We Tried Sous Vide Cooking: Here’s What We Thought

Bienvenue dans le monde merveilleux de la cuisine sous vide!

That’s French for, ‘Welcome to the wonderful world of sous vide cooking!’ Never heard of it? Well, you wouldn’t be the first. For a while, sous vide cooking was primarily a staple of fine dining establishments, and it was almost unheard of to use this method of cooking at home. However, over the years, sous vide cooking products have become more accessible and more budget-friendly, so this fancy style of cooking can be done from almost anywhere – including at home!

An immersion circulator is set to the proper cooking temperature for the product you’re planning to cook. There are multiple sous vide products on the market, varying in price, depending on what you’re looking for.

Besides the immersion circulator, the following items may make cooking sous vide style easier on you:

• A vacuum sealer
• A large polycarbonate container
• A cast iron skillet

*Various sous vide temperature and cooking guides can be found online. 

How It Works

Still unsure of how the sous vide process actually works? Let’s break it down.

Cooking sous vide style is almost liking boiling; except using a sous vide immersion cooker allows you to maintain a constant temperature for longer periods of time. This makes it easier to get perfect results without undercooking, or overcooking, the meat (or any other item you cook this way).

Simply take your cut of meat and place it in an airtight sealed bag. A vacuum sealer works great for this, but store-bought food-grade plastic bags work fine too, just make sure you get out as much air as possible.

The sous vide immersion machine helps keep the water at a steady temperature to ensure bacteria are safely destroyed.

You can choose to seal in the meat with a marinade, or let it cook as is and season after, if preferred.

Once the product is done cooking, toss it on a cast iron skill it at the end for a nice seared finish. You could also opt for finishing it off on the barbecue, or eat as is.

After the product finishes cooking and is removed from the water, it should be ready to eat. The presentation is up to you.

The Benefits of Sous Vide Cooking

1. The cleanup is minimal.
2. The meat retains its juiciness.
3. It’s great for those living active lifestyles, considering it’s a set it-and-forget it cooking method.
4. It’s great for food prep! Prepare larger quantities of healthy meals in advance by batch cooking.
5. It’s healthy! Sous vide foods are able to retain more of their nutrients and vitamins by remaining sealed in their protective bags.

Behind The Scenes

The more research our team did on sous vide cooking, the more we had to try it out for ourselves. With all the great reviews online about how tender the meat was, it left us pining for some mouthwatering French-style cooking.

We didn’t know what to expect, but we were forever changed. It was delicious.

To further prove the point of how simple sous vide style cooking is, we did this from the convenience of our office space. Our cooking host, Tony F., decided to cook our team grass-fed hamburgers: sous vide-style.

The easy step-by-step process can be seen below.

Step 3: Enjoy with friends!

Pictured from left to right, Charlie H., Tony F., Kham N.