THE SOUS VIDE CRAZE

The foodie world is going bonkers over sous vide. What the heck is that? Is this some French cooking that only stuck up chefs can do? Sounds intimidating to you? Well don't let this Frenchy term get you all rattled. Don't be a timid cornerback facing Tom Brady for the first time. Stand your ground, defend the pass. Brady, he's only human. I think I made a good analogy. Sous vide, it's pronounced sooo- veeed. What it means is "under vacuum" in French. It's a highly efficient way of cooking anything to perfection. Like slow cooking. 

What happens, you get a piece of let's say a New York steak. You season it with your favorite seasonings. And you stick it in a vacuum sealed bag, like a Seal O Meal one. So when that steak cooks, it will cook in its own juices. Simple. And there's charts for cooking certain foods, the time it takes varies. Because it's a slow cooking process, tough meats are perfect for this method. Chuck cuts, briskets are all good. Pork shoulder. But even the prime cuts can work well because the meat will not dry out. And get this. You cook your steak sous vide, and it's not all crusty, it'll look pale of course. But what you do is, take that steak on a hot stainless steel pan or a cast iron one, and sear both sides and voila! Steak to perfections.

So what tools do you need? Well you can purchase a sous vide cooker, but you can kind of cut the cost and use a pot you already own. And if you don't have a vacuum sealer, you can check Amazon for one. Fill that pot up with water, stick your precision cooker in the pot, and it heats up the water, you clip your bag filled with goodness and cook it for the amount of time needed. Remember, the trick is to vacuum the air out of the bag. 

There are many precision cookers available. And some have Android and iOS apps with wifi connectivity. You need to go on Youtube and check it out. Easy! Most of these look like immersion blenders, or wands. It has all the controls. The temperatures run from 32 deg F, up to 210 deg F. * Close to boiling point.

The picture below is a cook with his sealed bag of food, and a pot of water with the sous vide cooking device inserted into the pot. 

Sous vide cooking times

Example: Beef tenderloin

Rare: 120-128 deg F.  45 minutes to 2 1/2 hours

Medium-rare 129 deg- 134 deg F. 45 minutes 4 hours

Medium 135 deg F- 144 deg F. 45 minutes to 4 hours

This gives you an idea of how it works.

I hope this gives you a quick idea of what it is. Now go and make your journey towards sous vide greatness!

FREINDLY FORD LAS VEGAS