What is sous vide?

Perhaps you have seen the term on a menu, perhaps you’ve seen it on tv shows like Masterchef, Chef's Table or Top Chef, sous vide is not a hype or a fad. It has been around for a while and the first time it was adopted was by Georges Pralus, a French chef, in 1974 for the Restaurant Troisgros in Roanne, France. He discovered that when foie gras was cooked in this manner, it kept its original appearance, did not lose excess amounts of fat, and had better texture. This technique is now accessible to any home chef because the sous vide tools have become very affordable.

But what is sous vide?

The term sounds more daunting than it actually is. Sous Vide is a food science adopted by professional chefs but it’s not that science-y.

According to Wikipedia: “Sous-vide (French for 'under vacuum'), also known as low temperature long time (LTLT) cooking, is a method of cooking in which food is placed in a plastic pouch or a glass jar and cooked in a water bath for longer than usual cooking times (usually 1 to 7 hours, up to 48 or more in some cases) at an accurately regulated temperature."

So, you can't burn the food anymore because the temperature is much lower than usually used for cooking, typically around 55 to 60 °C for meat, higher for vegetables. "Low and slow" is the goal. Sous vide also offers many nutritional benefits. Cook your food to only the desired temperature. This is the beauty, you can get 100% of the food to the perfect temperature -  the inside is food has the correct temperature, without overcooking the outside. 

Sous vide cooking is high precision cooking made easy.

Using a vacuum sealed bag or ziplock back for your foods with marinade, sauce, herbs, or spices — you leave the food in temperature-controlled water bath for a long period.  

No flames or steam, the sous vide water bath never comes to a boil. The sous vide circulator will keep the water at your desired temperature.

Sous Vide is a great technique for better flavour, better texture, and consistent results without stress. Watch this series for a good introduction on the sous vide basics.