We are now at a time where home cooks are able to purchase scaled-down versions of appliances and gadgets that you may see in a professional kitchen. Due to this, home cooks can now replicate and experiment more than ever before. We are seeing tools such as smoke guns, blowtorches, whipping siphons and vacuum sealer machines to name a few.
In this post I’m going to talk about the Sous Vide.
What is Sous Vide? – In simple terms, it’s cooking at a constant regulated temperature in a water bath for a long period. The food is usually inside a sealed pouch.
Why am I even talking about it? – Once you have food that has been cooked in a Sous Vide, you will understand. Due to the sealing of the flavours in the pouch, not only does it retain all the nutritional content but allows food to be cooked exactly how you want it. It also means that meats can cook in their own juices and reduces the need for oil. This gives the cook the ability to achieve range of textures and cooking levels.
The possibilities are endless with a Sous Vide, I’ve cooked chicken, lamb and even eggs using a Sous Vide. Paired with a vacuum sealer, it can make cooking a lot more flavourful and could also save time allowing you to portion foods and store in the freezer when its ready to cook.
The Sous Vide that I have is the Anova Precision Cooker, there are many other brands, but I think for the money, size and performance, it does the job. I usually clamp it to a large pressure cooker which i fill up with water and when it reaches the set temperature, I get a notification on my phone that the food is ready to be put in. It really isn’t as complicated as it looks, Many of the leading Sous Vide product are paired with an easy to use app with guides and timers.
Even though the food is already cooked in the Sous Vide, I do like to quickly sear the food (depending what I’m cooking). One of the best things I made were some delicious lamb chops. The recipe is below:
Serves 2-4
Ingredients:
- 8 good-quality lamb chops or cutlets
- 1 tbsp oil (vegetable or olive) / Few sprays of cooking oil (plus extra for searing)
- 1 sachet of Nando’s Peri Peri Rub (any spice you want, I got hot)
Method:
- Lay out the lamb chops on a clean work surface and lightly coat the lamb chops in the oil
- Equally spread the rub across all lamb chops ensuring both sides are well covered
- Seal the lamb chops in a bag (vacuum sealed is best)
- Refrigerate for 6-12 hours
- Depending on how you like your lamb, set the Sous Vide and when ready cook for 1 hour:
- Medium-Rare: 54.4 degrees celsius
- Medium: 60 degrees celsius
- Medium Well: 65.6 degrees celsius
- Take out of bag and sear in a grill pan on high for around 15-30 seconds
- Allow to rest for a few minutes before serving
Overall I highly recommend getting a Sous Vide for home-use, there so many things you can use it for and it’s not just limited to meat, you can cook veg in it too. It’s a great healthy way to cook your food.
Bear and a Plate 