SOUS VIDE & LOW TEMP COOKING

Just like stewing and braising started as separate techniques and eventually became
one in the same, sous vide and “low temperature cooking” are on an accelerated course
to follow suit, with the lines between the two already being blurred within our common,
culinary vernacular.

Sous vide is the French term for “under vacuum,” meaning any food that is sealed in a
vacuum bag is technically “sous vide.” The confusion arises from the use of immersion
circulators, which allow cooks to set a bath to a very precise temperature, accurate to
within one tenth of one degree fahrenheit. Food cooked using this method is commonly
sealed in a vacuum bag to remove air, which allows the heat from the circulating bath to
be conducted more evenly to the food being cooked.

The real magic, however, comes from the precise control an immersion circulator gives
a cook. Unlike any other cooking method, where the temperature is an ever fluctuating
variable (except when boiling), an immersion circulator allows the cook to set a precise
temperature, yielding a consistent, perfectly cooked product, every time.

Just think of what a huge leap forward it is for restaurants to no longer rely on a cook’s
intuition when trying to serve a medium-rare steak. Now the steak can be pulled from
the circulating bath, perfectly cooked, and served to the customer after a few finishing
techniques are applied.

This, however, doesn’t mean there is no art to sous vide, or that skilled cooks are no
longer needed. Only with an understanding of cooking fundamentals can the
uniqueness of sous vide be realized, which is why the discussion of this technique was
saved for last.

Although sous vide is considered a wet and slow cooking technique, it is not simply
limited to tough cuts of meat. In fact, there are very few products that can’t be enhanced
through sous vide cooking, merely because it allows for such precision, giving the cook
complete control over texture and moisture retention.

Before we go into best practices for sous vide, I would like to discuss some common
misconceptions.

First, there is still an alarming amount of professional within the culinary field who refer
to sous vide as a “fad.” Although I have my suspicions as to why they would make this
claim, I am not a mind reader nor a psychologist, so my suspicions are presumptuous at
best.

What I am, however, is a professional chef who understands the importance of serving
a consistent product. In fact, if you were to ask me what makes a restaurant, or any
business for that matter, successful, my one word answer would always be
“consistency.” McDonalds isn’t successful because they can cook a better hamburger
than you, they’re successful because they’re consistent. Every time you spend a dollar
with McDonalds you know exactly what you’ll get, for better or worse, which ultimately
makes it easier to part with that dollar.

In fact, get a group of professional cooks together and the conversation will quickly turn
into an argument over cooking technique and procedure. Simple topics like how to crack
an egg or mop a floor can lead to screaming matches; (by the way, an egg should
always be cracked on a hard flat surface and mopping should be done in a figure eight
motion).

Let’s take a step back from the argument and think about what’s really going on;
passionate cooks are arguing about the best method to arrive at a quality finished
product. Cooks will never argue about what the best temperature to serve a fillet mignon
is, (rare to mid-rare), but they will argue about the best method to consistently achieve
that result.

This is the virtue of sous vide; it takes the guess work out of cooking by removing
temperature fluctuation as a variable. If you want a mid-rare fillet of beef, simply drop it
into a 55°C bath for one hour and you’ll achieve a perfectly mid-rare steak, 100% of the
time.

For any technique allowing for this level of consistency to be called a fad, is simply an
ill-informed view point. The fact that professional kitchens will spend thousands of
dollars on pots, pans, stoves, and blenders, but don’t have a single immersion circulator
is mind boggling. Technique is king because consistency is key. Since sous vide allows
for such precision cooking, it’s an important technique for any cook to have in their
arsenal, and an immersion circulator is one of the most important cooking tools anyone
can own.

With that said, being in the opposite camp, which holds up sous vide as the only method
of cooking, is as equally misinformed. Many people think that food can just be placed in
a circulating bath, set at the proper temperature, and then return to it at their leisure, as
if it will never overcook. And while that’s technically correct, (the food will never rise
above the temperature at which the water bath is set), if not pulled within the proper
time frame, the food will degrade in quality, loosing flavor and forming an undesirable
texture.

Although sous vide is not the “end all, be all of cooking,” it does offer some distinct
advantages including:

• Better flavor retention. Since most sous vide items are sealed in a bag, the
flavors are contained within that environment during the cooking process,
minimizing flavor loss that commonly occurs through seepage and evaporation.
• More tender proteins. As we discussed in the braising section, when meat is held
under 120°F/50°C for a prolonged period of time, the same enzymes that impart
 tenderness and flavorful qualities to meat during dry aging are “hyper-activated,”
which in turn tenderizes the meat and gives it a more complex taste.
• No more “concentric circles of doneness.” Order a grilled steak mid-rare at any
restaurant, cut it in half, and you’ll notice something inevitable occurs; only a
portion of the steak is ever really mid-rare. This is because the temperature it
was cooked at far exceeded the desired internal temperature of the steak,
causing the outside portion to be well done, and the very center still a little on the
rare side. With sous vide, food is cooked at (or close to) the temperature which it
will be served, yielding an even doneness throughout.
• Ease of execution. While the preparation of sous vide foods can be extremely
involved, there’s something to be said about having a steak perfectly cooked and
ready to serve. It takes one more variable out of the equation, allowing the cook
to focus on other finishing steps like final seasoning, executing side dishes, and
presentation.

While sous vide gives the cook some pretty big advantages, there are two distinct
disadvantages that you should be aware of. The first and most obvious, is that sous
vide cooking is done at temperatures that are much lower than what is needed to cause
the Maillard reaction, which is responsible for delicious-meat-browning-flavors. The easy
fix for this is to sear the meat either before or after the sous vide process, or better yet,
both.

