How does suvi work?
It spelled “Sous Vide” but we don’t get uppity about those types of things here in kitchen-hacks-land . You should not be intimidated by the term either. Sous Vide is basically a fancy way of cooking food in water. The method uses extremely specific temperatures of water to cook to an extremely high level of accuracy.
However you might not realize just how creative you can be with such accuracy. You can poach an egg in its own shell. You can choose the exact doneness of any meat and keep it there for a few hours.
Is it like boiling vegetables?
No. Sous vide is done under the boiling point of water and it is done in a vacuum bag or container. This means it doesn’t actually touch the water. It is also where it gets its name, sous vide means “under vacuum”.
If you simply sous vide some carrots or any item you will find one factor that lacks in just boiling vegetables. They taste more like themselves. Carrots taste really carroty and so on. This might be because of a few reasons, the lower temperature probably doesn’t allow as many oils to seep out of the item. The other reason might be because it’s not actually touching water, the carrots are only touching carrots in the bag so it would make sense that they taste more like carrots and less like water.
What is sous vide meat?
If you see “Sous Vide Steak” it means the meat was cooked to a very specific temperature in water inside a vacuum sealed container of some description, probably a cryobag. It is kitchen jargon that can be used to make it sound more appealing, like smoked potatoes or roasted duck. However it can be used to describe the gadget that does the actual cooking, so it can be confusing.
Sous vide meat probably turns up in your life more often than other items because of how magical meat can turn out. When you can consistently cook a steak perfectly, we really mean perfectly and then do so consistently, well that is very impressive. Some qualified chefs cannot even achieve that. Well I suppose now they can.
What is the point of sous vide?
The reason people get excited over some warm water is complex. Any new technology has a good chance to grab people’s attention.
It has become a bit of a marketing gimmick for the food industry to slap onto anything, a frozen meat pie, a menu at a local restaurant or a recipe you want to flog on the internet (even we do it).
However sous vide does present a new way to make food in your kitchen. In some ways it’s harder, in some ways it’s easier. It just depends on how you want to look at it. Considering the results are of such high quality, the process is easier. There also was a time when a sous vide would cost upwards of $1000. Now you can get a cheap one for $50 and be on your way.
In the midst of all the numbers, techniques and fancy opinions on sous vide, it is vital to remember we are just cooking food here. It happens millions times a day all around the world. At any moment there could be someone making a better steak than you. How they achieved that doesn’t really matter, does it?
So maybe the point of sous vide to a lot of people is that it has allowed them to make delicious meals? I think we can all appreciate that.
What are the disadvantages of sous vide cooking?
There are a few. The main one being it takes more time to cook things because we have the water set at the desired temperature of the food item.
In an oven you will set it to 230 celsius(446 fahrenheit) for a roast chicken that in reality will never get that hot. Some parts of the chicken will only be 95 celsius(203 fahrenheit) when it is considered done. This is a much quicker way of cooking but far less delicate to the meat and way less accurate. But because of this gentle method it does take longer to bring items up to temperature.
Sous vide cooking also does take a little bit to set up if you’re not used to it. So it can seem like lots of steps, though all tiny, just to get a simple steak cooking.
And lastly it does take some planning because it does take longer. You simply cannot slap a steak on a pan and cook it like the caveman you want to be, or is that just me? You should have planned a head a little for your times to be set up right. But when done right it can actually work to your advantage because the window of time for things being done is a lot larger. This is only an advantage when you have done your planning.
Why is sous vide so popular?
Forign words can sound cooler than they actually are. Sous vide means “under vacuum”, Flambé means “flamed” and brûlée means “to burn”.
Maybe those French cooks are pyromaniacs? Either way don’t be scared of these terms. There is a reason Elon Musk tries to eliminate these sorts of words and acronyms. He once wrote in an article “Don’t use acronyms or nonsense words for objects, software or processes at Tesla. In general, anything that requires an explanation inhibits communication. We don’t want people to have to memorize a glossary just to function at Tesla.”
We at kitchen hacks feel the same about food and the pomp surrounding it. We are here to get the best results for everyone. We don’t care how we best achieve that, even if we have to use some hacks along the way.
Does sous vide taste better?
Like all meals, it depends who cooked it. Though it’s very easy to argue there is a higher chance of deliciousness with a sous vide. It’s the cruise control of cooking. Though when we all look back on our lives, it is easy to think sometimes people really try to make things taste bad. It would have been better if we could have had this blog to explain to them the very real “Chance of deliciousness coefficient”. And that this device is the way to increase that.
Sous vide items tend to have an increased flavor but in a very simple way. They just taste more like themselves. Potatoes taste really potatoey and so on. This does mean if there is some aspect of a flavor you do not like, it might get magnified. Canned vegetables tend to taste more “canned”.
What are the best foods to sous vide?
There are some categories that tend to shine. Meat for instance, especially red meat comes out quite special from sous vide. Mainly because you can choose the perfect doneness of the meat but also you can cook certain cuts differently than normal. To be specific you could sous vide a piece of chuck steak at medium rare for a day. The reason to cook it for an entire day is to soften it and because of the temperature control it will stay medium rare. You can also do this with many tougher cuts which normally cannot be served as a steak.
The other types of meats are the ones that have longer cooking times because sous vide is passive cooking. A brisket flat will stay more moist, take little to no monitoring and yet come out perfect.
So a “Suvi” is actually a “Sous Vide”. The “Chance of deliciousness coefficient” is definitely a real thing. And you can make steak from chuck. Just a regular day at Kitchen Hacks.