Whether you are new to this method of cooking or whether you have been using sous vide for decades, you might be looking for some tips to help you perfect your sous vide skills:
Sous Vide Cooking:
- Make sure you pick the right cooking temperature and time for whatever you are cooking. Each type of meat, fruit, or vegetable has a specific cooking time and temperature that ensures it is done properly. Remember that you will also need to adjust cooking time for the thickness of the food.
- Be careful not to over-finish your food. When it comes to meat especially, you likely will be doing some sort of finishing on that food, for example, searing it in a pan. Your goal is to avoid a grey band of overcooked meat underneath your sear.
- Avoid adding too much liquid to the bag. A little bit of oil or butter is great for meat and fish, but you do not want your food to be swimming in it. Only add enough that the food is coated if you are going to use any at all. A few herbs and spices often do the trick, though you might want to avoid salt on your meat because it often creates a brine.
- Don’t leave it in, just to leave it in. While you do not have to worry as much about food when you are using this cooking method, you should not leave it in for longer than the cooking time recommends, as you might start to see the connective tissue in the food break down and everything will just turn to mush.
Sous vide cooking can be fun and it certainly simplifies the cooking process. Once you have your vacuum sealer on hand, it will be easy to sous vide just about anything!
