Sous Vide......my new toy..I mean tool

Sous vide = cooking in a warm/hot water bath. Thomas Keller does a LOT of it. And that most perfect steak you had in the very expensive restaurant was probably cooked sous vide and then seared to order at the last second. The original sous vide instrument was in a lab. Not a cooking lab, a chemistry and biology lab. I've used them myself. The way you COOK with it is to vacuum seal the food with all kinds of spices/oil/flavors and then drop the bag into the hot water bath. Then let it sit...sometimes 30-40 min and sometimes hours.

I've jury rigged this technique using a pan on the stove, a slow cooker, and a wok with the food sealed in a zip-lock bag. Not bad but not the best. I've yearned for one of the REAL sous vide "water ovens".



The new Sous Vide Supreme

Wait, wait....while surfing one day I see there is now a less-than-$1000.00 home model. OMG.....how much!? $429.00 with free shipping and no tax (which added up to about $100). Sous Vide Supreme http://www.sousvidesupreme.com/default.aspx  Using a rescent bonus...I went ahead and ordered it. Actually I held my breath...and clicked "add to cart". And then got our my credit card.

the inside, lots of room

close up of the control panel

the chicken breasts, stuffed and ready to go

It arrived about 5 days later. I un-boxed it, read the directions, filled it with water and plugged it in. I took 2 chicken breasts out of the freezer and defrosted them.


The chicken breasts, cooked, browned, with mozzarella

Split the breast, stuffed them with garlic, bacon, salt, and pepper and then added a dollop of butter into the vacuum bag and sealed it.

After cooking sous vide for 2 hours (I took a nap), Wayne got home hungry as usual "becuase he forgot to eat lunch"....really?* sigh, never been a problem I've had.

So made a pot of rice, added a green salad. I then took the breasts out of the water oven....their term...not mine. I like my meat seared so I heated my cast iron skillet hot with vegetable oil and browned them. After turning to the second side it added a slice of my own mozzarella and watched it melt. Split some small tomatoes, added them to the pan then plated everything.

Wayne usually does NOT finish his dinner. He saves what's left for lunch tomorrow. He ate the whole breast! Guess he WAS pretty hungry.

The first sous vide meal was a roaring success. Get ready for MORE sous vide postings.