Tags
Australian Dining, Cooking in a water bath, Creatve Non-Fiction, Dining Tips, food, Humor, Musings, Sous vide, Sucky Bags, Vacuum packing
I’m road-testing a new sous vide machine. So naturally that means I’m also vacuum packing the food. Let me explain: for those of you who haven’t come across the sous vide style of cooking, it is essentially a very precise manner of slow cooking, in water, at low temperatures. The timing and temperature varies according to the type, volume, and thickness of the food. The food must be vacuum packed before being submerged in water. It’s becoming very popular in restaurants around the globe. So of course my little shop (and tea room/take aways) in Wilmot will have to get on board.
Anyway, before I buy the commercial equipment, I want to try it out. I know there is a risk that the result I get in a domestic appliance might not be as good as the commercial gear, hence I might make a wrong call, but I will persist with the experiment until properly convinced–either way.
Meanwhile, it gives me practice with my new sucky bag maker! (You may recall that I have written about sucky bags before, when I used them to cram 3x more clothes into my suitcases.) Well, these new sucky bags are smaller than the ones I used then, of course, but the principle is the same. In fact, I can imagine using these little numbers for packing things that might leak in a suitcase. But I digress. . .
Nuts in a sucky bag
The vacuum packaging extends the shelf — or freezer — life of food by a large factor. How useful is that in a small commercial kitchen! Anyway, cryo-vac-ing the food is a no-brainer; what I don’t yet know is whether sous vide will also be successful. I’ll keep you posted. If anyone has experience with it, I’d love to hear from you…
One of the things that worries me just a little is the very low temperatures that some things cook at. I’m thinking of meat in particular. A rare steak, for example, is supposed to cook at 49 degrees C. (120.2 F). Well, that sounds fine in terms of energy consumption, but the thing is, I’m a believer in Climate Change, and just recently a town in Australia recorded a temperature of 49 degrees C. A number of other places here have experienced temperatures near that. I’m sure you can understand my concern…
Hey, I’ve gotta run now — I need to go turn down the water temperature in the bathroom. MM
The Meandering Matriarch 
I hadn’t heard of this kind of cooking – sounds like something you would hear about on the space shuttle!
I’m sure it would be useful in space… And at the moment I’m in an orbit of my own, but it is true that sous vide is widespread in restaurants worldwide. You have probably eaten meat cooked that way without knowing it! I’ve since discovered it is an amazing wat to cook eggs! Slow, but precise.
Never heard of this before. I dunno about cooking things in plastic bags, but will remain open-minded until otherwise informed 😀
How’s your hip holding up, and holding you up?
There’s some very interesting stuff on YouTube re sous vide. Worth a look. I agree it sounds a bit odd and even a bit yucky, but last nights steaks were the proof that it really works– they were yummy!
I’m using only one crutch most of the time, so am progressing…impatiently.. .thanks for asking. S
Not so sure I fancy a steak cooked in a ‘sucky’ bag in low temperature water. Might be healthy…but will it have any flavour? For long, slow cooking nothing can beat the slow oven of an AGA, but guess if it’s 49 degrees outside the additional heat of an AGA wouldn’t be welcomed. I remember reading somewhere that during the war people used hay boxes for the long, slow, and economic cooking of food. Perhaps that’s something you could resurrect.