°F (48.9°C) it starts to tenderize. The meat also starts to become firmer, but with minimal moisture loss. Above 140°F (60°C) the meat really starts to lose moisture as it contracts, resulting in much firmer meat.
Above the range of 156°F (68.9°C) to 160°F (71.1°C), almost all moisture is removed from the meat as it clumps together. However, collagen also begins breaking down quickly, adding a lubricating gelatin and creating a "fall-apart" texture.
This breakdown of collagen is why many traditionally cooked tough cuts of meat are braised or roasted for a long period of time, insuring the meat can fully tenderize. However, because of the high temperatures they can easily become dried out. Using sous vide allows you to hold the meat below the 140°F (60°C) barrier long enough for the slower tenderization process to be effective. This results in very tender meat that is still moist and not overcooked.
Note: For more information about sous vide temperatures, including a detailed look at how it effects food, you can go to AFMEasy.com/HTemp or look at the charts at the back of this book.
To effectively cook sous vide, there are three main pieces of equipment you need. Each piece of equipment comes in a variety of types and price points, and I'll give you a brief overview so you can determine what is best for you.
The first type of equipment is something to seal the food with. The three main options here are Ziploc Brand Freezer Bags, a vacuum edge sealer like a FoodSaver, or a chamber vacuum sealer like a VacMaster.
Ziploc Brand Freezer Bags are inexpensive and work relatively well, especially for cooks of less than 12 hours. I used them for several years with very few issues. Be sure to use Ziploc Brand Freezer Bags, or another bag rated for use in high temperatures, many generic bags are not.
Edge sealers cost about $100 and are a great option for people looking to move to a more robust solution than Ziploc bags. Chamber vacuum sealers are the most powerful of the sealers and cost several hundred dollars but they are worth considering if you regularly seal food for storage anyway.
Note: For more information you can go to AFMEasy.com/HSeal for a deeper look at sealers as well as reviews and recommendations for specific machines.
The second type of equipment is something to heat the water. There are a few main options, but the most popular is a sous vide circulator. These machines go in a pot of water and heat it to a specific temperature, then maintain that temperature indefinitely. They make sous vide a truly hands-off process and many can be found for around $100. At the time of publishing, I usually recommend the Anova Precision Cooker, the Gourmia Sous Vide Pod, and the ChefSteps Joule.
For those just getting started, you can also try sous vide out on a stove or even in a beer cooler. These methods are slightly less reliable, and are only practical for shorter cooks, but they are effective ways to experiment with sous vide without spending any money.
Note: For more information you can go to AFMEasy.com/HCirc for a deeper look at heating options as well as reviews and recommendations for specific machines.
Searing after sous vide is a critical step for most types of food. It adds a level of flavor and complexity that you won't get from sous vide alone. It also makes it look much more appealing.
There are many ways to sear your food but the easiest is to pan fry it. It's the cheapest method since you probably already have a pan and a stove and is great for people just getting started. Many experienced sous viders rave about using cast iron pans as well.
I often use a BernzOmatic torch to sear my food. It results in less over cooking and has minimal clean up compared to pan searing. Many people use the Searzall attachment for this torch as well.
When I'm looking for more flavor, I'll turn to my grill to sear the food. You just crank it up as hot as possible before putting the food on there. You can also re-heat food in a smoker to add additional levels of flavor.
For non-uniform foods with lots of nooks and crannies like roasts or chicken legs, the broiler of the oven is reasonably effective.
Searing is critical for adding flavor and texture to sous vided foods. When searing you want to make sure it happens as quickly as possible to minimize further cooking. Most sears should only take 1 to 2 minutes per side.
The key to a successful sear is to first completely dry off your food with paper towels or a kitchen cloth. Then heat some oil in a pan until it just barely starts to smoke. It's best to use an oil with a high smoke point like canola, sunflower, safflower or peanut. Once the oil is heated you place the food in the pan. After 1 to 2 minutes flip the food, give it another minute or two, then pull it off. The shorter it is in the pan the better. For some foods like thin steaks or fish fillets I will only sear one side to minimize the overcooking.
If you really want a deep sear, you can also let the food cool down before searing it. This will allow you to sear it for longer without overcooking it.
