How Much Do You Know About Sous Vide Cooking?
When we apply some traditional cooking methods, the problem of uneven doneness often appears, which can be easily solved by
sous vide cooking. It is a kind of cooking method that gives consideration to both doneness and tender taste of food and requires us to put the food into vacuum seal bags and then use
sous vide cookers with precise temperature control.
Several steps of sous vide cooking are as follows:
Step 1. Chop the food in accordance with actual requirements, and season with salts and peppers. (Rub olive oil on the fish meat to make the skin more tender and smooth.)
Step 2. Place the preconditioned food in the
vacuum sealer bag.
Step 3. Seal the bag with
vacuum sealers. (Dry food needs a short vacuum time, while moist food requires a relatively long time because of its moisture and elasticity.)
Step 4. Put the vacuum-packed food into sous vide cookers, and adjust the time and temperature according to the characteristics of meat.
Step 5. The food will be more elastic after being immersed in the icy water. And fry or roast it as required.
Step 6. If it is made as a semi-finished product, it can be preserved in the refrigerator after being dipped in the water.
How to realize precision cooking through the sous vide method of cooking?
Sous vide cooking is to achieve the desired doneness of the food at a range of temperatures and maintain the same texture inside and outside, which is best for the meat. What counts is that we need to seal food in the vacuum state and cook it at a temperature below the boiling point for a long time. The cooking temperature is usually between 50℃ and 75℃ so as to heat food evenly and stably.
Different types of meat require different cooking temperatures. Salmon, for example, consists mainly of protein which begins to coagulate at 62℃. When it exceeds 68℃, the evaporation of the moisture will lead to the worse taste of meat. However, the temperature in the vacuum seal bag can be completely controlled through the sous vide cooking method, and the fish is evenly heated without the loss of moisture. In addition, the cooking temperature of beef can be adjusted in compliance with the desired doneness, while in view of food security, the temperature must be above 75℃ to sterilize totally when we cook the meat like chicken and pork.
If chefs have a large demand for meal prep, this method can be used to prepare food as semi-finished products. The follow-up procedure just needs to simply fry and roast, greatly saving the cooking time for chefs. Meanwhile, sous vide cooking is capable of reducing the production of oil fume, which fits into the idea of creating a modern healthy kitchen.