Free Modernist Cooking Made Easy by Jason Logsdon Page B

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    L OW T EMPERATURE C OOKING

     
For a more detailed look at sous vide, the equipment needed, and the specifics of the process you can view our free Beginning Sous Vide guide on our website.
You can find them on our website at:
www.cookingsousvide.com/beginning-sous-vide-guide.html
     

 
     
    H ISTORY OF S OUS V IDE
    Sous vide, or low temperature cooking, is the process of cooking food at a very tightly controlled temperature, normally the temperature the food will be served at. This is a departure from traditional cooking methods that use high heat to cook the food, which must be removed at the exact moment it reaches the desired temperature.
    Sous vide was first used as an upscale culinary technique in kitchens in France in the 1970s and traditionally is the process of cooking vacuum sealed food in a low temperature water bath. This process helps to achieve texture and doneness not found in other cooking techniques, as well as introducing many conveniences for a professional kitchen. Sous vide has slowly been spreading around the world in professional kitchens everywhere and is finally making the jump to home kitchens.
    As sous vide has become more popular and moved to the home kitchen the term now encompasses both traditional “under vacuum” sous vide and also low temperature cooking. Some preparations rely on the vacuum pressure to change the texture of the food but in most cases the benefits of sous vide are realized in the controlled, low temperature cooking process. This means that fancy vacuum sealers can be set aside for home sealers or even ziploc bags.
    H OW IT W ORKS
    The basic concept of sous vide cooking is that food should be cooked at the temperature it will be served at. For instance, if you are cooking a steak to medium rare, you want to serve it at 131°F / 55ºC.
    With traditional cooking methods you would normally cook it on a hot grill or oven at around 400°F-500°F / 200ºC-260ºC and pull it off at the right moment when the middle has reached 131ºF / 55ºC. This results in a “bulls-eye effect” of burnt meat on the outside turning to medium rare in the middle. This steak cooked sous vide would be cooked at 131ºF / 55ºC for several hours. This will result in the entire piece of meat being a perfectly cooked medium rare. The steak would then usually be quickly seared at high heat to add the flavorful, browned crust to it.
    There are two basic components to sous vide cooking at home: temperature and time. Each one of these can affect the end quality, texture, and taste of sous vide dishes. Understanding how they affect the food is one of the most important things to learn as you begin sous vide cooking.
    Temperature
    All sous vide cooking is done at temperatures below the boiling point of water and normally not above 185°F / 85ºC. You usually cook the food at the temperature you want it served at, so most settings are between 120°F / 49ºC and 185°F / 85ºC, depending on the food being prepared.
    While the range of temperature used in sous vide is much less variable than for traditional cooking, the precise control of the temperature is of great importance. When you set your oven at 400°F it actually fluctuates about 50 degrees, sending it between 375°F and 425°F, which is fine when cooking at high temperatures. When cooking sous vide, the temperature of the water determines the doneness of your food, so a 50°F fluctuation would result in over-cooked food. Most sous vide machines fluctuate less than 1°F and the best are less than 0.1°F.
    This precision is why many sous vide machines are very expensive. However, there are many more home machines available in the last few years, some good do-it-yourself kits, and even some ways to accomplish “accurate enough” sous vide on the cheap [8] .
    Time
    Cooking tenderizes food by breaking down its internal structure. This process happens faster at higher temperatures. Because sous vide is done at such low temperatures the