The second disadvantage, which is a common reason people claim to not like food
cooked sous vide, is uniformity of texture. While sous vide food done improperly can be
“mushy,” a lot of people prefer the differing textures of classically cooked meat. This
“uniformity of texture” can be easily balanced by adding some crunchy garnishes or
components to the dish, or by using a secondary cooking method right before serving
such as frying, searing, or charring on a grill or under a broiler.

The fact is, the two biggest objections to sous vide cooking can be be solved with the
application of a high heat, secondary cooking method. So in short, unless you’re
specifically shooting for a subtlety in taste, always sear or brown your sous vide meats
to achieve the maximum flavor possible.

Because of the control and consistency afforded by sous vide cooking, immersion
circulators and water ovens will become common place in home kitchens, especially as
their technology becomes widely available and affordable. This makes sous vide an
important technique for any cook to both understand and master. The sooner you adopt
sous vide cooking into your repertoire of techniques, the longer you’ll be able to enjoy
this massive advantage before it becomes common place.

On the following pages are time and temperature charts that can be used as a quick
reference when cooking common foods sous vide. Please note that while there are
many different times and temperatures that will result in a well finished product, the
ones listed below are those that I find work best for my taste and that of my customers.
Please feel free to experiment with different times and temperatures to best suit your
needs.

Preventing “Warmed Over Flavor”

When food is cooked and then exposed to oxygen, the flavors can start to break down
and become stale, giving off an “old” or “reheated” flavor. Since this is caused by
oxidation, the best way to prevent it from occurring is to keep sous vide products sealed
in their individual bags until you’re ready to serve. Since low temp cooking takes a long
time, it is usually necessary to cook a product in advance, chill in an ice bath, and
reheat just before serving. Storing the sous vide product in the same bag in which it is
was cooked, with the seal being broken just before or after being reheated to serve, will
prevent off flavors and maximize quality.

An exception to this is any food that has been cured with sodium nitrite or nitrate, both
of which allow the food to resist oxidation.
 SOUS VIDE CHARTS

Beef

Cut Temperature C Time Notes

Fillet 53C for prime, 45-60 Minutes If cooked too long, the
55C for choice. texture can become
“mushy.”

Ribeye - 55C 4-6 Hours Will become more tender

Porterhouse with time. Sear before and
after sous vide.

Skirt Steak 56C 4-8 Hours Under four hours or 56C

results in a chewy Steak

Flat Iron 55C 4-6 Hours Some flat irons contain

large pieces of collagen
that can make the steak
seem chewy. A sliced
presentation can help you
spot this large collagen
strands, and discard those
portions before serving.

Short Ribs, 60C or 48 Hours 65C for 24 hours gets

Shank, Tail closer to the “traditional”
65C 24 Hours texture of short rib where-
as the 60C @48 hours
make it eat more like a
steak.

Lamb

Cut Temperature C Time Notes

Lamb Loin & 55C 4-5 Hours N/A

Chops

Shank 60C 48 Hours

 Pork

Cut Temperature C Time Notes

Pork Tenderloin 56C 1 Hour Brine first.

Pork Loin/Chop 56C 2 Hours Brine first.

Shoulder 60C 48 Hours NA

Poultry

Cut Temperature C Time Notes

Turkey Breast 60C 4 Hours Cooking too long results

in a mushy texture.

Turkey Legs & 65C 4 Hours Higher temperature is

Thighs needed to break down
connective tissue.

Chicken Breast 60C 4 Hours Extended period of

cooking allows chicken
breast to be safe to eat at
a lower temperature.

Chicken Leg & 65C 2-3 Hours Yields a moist, but

Thighs somewhat traditionally
textured braised leg/thigh.

Duck Breast 57C (Farmed) 1-1.5 Hours Wild ducks get much
58C (Wild) more exercise through
flight and tend to have a
chewier breasts that
needs to be cooked at a
higher temperature.

Duck Legs 85C 6-8 Hours This high temperature

(Confit) yields a traditional, confit
texture.
 Force Meats (Meatballs, Sausage)

Cut Temperature C Time Notes

Poultry Based 60C or 4 Hours The 65C temperature will

65C 1-4 Hours yield a more traditional
texture.

Pork Based 60C 1-4 Hours

Eggs

Cut Temperature C Time Notes

Pasteurized 57C 2 Hours Will still have the texture

Eggs and look of a raw egg but
can safely be used.

Soft Poached 62C 1 Hour Best yolk. White a little

under.
63C 1 Hour Best all around “soft
boiled egg.”
64C 1 Hour Yolk is set but still creamy
with a firmer white.

Best Egg White 65C 1 Hour White has the best texture
Texture at this temperature but the
yolk is no longer runny.

Rollable Yolk 66C 1 Hour Yolk is malleable and can

be rolled into sheets.

Hard Boiled 75C 1 Hour Yields a traditional hard

boiled egg texture
although it can be harder
to peel and sometimes
smell of sulfur since it is
over cooked. Traditional
hard boiling is preferred.
 Fish & Shellfish

Cut Temperature C Time Notes

Salmon 55C 20 Minutes Some chef’s like to cook

their salmon at a much
lower temperature, but I
prefer the more classic
texture of mid rare.

Cod 55C 20 Minutes See Salmon

Scallops 50C 30 Minutes Brine first and then finish

by searing.

Lobster 59.5 15 Minutes Cover lobsters with boiling

water first and then cover
with a tight lid. Let sit for
five minutes. Remove tail
meat and sous vide in
butter.

Shrimp 58C 20 Minutes Vacuum pack with butter

and seasoning of choice.

Halibut 50-55C 20 Minutes Creates a delicate, moist

texture that’s very different
from traditional pan
roasting. Add butter to the
bag before cooking. Serve
immediately.