Sous Vide Cooking – No Apron Necessary

Hi friends, doing things a bit differently today and letting my mom do my blog work for me! 😉 A lot of you were interested in her sous vide cooking, so she’s here to share some tips with you.

My beautiful daughter – whose blog you are reading at the moment – was thoughtful and gave me an Anova Sous Vide Cooker for Christmas. At first, I was thinking – OMG what am I going to do with this very nice gift? I have loved cooking in the past and entertained extensively, but now I live alone and cooking for myself is not as interesting. If not dining out, my meals come from a bag, box, or from the frozen food aisle at Trader Joe’s.

So, there was the sous vide machine sitting in its box, and I could feel it glaring at me, threatening me to get over the whole intimidation factor and figure out how to use the thing. Plus, there was the whole guilt factor of admitting to my daughter I hadn’t even opened the box …

What Is Sous Vide Cooking?

Sous vide is a cooking method where food is vacuum sealed and submerged in a pot of water. The machine heats the water and keeps it at a constant temperature so that the food is perfectly cooked throughout. And, seriously, it’s life changing. Or at least it changed the way I eat, and that can be life changing. No more guessing is five minutes a side on the grill too much or not enough. No more cutting into something to see if it’s still raw and losing half the juices in the process.

What’s the Sous Vide Cooking Process Like?

It is so damned easy! First of all, you don’t really need anything but the machine (and I highly recommend the one that is 900 watts) and heavy-duty freezer bags – more on optional “add-ons” later. The Anova is Wi-Fi connected so you regulate it from your phone once you download the app.

For my first foray into the world of sous vide cooking, I bought some fillets that were pre-shrink-wrapped from Trader Joe’s. I got out my largest pan and filled it with water, attached the Anova, Googled the time and temperature which you can get from the app as well, and plugged it in.

One thing I discovered right off the bat, is it takes a long time for the water to heat up. I’d recommend using hot water from your tap and figuring that into your timing.

The theory is that you cook the meat at the internal temperature that you would like the meat to be when it’s finished cooking. Say you like your steaks medium rare and that internal temperature is 129 degrees. You set the sous vide to 129 degrees for a specific amount of time – say 1 hour.

One of the nicest parts about sous vide cooking is if the steaks are in there 3 hours they will still remain at 129 degrees. Fool proof. And the meat is medium rare from the outside to the very center. Plus all the juices are still there and it is so tender you almost don’t need a knife.

Meat isn’t the only thing you can cook sous vide either. Vegetables come out perfectly with very nice coloring and all the nutrients are intact – not floating away in a watery pot.

The Finishing Touch …

Once the steaks come out of the pot, they truly look inedible. They look a little grayish with marks where the vacuum bag folded. There are a few ways to brown them or get grill marks, etc. You can do a quick sauté on the stove. Make sure the steaks are very dry, then add them to a pan with a little olive oil over high heat. I like to add a pat of butter after the steaks are in the pan to give them a nice crust.

You can also throw them on a very hot grill for just about 30 seconds per side to brown them and get some grill marks. I did find that about 1 minute a side won’t affect them adversely. Or you can even torch them with a butane torch.

Taking Sous Vide Cooking to the Next Level

After my first steak, I was sold on sous vide cooking, and it was time to get serious with some add-ons. Even though there is only water in the pot, I still wanted to clean it to get the mineral deposits off. First purchase was one of these plastic containers. For a little over $20, I am not the least worried about ever cleaning it since it’s only water!

If you’re not buying something that comes pre-shrink-wrapped, you’ll have to have some way to seal whatever it is you want to cook. And since man cannot live on steaks from Trader Joe’s forever, next was figuring out whether to do this via water displacement with heavy-duty freezer bags or buy a vacuum sealer. I thought the water displacement looked like a lot of trouble so I found an inexpensive sealer on Amazon. Almost right away, I wish I had opted for a nicer version. You get what you pay for sometimes. This is the one I wished I had sprung for.

Of course, you also need the special bags for vacuum sealing – can’t just use regular plastic bags. There are size options just like zip bags, depending on what you’re cooking.

Some Final Thoughts About Sous Vide Cooking

Sous vide makes it easier to be a great host since it only requires a short distraction to brown the meat. Did I mention there is so little clean up? No pots and pans, no grease spatters, etc.

I’m not sure why it was so intimidating to me when sous vide cooking is so easy. If Claire ever lets me blog again, I’ll share some more adventures with sous vide. How to plan a whole meal sous vide. More pitfalls and some amazing triumphs!

 

Of course, mom is welcome to blog any time – I hope y’all loved reading this as much as I did! Post any questions you have below – mom will be watching comments to help share more insights!

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