Sous Vide Cooking

Sous vide (pronounced “sue-veed”) is a cooking technique that makes it super simple to achieve professional-quality results at home. The technique utilizes precise temperature control to deliver super-juicy, flavor-packed results from edge to edge, every time. To cook sous vide, food is placed in a sealable bag and cooked in a water bath.

The First Cook

Its been a month since I received an Anova sous vide as a gift. Throughout this time I've experimented with various types of meat including beef, pork, and chicken. My first cook was two 30 day dry aged New York strips. I seasoned both sides with a generous amount of salt and pepper. In a professional kitchen, the steaks would be vacuum sealed to get all the air out, however a ziploc bag can be used with the technique shown in this video. I made sure to rest some fresh rosemary and thyme on both sides of the steaks before removing the air.

The Anova sous vide comes with a companion app to control the device via bluetooth. Inside the app are guides provided by Serious Eats for cooking a variety of meats. Each guide has a carousel of meats cooked to different amounts of doneness. For this cook I selected the medium rare doneness.

Reviews on the Anova sous vide says the steam given off during cooking can ruin the device. I made sure to buy a Lipavi sous vide container and lid for this reason. I filled the container about 3/4 of the way full with tap water, attached the sous vide to the side, and tapped 'Start Cooking' in the app. The sous vide immediately starts pumping water through its heating system, and you'll know it. It isn't loud but its certainly not quiet. There is also an 'electric' smell that comes from the devices ventilation port which I thought was odd.

The app and the device itself will make a noise once the desired temperature is reached. At this point I dropped the steaks into the bath and hit 'Start Timer' in the app. Fast forward to an hour later and its time to sear. I opened the bag and a wonderful aroma of rosemary, thyme, and steak juices exits the bag. They may smell great, but they look mostly unappetizing at this point. To get a more aesthetic look they require a quick sear. I chose to sear them in a pan using a thin layer of vegetable oil. I heated up the oil over the highest heat my stove could output. After a few minutes I used tongs to lower the steaks into the pan. Immediately the oil errupted and splashed my skin... ouch. I've since learned to cover the pan right away. After about 60 seconds I tossed in about 1/4 stick of butter and began spooning the mixture of oil and butter on top of the steaks. After another 30 seconds I flipped the steaks over to discover a perfect, crispy golden brown sear. I repeated the process for another 90 seconds on this side as well. After the two flat sides were seared, I did the remaining edges for about 30 seconds each. The sides with fat I did for a minute.

I loaded up my plate and cut into the steak before I even sat down. I was pleased to find it was a single color all the way through, however it was a little more rare than I enjoy. I'm still amazed at the even color every time I sous vide. After the first bite I knew this is how I would always cook steaks from now on. The consistent color, fresh herbs and crispy crust are just something unachieveable on the grill. I actually felt a bit ashamed knowing I've ruined many good steaks on the grill with comparison to sous vide.

Other Meats

Pork

Pork comes out wonderfully moist. The most amazing part is the fact it retains all of its volume throughout cooking because the juice has nowhere to escape. I'm convinced there's no better way to cook a pork chop than there is with sous vide.

Chicken

I have mixed feelings about sous vide chicken. I've only been able to try chicken breasts, but I wasn't ecstatic about the results. On one hand its incredibly moist like pork is, but on the other hand the texture just seems a bit too soft. Searing can be a bit difficult as well because of the rounded shape of the breast.

Conclusion

If you're on the fence about buying a sous vide cooker, do it. For carnivorous folks like myself, it brings both ease and restaurant-like results to your dining room table. Give the ultra expensive steakhouses a new competitor and buy a sous vide.