Once a tool found only in high-end restaurants, the Sous Vide machine is quickly becoming a choice of savvy home cooks.
What is Sous Vide?
Sous Vide is first and foremost the technique of cooking food under vacuum in a temperature controlled water bath.
Most commonly, an immersion circulator (sous vide machine) is hooked onto the side of a large heat safe container filled with water. The wand pulls the water into itself, heats the water and turns it back out. The sous vide brings the water up to the desired temperature and can hold it there for hours or even days.
Vacuum sealed food is then placed into this precisely heated water bath, and cooks for the desired time.
Why use a Sous Vide?
It's great for your sanity!
You can confidently buy those special occasion cuts like prime rib or filet mignon and know that you will be able to cook them perfectly without stress. You won’t need to keep a vigilant eye on your frying steak, or poke your rib roast a million times with a thermometer. It takes just a few minutes right at the end to sear the meat and you’ll deliver a perfect prime cut. No more worry; no more waste!
On hectic cooking days, especially holidays, you can focus on all of the other dishes while the meat cooks. You will also free up oven and stove space. This is the main reason restaurants use this tool. The Sous Vide food is literally waiting for you at the perfect temperature.
It's great for Budget Meals
You can greatly improve the quality of the cheaper meat cuts you use on a regular basis. Cheap cuts like chuck roast and brisket can be cooked until they are tender, but still retain a juicy steak-like texture that you can slice. Sous Vide allows you to cook tough pieces of meat for a long time, with very little input, and it is a great change from just using a slow cooker for shredded meat.
White meat is easy to dry out when frying or baking. Chicken breasts and pork chops cooked at a lower temperature in the sous vide retain their juices and are guaranteed moist. Never eat dried out white meat again.
Make Meal Prep Simple
The Sous Vide can greatly help with meal prep. Those expensive egg bites and premade salads with shredded chicken are easy to replicate at home. You can make big batches of these items once and eat them all week long. Skip the drive-thru and save a bundle. Plus you will be so impressed with yourself.
It is so Versatile
The sous vide opens up a world of possibilities for side dishes, canning projects, and desserts. It's incredibly versatile and can make tackling some tougher food projects much easier.
Cooking vegetables in the sous vide gives you great control and guarantees perfect cooking all the way through. These dishes can often cook alongside your main course.
You can also reheat make ahead items and leftovers in the sous vide. Once again, you can bring food items to their perfect serving temperature. You can avoid having hot and cold spots and losing moisture from overcooking.
Difficult desserts are my favorite. The finicky custards and cheesecakes will never curdle or crack in the Sous Vide.
These recipes are just the tip of the sous vide iceberg. A small investment in this appliance can make life easier and food tastier.
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Aimee Mars
Okay, wow, where to even start! The prime rib and tri-tip recipes look incredible and I had no idea you could make cheesecake with sous vide! This opens a whole new world of cooking for me. Thanks for the great compilation.
Nathan
What a great collection of recipes! I never would've thought to make creme brulee with sous vide, and those egg bites look absolutely delicious!
Vicky
We have a sous vide but have only used ours to make steak. While the steak is amazing, I would like to branch out and try some new recipes, specifically the egg bites.
Teodora Grujic
Thank you for these great tips and recipes! I'm putting this machine on my list to buy definitely.
Tania
So many great recipes there! I can't wait to own sous vide next month!